# Brandon Leonardo

> Brandon Leonardo is historical co-founder and early engineering lead. Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP on Anchor Terminal, with grades, an about and public profiles.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/brandon-leonardo/
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/brandon-leonardo/index.md (~1,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/brandon-leonardo/index.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/brandon-leonardo/index.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-27

Historical co-founder and early engineering lead.

Brandon Leonardo co-founded Instacart in 2012 and built the early versions of its app. His Y Combinator bio says he went on to lead the engineering team working on growth. Before Instacart he held senior engineering roles at startups including AngelList, Webs and StartupBus.

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonardo/
- X: https://x.com/shiftb

## What Brandon builds

- [Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.md), graded D, 48.5/100, in Shopping, returns & refunds. The Instacart Developer Platform API and its hosted MCP server turn a recipe or shopping list into an Instacart Marketplace page, where the person picks a store and checks out. It also finds nearby retailers by postal code. Historical co-founder and early engineering lead, researched 2026-10-27.

## Works with

- [Apoorva Mehta](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/apoorva-mehta/), Historical co-founder and CEO; now Abundance founder/CEO
- [Max Mullen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/max-mullen/), Historical co-founder; now full-time investor
- [Riddhima Sejpal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/riddhima-sejpal/), Senior Staff Software Engineer, CarrotAI / Instacart Developer Platform
- [Stefany Bogatan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/stefany-bogatan/), Associate Product Manager

## Questions

### Who is Brandon Leonardo?

Brandon Leonardo co-founded Instacart in 2012 and built the early versions of its app. His Y Combinator bio says he went on to lead the engineering team working on growth. Before Instacart he held senior engineering roles at startups including AngelList, Webs and StartupBus.

### What does Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) make?

Anchor Terminal lists Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP from Maplebear Inc. (Instacart). The Instacart Developer Platform API and its hosted MCP server turn a recipe or shopping list into an Instacart Marketplace page, where the person picks a store and checks out. It also finds nearby retailers by postal code.

### How are Brandon's tools graded?

Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP is graded D, 48.5 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.

## Sources

- https://www.ycombinator.com/founders/22796-apoorva-mehta
- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/instacart
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/apoorvamehta/
- https://x.com/apoorva_mehta
- https://www.ycombinator.com/founders/25111-max-mullen
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxmullen/
- https://x.com/max
- https://www.ycombinator.com/founders/21133-brandon-leonardo
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonardo/
- https://x.com/shiftb
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsejpal
- https://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefany-bogatan
- https://company.instacart.com
- https://docs.instacart.com/support/request_technical_support
- https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api

These are the people building the tools we list, named for their public role in the company or project behind a listing, from public pages, with the date it was researched. They don't work for Anchor Terminal (our own team is on the about page, /about/#author). We show public roles, public profiles and what the listing pages show, nothing private. To correct something, send an about or a photo, or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp