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# Lessons from Max Rhodes
- URL: https://www.antoinebuteau.com/lessons-from-max-rhodes/
- Published: 2026-07-01T21:03:31.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-10T03:41:23.000Z
- Description: Lessons from Max Rhodes Max Rhodes is the co founder and CEO of Faire, an online wholesale marketplace connecting independent brands with local retailers...
- Author: Antoine Buteau
- Tags: Profile, Tech Entrepreneurs & Founders

![Visual summary of operating lessons from Max Rhodes.](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/content/images/2026/07/lessons-from-max-rhodes-profile-infographic.webp)

## Lessons from Max Rhodes

Max Rhodes is the co-founder and CEO of Faire, an online wholesale marketplace connecting independent brands with local retailers. He built the company to solve the inventory risk that keeps small shop owners from trying new products, a problem he noticed while selling umbrellas on weekends. This collection covers his advice on handling early startup stress, decentralizing decisions, and the mechanics of B2B commerce.

### Part 1: The Blunt Umbrellas Experience

1. **On Dual Perspectives:** "During the week, I was a product manager working at Square. And I think that gave us a really unique insight into this massive market that was just so clearly so broken." — [*Source: Masters of Scale*](https://mastersofscale.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Side Hustles as R&D:** "I was working on the Blunt Umbrellas thing for almost a decade before starting Faire, and I kept asking myself, why hasn't somebody moved this online?" — [*Source: Retail TouchPoints*](https://retailtouchpoints.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Offline Storytelling:** "So much of offline retail has become about storytelling and building a personal relationship with the customers, and I saw how small stores were much better at that." — [*Source: Forbes*](https://forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Technology Disparities:** "It was this crazy juxtaposition of experiences, where during the week I was helping small businesses by building technology... and then on the weekends I was a small business, going to trade shows and chasing down retailers who were paying us by check." — [*Source: Retail TouchPoints*](https://retailtouchpoints.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On First Customers:** Rhodes says Faire started with roughly 150 retailers from his Blunt Umbrella days, using those early contacts as the first test bed. — [*Reference: First Round episode on Faire's first customers*](https://review.firstround.com/podcast/the-startup-playbook-for-expanding-internationally-advice-from-faire-ceo-max-rhodes/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Local Retailer Talent:** "I was shocked to see how successful they were at selling — and even advertising — our products." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On The Human Element:** "In small stores, it was the buyer selling the product... that interaction is impossible to replicate online." — [*Source: Forbes*](https://forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Initial Scope:** "We started with the idea of helping a brand like Blunt Umbrellas get into more stores." — [*Source: Forerunner Ventures*](https://forerunnerventures.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On Recognizing a Gap:** "There are three major players in the retail industry... People basically just ignored the third leg of that triangle though, the wholesale leg." — [*Source: Retail TouchPoints*](https://retailtouchpoints.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
10. **On B2B Inefficiencies:** "I was shocked to see that wholesale commerce was decades behind consumer retail, relying almost entirely on manual entry and physical trade shows." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 2: Lessons from Square

1. **On Data Aggregation:** "One of the best things that Rhodes learned at Square was that in pooling risk across a large body of data, you can build powerful predictive models." — [*Source: Forerunner Ventures*](https://forerunnerventures.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Empowering Businesses:** "Square taught me that when you lower the operating costs for small businesses through digital tools, you unlock tremendous local economic value." — [*Source: Business Insider*](https://businessinsider.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Meeting Co-founders:** "I met my co-founders at Square, and that shared experience became the baseline for how we structured Faire's early operating principles." — [*Source: Contrary*](https://contrary.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Building Confidence:** Faire's insight came from seeing that retailers needed confidence before buying wholesale online, so the company reduced inventory risk with returns and payment terms. — [*Reference: Forerunner profile on Faire's founding insight*](https://www.forerunnerventures.com/perspectives/faires-max-rhodes-has-the-heart-and-drive-of-a-small-business-owner?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Platform Mechanics:** "My experience building Square Capital directly informed how we approached embedded financial services and underwrote risk for small retailers." — [*Source: Business Insider*](https://businessinsider.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Product Management Foundations:** "Square instilled a rigorous discipline around product management that I later applied to scaling the Faire marketplace." — [*Source: Entrepreneur*](https://entrepreneur.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Serving the Underserved:** Rhodes built Faire around independent retailers and makers, arguing that local businesses were thriving despite the retail-apocalypse narrative. — [*Reference: Forerunner profile on independent retailers*](https://www.forerunnerventures.com/perspectives/faires-max-rhodes-has-the-heart-and-drive-of-a-small-business-owner?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Iteration Speed:** Rhodes describes iterating through multiple versions of Faire's core offering before finding the model that made the marketplace work. — [*Reference: Rhodes essay on the story of Faire*](https://medium.com/faire/the-story-of-faire-465d3d4c161f?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On Defining Success:** "A key takeaway from Square was learning to tie product features directly to the tangible financial success of the end user." — [*Source: Forerunner Ventures*](https://forerunnerventures.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
10. **On Lowering Barriers:** "Square's success in removing the friction of accepting credit cards inspired our vision of removing the friction of sourcing wholesale inventory." — [*Source: Business Insider*](https://businessinsider.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 3: Identifying the Wholesale Problem

