CEO Rapidfire: Zapier CEO Wade Foster On Why Startups Should Keep Being Weird

Welcome to CEO Rapidfire, fast-paced questions with today’s most successful founders and CEOs. Be sure to look for these special Q&A editions of my newsletter, where I’ll share insights from the amazing leaders in my network.

My latest guest is Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier, who thinks startups should stay weird. (More details below!) 

Zapier, as its millions of happy users know, lets anyone create integrations between apps, without knowing any code. Customers  create “Zaps” that automate repetitive tasks, saving time and simplifying life. To date, Zapier has 7,000-plus apps on its platform, which is used by more than 2.2 million businesses, including Canva, Lyft and Sysco. 

Wade was born and raised in Missouri, where he earned a BS in industrial engineering and an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He started out as a customer development lead for software firm The Idea Works, then joined Veterans United Home Loans as an email marketing manager. In 2011, he co-founded Zapier as a side project with Veterans United colleagues Bryan Helmig and Mike Knoop, with whom he also played saxophone in a jazz quartet. 

After Wade moved to Silicon Valley the following year, Zapier joined Y Combinator’s startup accelerator program. The company is famous for bootstrapping itself rather than relying on venture capital. Starting with just $1.3 million in funding in 2012, it used a product-led growth strategy to become profitable in three years. By its secondary round in 2021 — a share purchase by Sequoia Capital and Steadfast Ventures — Zapier had $140 million in annual recurring revenue and was valued at $5 billion. 

Wade advises founders to dare to be different. “We’ve been a weird company through and through,” he says, noting that besides not raising much money, Zapier was early to remote work. “That weird thing is what really helps you stand out in a market when there’s a lot of things that look kind of the same.”

If a company wants to stick around the long haul, it must stay in love with its customers, Wade maintains. “There’s a lot of hand-to-hand combat,” he says of founders’ role in customer acquisition and go-to-market. “You’ve got to get out there, you’ve got to talk to folks.” 

Here’s what Wade shared in our CEO Rapidfire interview:

The one secret to succeeding as a leader, in 5 words or less. Show up every day.

What was the most exciting “minute” of your leadership journey? Making our first dollar. There’s a reason entrepreneurs frame and hang that first dollar.

One truth you wish you knew about leadership before starting? Not everyone will like you. And while I knew that academically, it’s different in reality. Facing down these 50/50 calls where you know half the folks will be disappointed in you is tough. The main thing I’ve learned is to be transparent and face it head-on, and most people will respect you for the tough choices. 

If you had to do battle with a giant, what weapon would you use? I’d probably go with banana peels from Mario Cart and leave a trail behind me. Hopefully the giant would give up because it would get tired of falling down all the time. 

Your worst mistake as a leader (and what you learned from it): Keeping a teammate long past when it was productive. Caused more headaches than it was worth for everyone. I’m still not great with this, but I’m learning to be much more honest about when it’s no longer a fit. 

Top 3 websites, blogs, or podcasts you can’t imagine your day without: Acquired, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, The Peter Attia Drive.

What popular leadership advice do you disagree with? “Hire great people, and get out of their way.” The first part is 100% true. The second part leads too many leaders astray. It’s too common to see leaders who’ve abdicated their responsibilities. They no longer understand their functions, teams, work, etc., and the results are often a slow degradation of quality output. 

One life hack you can’t live without: A great night’s sleep. 

The one thing that makes a good leader great is: Listening and being curious. 

Your secret to building a great team is: Hire fewer people than you think you need. Too many cooks in the kitchen creates real challenges.  

The key to navigating hypergrowth is: Exceptionally high hiring standards.  

Every leader must read… Constantly. To be a great leader, you have to be an insatiable learner. So read a lot. Talk to smart people.  

What are you most excited about at work right now? How much AI is impacting companies' abilities to automate critical work. 

Your one “non-negotiable” in business (or life) is… I won’t trade off for my family. They come first. 

Thank you, Wade, for sharing your leadership thoughts this week. To learn more, follow Wade on LinkedIn.

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