Building Zapier from first principles | Contrarian takes on growth, hiring, fundraising | Wade Foster (Co-founder & CEO)
Oct 5, 2023
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Wade Foster, Co-founder & CEO at Zapier, discusses the unorthodox decisions behind Zapier's success, their powerful distribution engine, and the impact of Veterans United. He shares insights on product market fit, fundraising, and people management. The podcast explores unconventional strategies, adapting to change, and the importance of intellectual honesty.
Zapier's unconventional approach of being a fully remote company allowed them to attract top talent from outside traditional tech hotspots.
Zapier's focus on building a robust app directory and SEO-driven distribution engine helped them rank highly in Google search results and drive organic traffic to their platform.
Zapier's principle of 'don't hire till it hurts' emphasized deliberate hiring decisions, addressing bottlenecks, and ensuring new hires' success.
Deep dives
1. Scaling Zapier's remote work model
Wade Foster discusses how Zapier became a fully remote company long before the pandemic. This unconventional approach allowed them to attract top talent from outside traditional tech hotspots.
2. Developing a strong distribution engine
Foster shares how Zapier focused on building a robust app directory and SEO-driven distribution engine. By creating landing pages for specific integrations, they were able to rank highly in Google search results and drive organic traffic to their platform.
3. Emphasizing the importance of hiring timing
Zapier followed the principle of 'don't hire till it hurts,' which meant being deliberate and cautious in their hiring decisions. They prioritized addressing bottlenecks in the business and only hired when they could clearly define the need and ensure the new hire's success.
4. Navigating challenges in management and team growth
Foster acknowledges that one of their biggest mistakes was not hiring managers and executives earlier in the company's life. They learned the importance of strong management and the value of hiring individuals who were willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work, even at a senior level.
Building a Dynamic Team for Early Stage Companies
When hiring for early stage companies, it's important to find individuals who can adapt and learn on the job. While experienced professionals can bring valuable expertise, there is a delicate tension between implementing past learnings and matching the unique needs of the new company. Hiring someone who has a dynamic problem-solving skill set and can draw from diverse backgrounds and industries is valuable. These individuals can borrow from different playbooks and assemble the puzzle pieces in novel ways, bringing a fresh and intuitive perspective to the company.
The Evolution of Zapier's Product over 12 Years
Zapier's product has evolved significantly over the years. Initially, it started as a simple integration platform, enabling single trigger-single action workflows. However, it grew into an automation platform, allowing multiple steps and more complex workflows. The addition of a developer platform expanded the number of supported apps from two to 6,000. Collaboration features and a visual editor were later introduced, making it easier to create and visualize workflows. Furthermore, Zapier has expanded into new products, such as tables, interfaces, and an AI chatbot builder, informed by customer needs and the desire to explore new opportunities.
Wade Foster is the Co-founder & CEO at Zapier, a platform for building workflow automations without a developer. Zapier was started during 2011 in Columbia, Missouri, and by 2021, it was valued at $5b, having only raised $1.3m. Prior to founding Zapier, Wade had just two professional jobs, and had never managed or hired anyone. He worked as a PM on a web app used by 20k students, and as an Email Marketing Manager at Veterans United - a role that had a significant influence on Zapier’s eventual success.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
The stories and thinking behind Zapier’s most unorthodox decisions
How Wade thinks about product market fit
How Zapier built their powerful distribution engine
The fascinating story of Veterans United, and its impact on Zapier
