Startup Stories - Mixergy #2289 Building companies using Zapier’s AI automations
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Dec 19, 2025 
In a fascinating discussion, Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier, dives into the transformative power of AI in automation. He shares how local businesses leverage Zapier to streamline operations, including lead qualification and customer engagement. Wade also contrasts OpenAI's chat agents with Zapier’s event-triggered workflows and highlights innovative automation ideas across various sectors. He demonstrates creating a meeting brief agent, showcasing the potential of AI-enhanced workflows that boost efficiency and output for businesses.
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Roofer Became An Automation Agency
- A roofer turned his trade into a roofing automation agency by selling Zapier-based workflows to peers.
- He automated lead capture, follow-ups, scheduling, and payments so roofers could spend more time on roofs than on admin.
AI Unlocks Unstructured Data In Workflows
- AI lets workflows handle unstructured data like emails and feedback, enabling far richer personalization than mail-merge.
- That allows businesses to generate custom outreach and automatically categorize messy inputs for routing and action.
Agents Need App Triggers, Not Just Chat
- OpenAI's Agent Builder focuses on chat-triggered agents while Zapier triggers agents from any app event.
- Combining agents with Zapier gives agents access to thousands of apps and real-world signals beyond chat start events.