Zapier

Head of Enterprise Innovation

NoCodeOps (acquired by Zapier)

Co-Founder & Community Member

Co-Founder & CEO

Compass

Solutions Architect, National Operations

National Agent Experience Specialist

Gett

‌• Enabled 50% reduction in driver onboarding time though creation of streamlined digital workflow (Defined requirements, sourced white-label platform, customized features, built Applicant Tracking System on Google Sheets, and deployed iOS app for Brand Ambassadors)
‌• Results: 10x driver growth (3K to 30K+); Same-day driver activations (US record time); First self-service driver onboarding station globally
‌• Producer & Director of US Driver Training Video in conjunction with customizing LMS platform for scaling driver onboarding experience
‌• Developed & implemented SalesForce integrated web form enabling drivers to update documents; Reduced SLA from 5 days to under 2 hrs
‌• Tech Day B2C Brand Activation Project: Secured title sponsorship; Built gamified interactive experience driving 800+ new users in 1 day

US Head of Driver Onboarding Product

• Pioneered and executed the company’s first US Brand Ambassador (BA) Program, onboarding new drivers in the field in entirety 
• Majorly contributed to over 70% reduction in driver acquisition cost through optimizing BA pay structure, deploying technology enabling BAs to recruit drivers offline, creating and analyzing KPIs, and implementing feedback loops to allow for continual improvement
• Created channel-specific landing pages to track ROI of Multi-Million Dollar OOH Campaign; Increased conversions by 50% with A/B testing
• Established strategic partnerships (ex: Luxor Car Dealer, Large Auto Brokerage) to expedite ongoing driver lead generation

US Driver Acquisition Team Lead

Your NYC Concierge

• Clients included: Fever, TableList, SeatGeek, Served by Stadium, and Gett
• Partnered with $5M-$640M funded companies to garner 5K+ app installs via street teams; Generated $40K in 6 months; Recruited by Gett
• Built company-specific playbooks with methodology/unique breakdown of product knowledge; Managed up to 15 brand ambassadors
• Administered ongoing quantitative analysis of BA performance that pinpointed locations to reach 300 installs/day KPI

CEO & Co-Founder

Handy HQ

• Led transition of street team from an awareness campaign to on-site voucher sale; ROI increase prompted replication in several markets 
• Top performer in NYC market; Trained management on brand activation methodology and sales technique which was pushed to scale

Lead Brand Ambassador

Davenport Theatrical Enterprises

• Created and maintained street teams for the following Broadway and Off-Broadway shows:  Avenue Q, Rent, Godspell, Million Dollar Quartet, & The Gazillion Bubble Show
• Launched “Your Broadway Genius” Street Team which sold tickets to Broadway & Off Broadway shows in Times Square, direct-to-consumer
• Hired and trained 30+ brand ambassadors to cross-functionally serve show-specific promotional and direct-to-consumer sales teams

Street Team Manager

Empowering Ops Professionals that use #NoCode with Operator (an automation management platform) and community at NoCodeOps 🧰

I lead Enterprise Innovation at Zapier, focusing on redefining how businesses scale automation. Previously, I was the co-founder and CEO of NoCodeOps, a community and automation management platform acquired by Zapier. Before that, I built the onboarding program for 15,000+ real estate agents at Compass. With 8+ years in operations, internal systems, and automation, I’m passionate about empowering teams with no-code solutions.

Fun fact: Before tech, I was an actor—appearing on Law & Order, in films at Cannes and Tribeca, and in way too many off-off-off Broadway shows.

Families in 25 states will lose their SNAP benefits on November 1st. I can’t just watch that happen, & I’m done feeling powerless. Join me?

A few days ago I found an incredible resource called Lemontree.

Anyone can text GET FOOD to 90847, and a real human replies 10 AM–6 PM every day to help them find nearby food support. It’s fast. It’s free. It’s real.

The problem is, most people who need it don’t know it exists.

So here’s one thing we can all do this week:

🟠 Print this poster and hang it where people will see it: grocery stores, bus stops, laundromats, apartment buildings, libraries, churches, community boards.

🟡 Or post the image and this text in your local online groups (Facebook, Nextdoor, Reddit city threads, etc.) anywhere your neighbors hang out.

If your poster or post helps even one family, or one person sees it and sends it to someone who needs it, that’s enough.

BONUS: People help when they see others helping.
👉 In the comments share what city, state you plan to post in.
👉 Repost this. 


