How Zapier Got Its First Paying Customer
It all started with a simple idea: the internet shouldn’t be siloed. Tasks across different apps and websites ought to be integrable and manageable in a unified workflow. But the founder wasn’t sure how to build it—or how to get users to pay for it.
So he hung out in various online communities, hunting for posts where people were struggling to connect their apps. He found users who clearly had this need, reached out, explained what he was building, and had a genuine conversation about their requirements (even though the person had already solved the problem themselves—most users still appreciate having a second option). Along the way, he won the user’s trust, who paid him $100. That validated the demand, and the founder built exactly what the user needed. (The user even posted on social media about paying for a product that didn’t exist yet—honestly, the willingness to pay for early-stage ideas abroad is impressive.)
Zapier’s official blog still features this story today.
We’ve covered this product before: Zapier, a workflow automation and integration tool.
