Zapier answered integration questions in other SaaS products' forums

While Zapier was still a side project, Wade spent hours a day searching other SaaS products' forums for people asking or complaining about integrations. He explained how to build the integration through the APIs, then mentioned that Zapier made it easier. Each forum link sent about 10 to 20 visitors, and early customers came from this work. The company later reached 600K users within three years.

By Race to Scale Desk, edited by Lila Odinaev. Published 24 Oct 2026. How we work

What they ran

Zapier began as a side project, and the founders kept their day jobs. They pitched a demo at a startup competition in Columbia, Missouri in October 2011. Wade spent hours a day in other SaaS products' forums, looking for people who asked or complained about integrations. He answered with real help first and showed how to reach the APIs and build the integration alone. Only then did he say he was building Zapier, which made those steps much easier.

What happened

A newsletter profile of how Zapier grows says all early customers came from this forum work. Each link sent a small stream of about 10, 15 or 20 visitors. The same profile says Zapier reached 600K users within three years of starting. Zapier's about page now describes a platform that moves data across more than 9,000 apps.

What the account does not show

The visitor counts come from a quoted recollection, and the source shows no tracked data behind them. The source gives no conversion rate from those visits to signups or paying users. The 600K figure is a later total and is not tied to the forum replies. The source does not say exactly when the forum work started or stopped.

Questions

How did Zapier get its first customers?

Wade searched other SaaS products' forums for people asking about integrations, and early customers came from that work. He helped first and mentioned Zapier only afterward.

How much traffic did Zapier's forum answers bring?

Each forum link brought roughly 10 to 20 visitors, by a quoted recollection.

Did the forum tactic drive Zapier to 600K users?

The profile says Zapier reached 600K users within three years, but it does not credit that total to the forum replies.