# Wade Foster

> Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, the automation platform connecting 7,000+ apps for over 2 million businesses. He built Zapier from a 2011 hackathon win in Columbia, Missouri into a ~$7 billion company on just $1.4 million in primary venture capital — one of the most capital-efficient growth stories in SaaS history. A jazz saxophonist from Jefferson City, Missouri with an industrial engineering degree and an MBA from Mizzou, Foster has led Zapier as a fully remote, profitable company since 2014, and is now positioning it as the AI orchestration layer for the agentic era.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Zapier
- **Organizations:** Zapier
- **From:** Jefferson City, Missouri, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou), Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of Missouri-Columbia, Trulaske College of Business, Summer 2012 Batch (Accelerator), Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Built Zapier to ~$7B valuation on only $1.4M in primary venture capital — extraordinary capital efficiency in SaaS, Zapier profitable since 2014 with 730+ employees fully remote, Founding team retained ~80% equity at $5B valuation (2021)

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Graduated from Mizzou with BS in Industrial Engineering
- **2010** — Completed MBA at Mizzou Trulaske College of Business
- **2009-2011** — Marketing intern and customer development lead at The Idea Works, Inc. — taught himself marketing by reading Seth Godin
- **2011** — Email Marketing Manager at Veterans United Home Loans — reconnected with co-founder Bryan Helmig through jazz quartet
- **2011-10** — Co-founded Zapier; won Columbia, MO's first Startup Weekend with the prototype
- **2011-12** — Left Veterans United to pursue Zapier full-time
- **2012** — Applied to Y Combinator (second attempt after initial rejection); accepted into Summer 2012 batch
- **2012-10** — Zapier raised $1.2-1.4M seed round from Bessemer, DFJ, and angels
- **2014** — Zapier became profitable — and has remained so ever since
- **2017** — Named to Forbes 30 Under 30
- **2021-01** — Sequoia and Steadfast Financial acquired secondary shares at $5B valuation; founding team retained ~80% equity
- **2022** — Won EY Entrepreneur of the Year — Bay Area
- **2023-06** — Led Zapier through ~10% workforce reduction (~100 employees), shifting to AI-first strategy
- **2024** — Acquired Vowel (March) and NoCodeOps (July); launched Zapier Central AI workspace
- **2025** — Acquired Utopian Labs; launched Zapier MCP at ZapConnect; mandated AI fluency for all new hires; company reached 97% internal AI adoption
- **2026** — Launched Zapier Agents and Zapier Canvas; Zapier valued at ~$7B

## Achievements

- Built Zapier to ~$7B valuation on only $1.4M in primary venture capital — extraordinary capital efficiency in SaaS
- Zapier profitable since 2014 with 730+ employees fully remote
- Founding team retained ~80% equity at $5B valuation (2021)
- Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017)
- EY Entrepreneur of the Year — Bay Area (2022)
- Forbes Cloud 100 — five consecutive years (ranked #13 in 2021)
- Mizzou Engineering '150 Years of Leadership' honoree (2022)
- Scaled Zapier to 7,000+ app integrations and 2M+ business customers
- Led Zapier to 97% internal AI adoption in under two years
- Won Columbia, MO's inaugural Startup Weekend in 2011 with Zapier prototype

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Gave exclusive interview to Create With about remote work philosophy, AI landscape, and 2026 predictions
- **2026-02** — Featured on Speed of Culture podcast discussing Zapier's transformation
- **2025-10** — Zapier acquired Utopian Labs to expand AI agent capabilities
- **2025-05** — Mandated AI fluency (4-tier rating scale) for all new Zapier hires
- **2025-04** — Announced Zapier MCP integration at ZapConnect 2025 conference
- **2025** — Zapier reached 97% internal AI adoption, up from 10% before a company 'Code Red' hackathon week
- **2024-07** — Acquired NoCodeOps to expand no-code platform capabilities
- **2024-03** — Acquired Vowel (AI video conferencing tool) and launched Zapier Central experimental AI workspace

## Links

- Website: https://wadefoster.net/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/wadefoster
- GitHub: https://github.com/WadeFoster
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/microwavefoster/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/wade-foster
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-25