The CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate From the Bay

Zapier introduced a $10,000 de-location package in March for Bay Area hires who move anywhere. Foster says the offer helped raise applicant numbers by about 30%, though most of the roughly 15 people hired since then came from outside the Bay Area. Remote work lets employees live near family, friends or hobbies instead of where jobs are concentrated.

Zapier brings new hires and their managers to the Bay Area for a week of in-person onboarding, giving them time with founders and colleagues. Starting as a side project helped the company build habits around written processes, pull requests and shared tools. As the team grew, it added management structure around 20 people and more managers around 40 to 50, with shared values and Manager Tools training helping establish a consistent baseline.

Foster says Zapier joined Y Combinator mainly for its network and introductions, which helped the Missouri-based team build partner relationships. The company raised some money to cover early costs and try freemium, then stopped because revenue and growth made further funding unnecessary. He advises founders to assess their market and what will build a moat; Zapier's many integrations, often built by partners, helped distinguish its product.

Zapier was expanding into enterprise, where purchasing processes add friction and customers have needs beyond the core product. Foster describes career plans that helped a support employee move into platform engineering, and says managers use weekly one-on-ones to discuss progress and goals. The company also uses weekly Pair Buddies and informal Slack channels to help remote colleagues connect; Foster reports 97% employee retention over 12 months and an employee Net Promoter Score of 72.

Foster says repeated practice can speed learning more than trying to perfect each attempt. He applies that idea to support work, where answering more tickets creates more opportunities to learn, and to racquetball, where he practiced several times a week with coaching. He also seeks advice from founders about a year ahead of him and expects passing 100 employees to test whether early team members thrive as the company grows.