From First Startup to AI-Powered Scale: Wes Schroll on Building Fetch | Agents of Scale Podcast

Scale your business with AI and Zapier. 🔥 https://bit.ly/3WsVPzp What happens when a CEO realizes their 1,000+ person company is moving too slowly on AI? In this episode of Agents of Scale, Wade Foster (CEO of Zapier) sits down with Wes Schroll, Founder and CEO of Fetch, to discuss the bold moves required to become an AI-first organization. Wes shares the "steak dinner" moment that opened his eyes to the power of generative AI and led him to shut down all external meetings for an entire week so every employee could participate in a company-wide AI hackathon. From redefining consumer loyalty to building a "Fetch Labs" team under a Chief AI Officer, this conversation is a masterclass in driving cultural and technical transformation at scale. In this episode, we unpack: 🚀 The Fetch Origin Story: How Wes went from designing phone-attachable wallets at 14 to dropping out of college to disrupt the grocery industry. 🛠️ The 1,050-Person Hackathon: Why Wes gave his entire team 40 hours of "playtime" to build AI tools and how it resulted in dozens of live production features. 📉 The "Framework of No" vs. "Cheating": Addressing the cultural hurdle where employees feel like using AI is "cheating" and how to flip that mindset. 🥩 Personal AI Moments: How a cast iron steak recipe convinced a CEO that his company was behind on technology. 🎓 Defeat the Odds: Fetch’s initiative to reinvest in the next generation of high school and college entrepreneurs. Guest: Wes Schroll — Founder & CEO, Fetch Subscribe to Agents of Scale for more insights into how the world’s most innovative leaders are building for the AI era. Start your AI automation journey with Zapier. 👉 https://bit.ly/49jYQcM ************************ Agents of Scale is a show about real stories of AI transformation. Hosted by Zapier CEO Wade Foster, each episode features a candid conversation with a C-suite leader who’s scaling AI across their organization, turning early experiments into lasting change. From minds