1. **On Inventory Risk:** "If you ask a small shop owner what their favorite part of the job is, they'll say finding new products. Then if you ask them how many of the products that you carry are new it will be somewhere between 20-30%." — [*Source: OpinionX*](https://opinionx.co/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On the Fear of New Products:** "The answer always was because it's scary to bring on new products. If it doesn't sell, you're stuck." — [*Source: OpinionX*](https://opinionx.co/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On the Purpose of Trade Shows:** "I realized they're going to trade shows to solve inventory risks, to get over that fear so that they can touch and feel the products." — [*Source: OpinionX*](https://opinionx.co/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Solving a Clear Problem:** "We knew as soon as we started working on Faire that it was the right idea because it didn't just solve a clear problem in the market, it also fed on our shared passion for creating products that help small businesses." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Validating Ideas:** Before writing significant code, the Faire team showed line sheets to retailers and had orders lined up from multiple shops. — [*Reference: Rhodes essay on early customer validation*](https://medium.com/faire/the-story-of-faire-465d3d4c161f?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Connecting the Dots:** "We just connected the dots." — [*Source: Netfigo*](https://netfigo.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Taking Out Risk:** "The idea was to create a wholesale marketplace that took all the risk out of bringing on new products — one of the biggest pain points for small retailers." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Eliminating Friction:** "We believe the lack of returns in wholesale is one of the many obstacles holding retailers back." — [*Source: Lucky Break Consulting*](https://luckybreakconsulting.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On Supporting Makers:** "We recognize that it's never been done before, which is why we absorb the risk of offering returns from the makers, who always get paid as soon as an order is placed." — [*Source: Lucky Break Consulting*](https://luckybreakconsulting.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 4: Founding and Scaling Faire

1. **On Finding Product-Market Fit:** "It took us 9 months of working on it full-time before I was sure it was working based on the numbers." — [*Source: Lenny's Newsletter*](https://lennysnewsletter.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Accidental Growth:** Rhodes says Faire stumbled into a viral loop where retailers referred brands and brands referred retailers they wanted to transact with on the platform. — [*Reference: First Round episode on Faire's viral loop*](https://review.firstround.com/podcast/the-startup-playbook-for-expanding-internationally-advice-from-faire-ceo-max-rhodes/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Expanding Markets:** Faire used that referral loop to expand from high-end gift stores into adjacent categories and eventually international markets. — [*Reference: First Round episode on marketplace expansion*](https://review.firstround.com/podcast/the-startup-playbook-for-expanding-internationally-advice-from-faire-ceo-max-rhodes/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Decentralizing Decisions:** "Today, we are on a six-month product cycle, decisions are decentralized, and we have built systems that hold people accountable without needing consistent touchpoints." — [*Source: Y Combinator*](https://ycombinator.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Speedboats vs. Aircraft Carriers:** "This often feels like driving an aircraft carrier versus a speedboat, which is how I often describe leading a seed-stage company." — [*Source: Y Combinator*](https://ycombinator.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Early Agility:** "In the early days, we were on a six-week product cycle, decisions were centralized (often with me making those decisions)." — [*Source: Y Combinator*](https://ycombinator.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Admitting Mistakes:** "I've made a lot of bad decisions." — [*Source: Deciphr*](https://deciphr.ai/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On the Danger of Easy:** "The lesson for me here was that if it feels easy, it probably means you're doing it wrong." — [*Source: Faster Than Normal*](https://fasterthannormal.co/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On Process over Intuition:** "Experiencing painful hiring mistakes early on taught me to stop relying on intuition and build rigorous vetting processes." — [*Source: Deciphr*](https://deciphr.ai/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
10. **On Strategy Documents:** "I utilize strategy documents to temper my natural inclination for constant change and ensure deliberate planning." — [*Source: Deciphr*](https://deciphr.ai/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 5: Risk and Data

1. **On the Data Deficit:** "As you know, one of the biggest challenges for small retailers is a lack of data to base decisions on. Local retailers typically make a lot of their decisions based on guesswork." — [*Source: Lucky Break Consulting*](https://luckybreakconsulting.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Leveling the Playing Field:** "By democratizing access to sales data, we give independent retailers the same predictive power as massive corporate chains." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Pooling Risk:** "By pooling transaction data across thousands of retailers, we can confidently absorb the financial risk of unpaid or returned merchandise." — [*Source: Forerunner Ventures*](https://forerunnerventures.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Net-60 Terms:** "Offering buy-now, pay-later terms is a data exercise; understanding a store's sell-through rate minimizes default risk." — [*Source: Morningstar*](https://morningstar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Predicting Success:** "Aggregated data allows the platform to predict which specific products will sell well in distinct geographical areas." — [*Source: WizCommerce*](https://wizcommerce.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Financial Underwriting:** "Managing wholesale inventory risk is essentially a complex financial underwriting challenge disguised as a marketplace product." — [*Source: Forerunner Ventures*](https://forerunnerventures.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Data as a Moat:** "The more data we collect on product performance, the better our recommendations become, creating a structural advantage over physical trade shows." — [*Source: Morningstar*](https://morningstar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Transparency:** "Providing sell-through data directly to makers allows them to optimize their own production cycles based on actual retail demand." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On Strategic Agility:** "Small stores have an inherent advantage in agility, and real-time sales data allows them to adapt their inventory faster than big-box competitors." — [*Source: WizCommerce*](https://wizcommerce.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 6: Hiring and Culture

