Building Zapier from first principles | Contrarian takes on growth, hiring, fundraising | Wade Foster (Co-founder & CEO)

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
• How Wade thinks about fundraising
• Why Wade lives by “don’t hire ‘til it hurts”
• Key lessons on people management

Referenced:

• Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/
• Bingo Card Creator: https://www.bingocardcreator.com
• Bryan Helmig, Co-founder of Zapier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanhelmig
• John Wooden quote: https://www.thewoodeneffect.com/be-quick-but-dont-hurry/
• Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/
• Mike Knoop, Co-founder of Zapier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeknoop
• Patrick Mckenzie, creator of Bingo Card Creator: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmckenzie/
• PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/
• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/
• SMBs: https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/SMB-small-and-medium-sized-business-or-small-and-midsized-business
• Stripe: https://stripe.com/
• Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke: https://www.amazon.com.au/Thinking-Bets-Annie-Duke/dp/0735216355
• Tony Xu, CEO of DoorDash: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xutony/
• Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/
• Veterans United Home Loans: https://www.veteransunited.com/
• Zapier: https://zapier.com/

Where to find Brett Berson

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brettberson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Where to find Wade Foster

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wadefoster
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster

Where to find First Round Capital:

• Website: https://firstround.com/
• First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
• This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps

(05:46) The fascinating story of Veterans United

(06:55) Lessons from Veterans United

(08:35) The most important things Zapier got right

(10:13) How Zapier built their powerful distribution engine

(16:56) Why Zapier didn't move to focusing on enterprise

(19:06) How Wade thinks about product market fit

(24:26) The role of skill vs luck in Zapier's success

(26:23) What was hard about building Zapier

(30:03) Key lessons on people management

(32:35) Rule of thumb: "don't hire ‘til it hurts”

(36:42) Zapier's #1 hiring mistake

(42:50) How to test for scrappiness in the hiring process

(44:31) Do hiring playbooks transfer between companies?

(50:01) The 12 year evolution of Zapier's product

(53:20) How Zapier makes product decisions

(55:40) How Zapier thought about competition

(60:11) How to foster intellectual honesty in yourself and your org

(65:35) The people who most impacted Wade's worldviews