AI Agents, Clearly Explained in 40 Minutes | Wade Foster (Zapier)
Zapier CEO on why we need to stop calling everything an AI agent and what actually works instead. Plus a live demo of his email triage workflow and how to automate your calendar.
Dear subscribers,
Today, I want to share a new episode with Wade Foster.
Wade is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier. We’re both sick of everyone calling everything an “AI agent” so we had some real talk about what actually works instead. Wade gave me a practical tutorial of his AI workflow that triages 100+ emails to 10 and shared exactly how to find AI automation opportunities on your calendar.
Watch now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.
Wade and I talked about:
(00:00) Why most people asking for agents actually want workflows
(01:25) The AI automation spectrum explained with real examples
(05:16) Live demo: Wade’s email agent that triages 100+ emails down to 10
(13:27) The difference between APIs vs MCPs
(17:05) Wade’s 90/10 rule for getting the most out of AI
(18:52) Making Zapier AI-first: Why the CEO memo isn’t enough
(24:08) Wade’s response to AI influencers saying “RIP Zapier”
(32:09) How Zapier tests for AI fluency in job interviews
(35:31) How to identify what to automate with AI in your calendar
This episode is brought to you by…Sevalla
Sevalla is the easiest and fastest way to deploy your web projects. Most deployment platforms charge per seat or hit you with surprise bills when your app scales.
Sevalla handles apps, databases, and static sites in one place with straightforward usage-based pricing. There are no caps on team size or parallel builds, and traffic between your services is free.
Top 10 takeaways I learned from this episode
Start with agentic workflows, not agents. “When people say they want an agent, you realize they actually just want an agentic workflow. Full agents are just not reliable for most complex tasks.” Agentic workflows are currently the happy middle ground with both deterministic and AI steps.
Build a small, focused agent for one specific task. Wade’s email agent does one thing well: “I get about 100 emails and it gives me 10 to look at.” He created categories (action required, EA should handle, FYI only) and lets the agent triage everything. The best agents are laser-focused on a specific task.