DOUBLE BONUS:
💸 Make a direct donation to Lemontree: 
👉 foodhelpline.org/donate

If this helps even one family, it’s worth it.

#OneThingToHelp #TechForGood #Community #SNAP #FoodHelp #MutualAid #LemonTree #HumanFirst

Disclaimer: I’m not connected to foodhelpline.org. I’m just some guy with a laptop who got tired of feeling powerless on a local level.

Philip Lakin 

Head of Enterprise Innovation at Zapier. Co-Founder of NoCodeOps (acq. by Zapier ’24).

If you’ve ever spent hours mapping fields in an automation… this is about to make you furious. 😅

Zapier Co-Pilot can now map every single field for you, instantly. No more hours of clicking, scrolling, and matching. Just type what you want and it does it.

If you’ve ever built a Zap, you know how insane that is. Watch this.

I’m in Zion National Park right now with some of the world’s best B2B content creators. You can now steal their stacks :) 

We’re here for Zapier’s Zion Outpost, and of course, I had to ask the one question that always reveals the most:

“What tool right now is absolutely blowing your mind?”

Here’s what the group shared. Steal this stack 👇

🧠 Core Productivity & Systems
• Notion for collaboration, content systems, and team ops
• Zapier  still the backbone for connecting everything together
• Air  like Google Drive on steroids for creators managing images and video
• Lucid Software for visual thinking and whiteboarding
• Fathom AI note-taking and meeting insights

✍️ Writing, Ideation & Research
• ChatGPT, Claude/Claude Skills, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity for  the power group for writing, thinking, and research
• Stanley (Your Content Coach) an AI LinkedIn writing tool that actually replaced ChatGPT for a few people
• Granola top pick for capturing, transcribing, and managing notes
• Jamie lightweight and smart for quick note capture
• Typeless speak instead of type

🎨 Visuals, Design & Creation
• Gamma the go-to for decks, visuals, and content design
• Descript  fast, transcript-based video editing
• Sora 2 experimental AI video generation that’s just fun
• ElevenLabs for AI voice and song creation

📣 Social, Marketing & Distribution
• Ordinal  (formerly Assembly) powerful for social publishing and webhooks
• Intently tracks signals from LinkedIn, Reddit, and beyond
• Clay for data enrichment and audience insights

What stood out
No one here is waiting for the perfect AI tool.
Everyone is building creative systems around the tools they already love.

The best stack isn’t one app to rule them all.
It’s the right tool for the right job.

So… what’s one tool in your stack that’s quietly changing everything right now?

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🚨 I accidentally built the world’s 1st database of AI transformation talent.

A few days ago I posted asking for recommendations for AI transcription and enablement professionals. You know, the kind of people who can help entire workforces actually go AI-first.

I figured I’d get a few new leads to connect with the enterprise client I work with at Zapier whoa re seeking this new role.

Instead, 300+ DMs later, I realized I had to organize it all.

So I built a quick form on Fillout and site using Zite (duh).
And boom... it turned into something much bigger: AI Rolodex, a vetted database of professionals ready to help companies operationalize AI.

What’s inside the AI Rolodex
✅ 83+ vetted applicants so far
✅ Experience from Amazon, ServiceNow, Optum, The Weather Company, Gradient, and more
✅ 85% have already led or contributed to AI transformation projects at their orgs

This is real, practitioner-level talent that knows how to turn AI from theory into workflow.

Why this matters:
Every company right now is AI curious.
The ones that win will be AI native.

That shift doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because someone inside the org is dedicated to enabling it.

If your company is hiring full-time AI enablement or transcription talent, send me a DM.
I can connect you with vetted candidates right away.

Bonus twist: The Nonprofit Loop

Not everyone has “AI Transformation” on their résumé yet, but tons of people clearly have the skills.

So we’re partnering with nonprofits for free short-term AI transformation projects that give emerging pros hands-on experience while helping good orgs modernize.

Nonprofits win.
Talent wins.
Companies win.

If you’re a nonprofit who wants help on this front, DM me too.

What started as a total accident has become a living, breathing directory of the world’s next generation of AI transformation talent.

If you’re hiring, building, or enabling... let’s talk.

#AI #Enablement #AITransformation #AITalent #Automation #AIFirst #Transcription #WorkforceEnablement #FutureOfWork

If you’re hiring your first AI Transformation lead, don’t start from scratch. I’ve put together a guide just for you: including a JD, question bank, & eval scorecard you can plug right into your process.

