How One Hackathon Took Zapier’s AI Usage From 10% to 97% | CEO of Zapier

Wade Foster is the CEO of Zapier, a company that sits between 7,000+ apps and runs millions of automations every single day. That gives him a front-row seat to how companies are actually adopting AI, not just talking about it.In this episode, Wade breaks down the exact decisions he made at Zapier to go from 10% AI usage to 97% company-wide, why agents and workflows are not the same thing, and what most leaders are getting completely wrong about AI fluency.What you'll learn:The difference between agents and workflows (and when to use which)What triggered Zapier's internal "Code Red" after GPT-4 launchedThe one-week hackathon that took AI adoption from 10% to 50% overnightThe AI fluency rubric Zapier built: Unacceptable, Acceptable, Adaptive, TransformativeWhy leaders who aren't using AI are the biggest bottleneck in their companiesHow to measure AI ROI: floor raisers vs ceiling raisersHow AI now handles 50% of Zapier's customer support ticketsWade's personal "advisory council" of AI sub-agents he uses for every major decisionWhy building a company today is 10x cheaper but distribution is 10x harderThe truth about fundraising: you're selling your company, not raising moneyHow Zapier stayed profitable by only hiring when it hurtGuest: Wade Foster, CEO of Zapier LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster/Company - Zapier: https://zapier.comHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comEpisode highlights0:00 - Intro1:13 - The Seinfeld Quote & Kanye Text story3:16 - Workflows vs. Agents: What's the difference?6:09 - Zapier's Code Red moment8:55 - The hackathon that moved AI adoption from 10% to 50%12:06 - Making AI fluency a hiring requirement13:47 - Building the AI fluency rubric16:40 - Why leaders are the biggest AI bottleneck18:12 - Revenue impact of going AI-first22:09 - Would Wade build Zapier differently today?23:20 - Is Zapier's moat at risk from agents?24:59 - Staying profitable with minimal capital28:37 - The riskiest contrarian bet that paid off31:52 - Wade's 3 personal AI workflows36:53 - Favorite books for foundersGTMnow is the media brand of GTMfund, sharing go-to-market insights from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by 350+ of the best GTM executives. Subscribe for weekly episodes with the operators, founders, and investors behind the fastest-growing software companies.The GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.