Max Rhodes

Rhodes graduated from Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry with a B.A. in history. He is a former small business owner with an interest in the impact of local commerce on society.⁠[1]

From 2013 to 2016 Rhodes worked at Square as an early product lead, working on Cash App and serving as a founding member of Square Capital. At Square he worked alongside his future Faire co-founders Marcelo Cortes, Daniele Perito and Jeffrey Kolovson.⁠[2][3]

Square Capital helped more than 230,000 merchants access capital.⁠[1]

During his time at Square, Rhodes came to see how technology could improve people’s lives, especially those of small business owners. After trying several ideas, including selling high-end umbrellas, the founding team decided to build an online wholesale marketplace.⁠[3]

In 2017 Rhodes co-founded Faire with Cortes, Perito and Kolovson and became its CEO; the team took part in Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 (W17) batch and later its Fall 2018 Growth Program.⁠[4][2]

In December 2018 Faire announced $100 million across a Series B led by Lightspeed Venture PartnersLightspeed Venture PartnersLightspeed Venture Partners backs companies from seed through late-stage financing. Its website distinguishes Lightspeed Management Company (LSVP) from Lightspeed India Partners (LSIP): the two are separately operated investment advisers, with the U.S., European, and Israeli offices belonging to LSVP and the India and Southeast Asia offices belonging to LSIP.Open the full entry and a Series C led by Y Combinator’s Continuity fund. Rhodes wrote in a company blog post: “Our mission at Faire is to empower entrepreneurs to chase their dreams.”⁠[5]

In November 2021 Faire announced a $400 million Series G at a $12.4 billion valuation. Rhodes said: “With our global reach, Faire is providing an even greater opportunity for the independent retail community to compete against big-box giants.”⁠[4]

In a July 2022 interview for Y Combinator’s “Learnings of a CEO” series, Rhodes described how Faire had moved from six-week product cycles and centralized decisions at the seed stage to six-month cycles and decentralized decisions as a company of more than 1,000 people. He likened leading the larger company to “driving an aircraft carrier versus a speedboat.”⁠[2]

On November 17, 2025 Rhodes announced an employee tender offer at a $5.2 billion valuation led by WCM Investment Management. He said the investment “validates our progress toward building a high-growth, durable business and our vision for the future of the B2B wholesale industry,” and wrote: “It’s inevitable that this market will move online.”⁠[6][7]

Faire: Official website: https://www.faire.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]