This is built from the trenches. Everything I’ve learned from:
👉 Doing this role myself
👉 500+ hours in the field with our clients at Zapier on all things AI
👉 Helping companies find the right talent through AI Rolodex (the world’s first AI transformation talent firm).

Drop GUIDE (or your favorite emoji) below and I’ll send the packet your way.

🚨 AI BRAND TRIP INCOMING 🚨

Pack your ring light and your API keys, babes. We’re going to Zion.

Zapier is hosting a 3-day creator retreat called Outpost: Zion and yes, it’s giving corporate hot girl winter with a side of workflow wizardry.

We’re talking 20 creators, real builds, probably tears, definitely vibes.

We’ll be making content, fixing automations, sharing secrets, and pretending our Google Sheets are vision boards.

It’s like Coachella, but instead of flower crowns we brought custom Zaps and emotional resilience.

Also, small detail… our CEO Wade Foster will be there.
So yes, it’s officially #BossBabe season.

Expect sunsets, spreadsheets, and scandalous takes on B2B content strategy.

If you see me holding a ring light in one hand and a s’more in the other, mind your business. I’m building in nature.

Love you, automate you 💋
Phil

#ZapierOutpost #B2BBrandTrip #IRLInTheAgeOfAI #BossBabe #AutomationHotGirlEra

Most “this could be automated” projects don’t fail because of tech. They fail because someone has to actually think it through. Someone has to:

1. align decisions across the right people
2. make tradeoffs visible
3. communicate what’s changing and why

It’s not the automation capabilities that hold things back, it’s the human capability to align, decide, and explain.

That’s the real work. And ironically, it’s the part you can’t automate (yet).

🧾 Sometimes it’s not the big stuff that kills your soul…
It’s manually screenshotting every Lyft transaction and uploading it to Navan.

Navan is so close to perfect , and this fixes the last gap for me.

Here’s how I finally deleted that tiny daily pain forever 👇

There are two things that make it possible:
 1️⃣ Navan’s badass receipt email automation: just make sure it recognizes your email and tags your receipts automatically.
 2️⃣ Zapier Copilot + Gmail: which can magically forward your Lyft receipts even if your company blocks Gmail auto-forwarding.

All it takes:
Create a Gmail label called “Lyft”
Copilot builds the rest. Steal my prompt below.

Tiny automation. Massive relief.

After 500+ hours helping teams go AI-first, here’s what I’ve learned:  Company-wide adoption doesn’t start at scale. It starts in small rooms, human to human, when people finally see what’s possible for themselves.

You can give people tools.
You can launch courses.
You can roll out portals and share prompt libraries.

But nothing replaces being in the room.
Seeing people move AI out of chat and into their real workflows.
Watching them build something, hands on keyboard, that saves them time every single day.

You can feel the moment it clicks.
The anxiety about AI coming for their jobs starts to fade.
And in its place is curiosity, creativity, and confidence.

That’s when transformation actually begins.
Not when a mandate is given.
Not when a dashboard turns green.
But when a human helps another human truly see the magic for themselves.

If you want real AI adoption inside your company, don’t just hand people tools.
Get them in a room.
Guide them.
Show them what’s possible.

And if you need help on this front, you know who to DM 😉.

Most companies aren’t “going AI-first.”
They’re just adding AI tools and hoping magic happens.

Real transformation doesn’t start with tech.
It starts when someone owns the change.

That’s why every serious company needs an AI Transformation Leader.

Not a hype artist.
Not a “prompt whisperer.”
A builder who knows how to turn AI strategy into operational reality.

Here’s what they actually do:

1. Translate the buzz into action.
They sit with each team and ask, “What’s stealing your time?”
Then they rebuild those workflows, with humans in the loop and AI at the core.

2. Connect the dots across functions.
Marketing’s experiments inform Ops.
Legal’s guardrails protect Sales.
Finance’s automations feed RevOps.
AI isn’t siloed, it’s orchestrated.

3. Pair domain experts with AI builders.
That combo is where the breakthroughs happen.

4. Codify what works.
Prompts, playbooks, governance - it all lives in one place.
So everyone levels up together.

5. Measure the right wins.
Not “how many prompts did we write?”
But accuracy, speed, pipeline, and employee energy.
AI done right makes people feel more powerful, not replaced.

Without this role, AI adoption stays scattered.
Cool prototypes. No compounding impact.

With it, you get momentum, six-week sprints that actually shift metrics and morale.
You see teams asking, “what else can we rebuild?”

That’s when AI stops being optional.
It becomes operational.

