Zapier CEO and co-founder, Wade Foster, joins on us on Leveling Up today to discuss his business, remote work and the vital importance of building a company culture! It became apparent to Wade quite early on in the journey of Zapier that if they were going to grow in the right way and continue to scale what they were doing, a well-suited company culture was necessary. This led to the development of their ethos and core values and these steps have served the company immensely in recent years! We get to hear from Wade about some of the financial aspects of the company, including their freemium model and the way they lay out their pricing plan. He also comments on leadership, with particular reference to the challenges posed by a crisis. The global pandemic has provided many challenges for us all and Wade weighs in on his approach to these and making the most of the connected opportunities. The conversation also covers the utility of podcast appearances, hiring practices at Zapier, and profit-sharing! Tune in and hear it all!

 

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:21] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast!
• [00:54] Zapier's place in the no-code ecosystem!
• [01:39] A refresher on Zapier and where they are currently as a business. 
• [03:24] The freemium model at Zapier, the pricing model, and how they make money.
• [07:28] Key lessons in growth and scaling for Wade around remote work and company culture. 
• [09:41] Evaluating communication skills during the hiring process. 
• [11:54] Practical steps towards building better company culture!
• [14:41] Employee retention at Zapier and how the remote model contributes to this. 
• [16:09] Lessons that Wade has learned during the pandemic about leadership during crisis.
• [19:45] Feelings about the current uncertainty; the positive and negative sides of the pandemic.
• [21:17] Profit-sharing and employee incentives at Zapier.
• [24:20] How Wade thinks about podcast appearances; qualitative feedback and recruiting.
• [26:11] Wade's favorite recent business book: The Outsiders.
• [29:48] The usefulness of Workona and Krisp!

 

Resources From The Interview:

 

• Zapier

Wade Foster 

Wade Foster on Twitter

Wade Foster Email

Slack

G Suite

QuickBooks

Trello

MailChimp

SalesForce

Stripe

Twilio

Basecamp

Glassdoor

Nathan Barry

Workona

Krisp

 

• Must read book: The Outsiders

 

 

Leave Some Feedback:

 

 

• What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below.

• Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review here

• Subscribe to Leveling Up on iTunes

• Get the non-iTunes RSS Feed

 

 

Connect with Eric Siu: 

 

 

• Growth Everywhere

• Single Grain

• Eric Siu on Twitter