Remote Work, No-Code, and Products that Sell Themselves (w/ Zapier CEO Wade Foster)

Ben Gilbert (0:01)

So, Wade, thank you so much for joining us.

Wade Foster (0:04)

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Ben Gilbert (0:05)

Can we just get a quick clarification? It is definitely pronounced Zapier, right? Like it's super classy?

Wade Foster (0:11)

Yeah, the fancy version.

Zapier makes you happier. That's the trick we go with. But when you're in the early days, the second P is expensive. Domains are hard to come by.

David Rosenthal (0:22)

That's the reason.

Wade Foster (0:26)

Well, the real reason is actually we wanted API in the name. And so the original logo had API in gray and everything else was in orange.

David Rosenthal (0:35)

I remember that.

Wade Foster (0:37)

Yeah, so it's just three engineers being too clever for our own good.

Ben Gilbert (0:42)

Was the notion immediately right away that they would be called Zaps or was that sort of like an afterthought?

Wade Foster (0:47)

That was always the case. It's like, hey, we had our app directory at the time was called the Zapbook.

And yeah, it's like you set up Zaps. Zaps sound awesome. Zaps, that sounds, I don't know, it sounds weird.

Ben Gilbert (0:59)

I feel like zapping is a thing that I shouldn't do.

Wade Foster (1:03)

Yeah, zapping is what all the teenagers are doing these days, right? It's not good for them.

But zapping is fun.

Ben Gilbert (1:10)

It is. All right, well, since we're into the show and for listeners who don't already know who you are, David, can you introduce our guest a little bit?

David Rosenthal (1:18)

Yeah, so Wade, who we are super lucky to have with us, is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, as we discussed, a company that, to the best of our knowledge and on the internet, hasn't really raised capital or at least not capital like many of your peers, doesn't have an office, doesn't have salespeople, and your product is connecting other people's products.

Yet despite that, or maybe because of all that, it's actually one of the most interesting private SaaS companies in the world today. You guys have grown to over 50 million in profitable ARR in just seven short years, and we are super excited to have you here to dive into the whole story behind it. Thanks for joining us.

Wade Foster (1:55)

Yeah, you're welcome. Thanks for having me. It should be fun.

David Rosenthal (1:58)

As our listeners know, and Wade, you're about to find out, we like to go way back on the show. Can you tell us about the band that you guys were in before the company?

Wade Foster (2:09)

Sure. So Brian and I were in a jazz and blues combo. We'd play like Miles Davis stuff and John Coltrane stuff, just like around Columbia, Missouri. It's not like there's a ton of places to gig in Columbia, Missouri, but enough.

David Rosenthal (2:27)

Did you guys start in college?

Wade Foster (2:28)

That's actually how I met Brian. I played in the college jazz band, but Brian I knew because there was like this combo thing that was happening sort of over on the side.

And I never played in a group with him at the time, but I had heard his group play. And so like I knew they were good. He was a good bass player and I knew they were. His group always was like writing songs. Most of the rest of us were covering things and they were always like writing new stuff.

David Rosenthal (2:54)

Sounds like typically like he's an engineer and you know, you're a product manager. Sounds about right.

Wade Foster (2:58)

Yeah, something like that, right? So later on, I got reconnected to him because I was working at a small software company and I was trying to teach myself how to code. I was like getting more into this.

There wasn't like a ton of engineers in town and Brian was one of the few that I knew. I was like, oh, I remember that guy who played in the bass and like wrote songs. Like, I'm pretty sure he's making stuff. You could find, like, you just see him on the internet and he can do all sorts of things. So I hit him up and I was like, hey, you know, like, you know, hang out. We caught up one time. I was like, hey, I'm trying to like build this, you know, site and trying to make this thing. You think you could help me out? He's like, sure. And so I was, you know, he helped me out.

Ben Gilbert (3:36)

And this is like 2012, 2013? 2010

Wade Foster (3:41)

Yeah, probably 2010, yeah. Then he was like, by the way, we need a better sax player.