Interview with Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier

In this episode, we go behind the scenes of Zapier's spectacular growth story with its founder Wade Foster.

Published on Nov 25, 2021

Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, the leading automation tool in the ever-growing no-code space.

Earlier this year, Zapier reached $5 billion in valuation and $140 million in recurring revenue — one might think of it as a standard Silicon Valley startup that has raised lots of money with VCs but, apart from having done YC, the company has in reality taken a very different path. Wade and his co-founder started Zapier in Columbia, Missouri. They have been running the company entirely remote before the pandemic made it commonplace. And, they have only raised a total of 1,4 million dollars in funding, which gives them a 100x ratio of ARR/funding.

In this episode, Wade tells us the story behind Zapier’s growth, shares some invaluable tips for startups looking to scale, speaks about the company's long-term vision for automation, and a lot more.

Listen to the full episode on Apple PodcastSpotifyDeezer & Google Podcast.

Topics

00:22 — Introduction with Cindy Yang

01:49 — Wade Foster's background and founder story 🎷➡️⚡️

04:48 — Surprising use cases of Zapier

07:14 — Zapier's new product, Transfer

08:17 — Wade's approach to VC fundraising

09:31 How Zapier reached 140M ARR in 10 years

12:31 — The importance of defining your go-to-market strategy early on

13:55 — Why Zapier does not have a Sales team

16:17 — Full remote work and "de-location" packages

23:28 — Technologies that Wade is excited about: Web3 and AI / Machine Learning

25:47 — Zapier's vision on the long term

27:48 — Wade's advice for early-stage founders

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

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