1. **On Defining Culture Fit:** Rhodes defines culture fit as shared values, not identical opinions, and says debate is something he looks for in candidates. — [*Reference: Sequoia Seven Questions with Max Rhodes*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Valuing Debate:** Rhodes says he loves when candidates are willing to disagree with him, as long as they share Faire's most important values. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on debate and values*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Defining Kindness:** "The value of being kind is really just a nicer way of saying 'no assholes'." — [*Source: Faster Than Normal*](https://fasterthannormal.co/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Hiring Frameworks:** "You write what are you hiring this person to do in a couple of sentences. What are the outcomes in the next 12-18 months you want this person to drive?" — [*Source: Paraform*](https://paraform.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Being Specific:** "Try to be as narrow and specific as you possibly can when defining the competencies required for a new role." — [*Source: Paraform*](https://paraform.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Mission Alignment:** "There is a strong correlation between a candidate's excitement for empowering independent retailers and their long-term success here." — [*Source: Faster Than Normal*](https://fasterthannormal.co/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Reference Checks:** "I believe deeply in the art of referencing and conduct deep, thorough reference checks as a vital part of the hiring process." — [*Source: The Twenty Minute VC*](https://thetwentyminutevc.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Work Studies:** "We rely heavily on work studies during the interview process to see how candidates actually execute, rather than just how they answer behavioral questions." — [*Source: Y Combinator*](https://ycombinator.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On Core Values:** Faire's five values are serving the community, seeking the truth, acting as owners, embracing the adventure, and being kind. — [*Reference: YC interview on Faire's culture*](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/learnings-of-a-ceo-max-rhodes-faire?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
10. **On Culture as a Mechanism:** "If a company successfully hires people who share its core values, cultivating that culture becomes easy." — [*Source: Y Combinator*](https://ycombinator.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 7: The Value of Independent Retail

1. **On Serendipity:** "Part of the joy of going into a small shop is that serendipitous discovery of finding something that you never expected to find or you didn't even know existed." — [*Source: Forbes*](https://forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Community Role:** "These shop owners play an incredibly important role in what makes a city or town feel unique." — [*Source: Artisan Joy*](https://artisanjoy.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Retail Superpowers:** "Their superpowers of curation, agility, and community building have successfully met a growing consumer demand for connection and values-driven shopping." — [*Source: Artisan Joy*](https://artisanjoy.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Broadening Access:** "Opening the platform to these buyers is a step toward a future where more businesses... can easily discover distinct products to build thoughtful, curated experiences." — [*Source: Morningstar*](https://morningstar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Main Street:** "Independent retail isn't dying; it's evolving away from commodity goods toward curated, specialized experiences that large platforms cannot replicate." — [*Source: Forbes*](https://forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Curation over Search:** "Small retailers win by acting as editors for their communities, doing the hard work of filtering out the noise of infinite online choice." — [*Source: Retail TouchPoints*](https://retailtouchpoints.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Local Economies:** "Supporting local boutiques ensures that capital continues to circulate within local communities rather than being extracted by centralized corporations." — [*Source: Artisan Joy*](https://artisanjoy.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Maker Ecosystems:** "A thriving independent retail sector is the required infrastructure for independent makers to scale without relying on mass-market buyers." — [*Source: Medium*](https://medium.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
9. **On the Future of Commerce:** "The future of retail requires marrying offline human connection with the efficiency of modern B2B supply chains." — [*Source: Morningstar*](https://morningstar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

### Part 8: Founder Well-being and Leadership

1. **On Taking the Long View:** Rhodes says founders can be impatient, but he has learned to think in long arcs while applying steady pressure to the business. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on long-term thinking*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Constant Application of Force:** Rhodes borrows Michael Moritz's phrase to describe how each small iteration moves the company forward. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on constant application of force*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Early Exhaustion:** Rhodes says Faire's first year involved twelve-hour days, six or seven days a week, and a level of stress he had not experienced before. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on early founder stress*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Knowing the Limit:** By the end of Faire's first year, Rhodes says he was not in a great place, which forced him to rethink how he sustained himself. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on founder limits*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On the Wake-up Call:** A short vacation made Rhodes realize no one can keep running at 100 miles per hour forever. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on taking breaks*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Investing in Self:** Rhodes says founders have to invest in sleep, exercise, food, and recovery as well as the business. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on founder self-care*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Working with Friends:** Rhodes advises founders to choose capable people they would actually be excited to work with for the next decade. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on choosing co-workers*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Avoiding Burnout:** Rhodes's lesson is to run fast without taking shortcuts that make it impossible to keep applying force over time. — [*Reference: Sequoia interview on sustainable pace*](https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2019-04-10-max-rhodes?ref=antoinebuteau.com)