Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, an automation business most recently valued at $5 billion.
In the episode, Wade discusses why Zapier only raised around $1M and unpacks Zapier’s strategies for growing profitably. Wade shares lessons from building one of the first remote-only companies in tech, including key tips for hiring, onboarding, building a great management team, and much more.
Wade is definitely a first principles thinker around all things business. One of the most raw and engaging episodes to date.
(0:00) Intro
(0:50) What does Zapier do?
(4:06) $1.3 million to $5 billion
(12:27) Lessons learned from starting Zapier
(17:23) Zapier's ecosystem and partners
(23:24) What made Zapier outperform competitors?
(28:31) Three friends from Missouri
(32:35) Was it obvious who the successes were going to be?
(40:36) Foundation of the board
(45:18) The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work
(50:45) Building trust among a remote employee base
(53:47) Importance of onboarding experience
(1:00:57) The future of remote work
(1:06:06) Advice for new founders
(1:08:50) Wade's interview style
(1:15:30) Setting goals as a company
(1:18:30) Are CEO coaches just snake oil?
(1:23:44) SEO Landing Pages
(1:27:47) What has you excited about artificial intelligence?
(1:33:29) Relationship with Sam Altman
(1:39:45) What would you tell 23-year-old Wade?
Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Produced: Rashad Assir
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
Music: Griff Lawson
🎙 Listen to the show
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1
Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg
🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1
Follow on Socials
📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow
🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow
🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow
About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.