We've had amazing unicorn CEOs recently on this podcast but today's a first. Wade Foster, CEO and co-founder of Zapier grew his company to a $5B valuation in 2021 on a $1.3M raise in 2012. Let that sink in. The power of product-market fit and listening to your customers is impossible to overstate.

Wade and his co-founders Bryan and Mike launched Zapier in 2012 as part of the YC S12 batch.

The company has grown to more 800 employees in 40 countries and the product is used by 2.2M businesses and integrates more than 5,000 apps that have been used to create more than 25 million zaps, or automated workflows.

Listen and learn...

Wade's humble path from an internship in Columbia, MO... to a $5B unicorn
A simple problem: the Zapier origin story
The Zap that started it all...
Voice-first Zaps? Maybe!
The future of the "citizen developer"... no-code interfaces + enterprise security
Why all the new GenAI apps will create more need for Zaps
The Zapier LLM architecture
How to find product-market fit... from an expert
Creating a company that's a verb: how "Zapier" got its name
Wade reflects on his success and the entrepreneurial journey
What's ahead for Wade and Zapier

References in this episode...

Wade Foster, Zapier co-founder and CEO, discusses the journey from intern to $5B unicorn 35:33 Share

AI and the Future of Work

Shownotes Transcript

Wade Foster, Zapier co-founder and CEO, discusses the journey from intern to $5B unicorn