If you’re serious about AI-first, make it someone’s job.
Give them the mandat, room, and budget to build horizontally.

Because the companies winning right now?
They’re not the ones chasing tools.
They’re the ones training muscle.

What getting a vanity license plate with my name on it (decided by LinkedIn) taught me about B2B SaaS…

The blank page problem just evolved, and it's one of the most exciting challenges I've heard described in a long time.

I was watching the Agents of Scale episode where Wade Foster sat down with Amjad Masad, the founder and CEO of Replit. And when Amjad said this, I had to pause and rewind:

"We have a new problem of the blank page."

He wasn't talking about writers or designers. He was talking about builders.

For the first time in decades, the hardest part of creating software isn't setup. 

It's starting.
The insight that hit me

In the old world, most people dropped off during the technical friction. Setting up your dev environment, installing dependencies, figuring out why your local server wouldn't run.

Now that friction is gone. Replit and others have collapsed the time to "Hello World" from 20 minutes to seconds.

So the bottleneck has shifted.

The new drop-off point is the prompt itself. People open an agent or AI coding environment... and freeze.

They don't know what to ask for. They don't know where to begin. They don't quite believe that they can just describe what they want and watch it come alive.

That's the new blank page.

🤷‍♂️ Why this matters:

Because this moment exposes the next big skill gap: creative clarity.

AI has automated setup. It hasn't automated imagination.

To get leverage from these tools, we have to retrain how we think. Not "how do I code this?" but "what do I want, and how do I describe it clearly enough for an AI to build it?"

That's a totally new literacy.

👍 What actually helps:

The best way to fight the blank page is structure, not inspiration.

Five things I've seen working on this front inside of Zapier and in the field:

1. Mine your frustrations. Every time you think "ugh, this again" during your day, that's a tool waiting to be built. Turn annoyances into prompts.

2. Give AI a clear brief. Use this simple structure: Role: Senior [function] Job: [who needs what to achieve why] Success test: [how we'll know it worked]

3. Copy before you create. Find an example that's 70% of what you need and tell AI to adapt it. Way easier than describing something from scratch.

4. Let failures guide you. When AI gets it wrong, you've just learned what to clarify. Each broken version teaches you how to prompt better.

5. Build in public (internally). Hackathons and demo sessions spread confidence faster than any tutorial. People need to see it's possible.

📍Where we are:

As someone who helps companies operationalize AI at Zapier, this moment feels like a turning point.

We've solved the technical friction. Now we're solving the creative one.

The people who learn to move through that blank page, and teach others how to, will define the next generation of builders.

If you haven't watched this Agents of Scale episode yet, do yourself a favor. It's one of the clearest, most energizing conversations about what's really happening at the frontier of AI + software.

🎥 Link in the comments.

Co-founder & CEO at Zapier, YC & Mizzou Alum

Founder at Replit

Replit

Xander Castro

For the first time in 14 years, we opened Zapier's All-Hands to the public.

2,932 of you showed up.

We didn't hold back. We walked through our complete 2026 AI transformation strategy: the same roadmap our ~800-person team is using.

𝘁𝗹;𝗱𝗿: Here are our two ‘big bets’ for 2026:

1. The "Zapier Digital Twin" (an AI right hand for every team member, piloting in Support) 

2. "AI-Powered Value Engineering" (turning every employee into a customer automation expert)

(The presentation is public, you can read it here: https://lnkd.in/gvUEnq2N)

437 questions came flooding in after we presented (we answered maybe a dozen). Here are 3 great ones we didn't get to answer:

"What's your AI stack across all employees?” (Jack Volkov, Imubit)
👉 We all use Zapier as our AI orchestration layer, plus ChatGPT and Claude Enterprise for LLMs. Then there are additional tools like Glean for knowledge management, Granola for meeting transcription, and team-specific tools like Gong for Sales.

"How do you score and track the progress for AI transformation success?" ( John Noonan, Assurant)
👉 We track three things: efficiency (time saved), quality (work improved), employee experience (joy increased). If you only measure one, you risk missing the big picture.

"Where do you draw the line on automation?" (Naomi Trickey, Mews)
👉 Our CTO Bryan Helmig says it best: You can delegate the work, but never the accountability. That principle keeps humans centered while AI scales.

—

Stuck on your next move? We turned Philip Lakin, our Head of Enterprise Innovation, into a Zapier chatbot to help you get started.

Talk to him here: https://lnkd.in/gKvu_KQc

(It's trained on the same transformation playbook we're using in 2026)

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