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Zapier's CEO shares his personal AI stack | Wade Foster

Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier. In this episode, Wade shows how he uses meeting transcripts, Zapier agents, and even Grok to analyze company culture, evaluate interview candidates, and source talent from unexpected places. He explains why CEOs need to lead by example when it comes to AI adoption and shares practical workflows that any executive can implement to make hiring more effective and efficient. *What you’ll learn:* 1. How to use meeting transcripts to extract your company’s “unspoken culture” and compare it against your stated values 2. A workflow for creating AI interview evaluators that assess candidates against your job descriptions and company values 3. How to use Zapier agents to provide objective feedback on candidate interviews while checking your own biases 4. Why CEOs should participate in AI “hackathons” and “show and tells” rather than just delegating AI adoption 5. A surprising technique for using Grok to find “diamonds in the rough” talent outside traditional recruiting channels 6. How AI enables companies to complete tasks that were previously not economically viable *This entire episode is brought to you by:* Brex—The intelligent finance platform built for founders: https://brex.com/howiai *In this episode, we cover:* (00:00) Introduction to Wade Foster (02:32) Zapier’s AI adoption (06:50) Creating AI fluency rubrics (08:37) Using Granola to extract company culture from meeting transcripts (10:49) Practical use cases for company culture rubrics (13:38) Building an AI interview evaluation agent in Zapier (16:50) Using Copilot to improve agent prompts (18:49) Ideas for enhancing the interview agent (22:31) Mistakes people make when using agents (25:11) Using Grok to find talent on social media platforms (33:39) Recap of AI workflows for recruiting and hiring (34:40) Lightning round and final thoughts *Tools referenced:* • Zapier: https://zapier.com/ • Zapier Agents: https://zapier.com/agents • Granola: https://granola.ai/ • Grok: https://grok.x.ai/ • ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/ • Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/ *Other references:* • Zapier values: https://zapier.com/about • How Zapier’s EA built an army of AI interns to automate meeting prep, strengthen team culture, and scale internal alignment | Cortney Hickey: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-zapiers-ea-built-an-army-of-ai • How this CEO turned 25,000 hours of sales calls into a self-learning go-to-market engine | Matt Britton (Suzy): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-this-ceo-turned-25000-hours-of *Where to find Wade Foster:* Zapier: https://zapier.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster/ X: https://twitter.com/wadefoster *Where to find Claire Vo:* ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/ Website: https://clairevo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/ X: https://x.com/clairevo _Production and marketing by https://penname.co/._ _For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co._

Claire VohostWade Fosterguest
Jan 5, 202641mWatch on YouTube ↗

CHAPTERS

  1. 0:00 – 2:32

    Why “AI memos” fail: leadership needs hands-on play space

    Claire and Wade open by critiquing the common CEO pattern of delegating AI adoption via a memo and pushing the work down the org. Wade argues leaders must create structured experimentation time so teams build comfort and reduce fear through direct tool use.

  2. 2:32 – 6:50

    Why Zapier leaned in early: credibility, learning loops, and values

    Wade explains Zapier’s motivation for aggressive internal AI usage: delivering more customer value and aligning internal behavior with external evangelism. He frames mistakes as valuable learning that can be shared, supported by Zapier’s value of “Don’t be a robot, build a robot.”

  3. 6:50 – 8:37

    Making AI fluency measurable: rubrics that change what gets rewarded

    Claire highlights Zapier’s use of AI fluency rubrics (especially for PMs) to clarify expectations across levels. The conversation focuses on how rubrics turn vague guidance into measurable behaviors that people can invest in.

  4. 8:37 – 10:49

    Turning meeting data into a culture handbook with Granola Recipes

    Wade demos a workflow using Granola’s “Recipes” prompt to generate an “unspoken company culture handbook” from meeting transcripts. He emphasizes how aggregated meeting data captures real operating norms more specifically than traditional values docs.

  5. 10:49 – 13:38

    Operationalizing culture: from inferred norms to hiring and performance tools

    They discuss applying the inferred culture output to practical artifacts like job descriptions, hiring/firing expectations, and scoring prompts for interviews. Claire notes the value of stress-testing stated values against observed behavior in daily communication.

  6. 13:38 – 16:50

    Always-on feedback: AI coaching bots for meetings (including the CEO)

    Wade describes using AI as an “infinitely patient coach” that provides more feedback than humans can. This helps overcome power dynamics that often prevent candid coaching, especially for executives.

  7. 16:50 – 18:49

    Building an interview evaluation agent in Zapier Agents (Granola → Zapier)

    Wade shows a Zapier Agent triggered when Granola adds an interview note to a folder. The agent evaluates the transcript against the job description and Zapier values, then emails a yes/no/maybe recommendation with rationale as a bias check and thought partner.

  8. 18:49 – 22:31

    Improving agent prompts with Copilot: adding guardrails and removing PII

    They use Zapier Copilot to update the agent’s instructions—specifically to strip personally identifiable information from outputs. The segment emphasizes prompt copilots as practical tools that raise prompt quality without requiring expert prompt-writing.

  9. 22:31 – 25:11

    Enhancements to the interview agent: coach the interviewer + faster triage

    Claire proposes two upgrades: include feedback on the interviewer’s performance and put the hiring recommendation in the email subject line for speed. Wade implements the suggestions quickly, highlighting how idea generation is often the bottleneck, not execution.

  10. 25:11 – 33:39

    Common agent mistake: copying today’s workflow instead of imagining ‘infinite interns’

    Claire and Wade discuss how people underuse agents by only automating what they currently do. The better approach is to imagine ideal execution with unlimited time/resources, then translate that expanded workflow into agent steps—unlocking tasks previously not worth the cost.

  11. 33:39 – 34:40

    Sourcing ‘diamonds in the rough’ with Grok: recruiting beyond LinkedIn

    Wade demos using Grok to find under-the-radar social media talent by querying X for creators aligned with Zapier/no-code/automation. They iterate on constraints (modest following, geography, avoiding bots) and extend the approach to YouTubers and influencer sourcing.

  12. 34:40 – 41:27

    Recap + lightning round: talent demand, job evolution, and prompt style

    Claire summarizes the end-to-end recruiting/culture workflows, then asks about roles that remain competitive. Wade says top talent is in demand everywhere—especially engineering—while hyper-specialized “promptable” analyst tasks are at risk unless elevated; he ends with his pragmatic prompting style when models misbehave.

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