Zapier Launches First AI Builder Contest With $25K in Prizes for Automation Workflows.

Zapier has launched its first AI Builder Contest, putting $25,000 in prizes behind a call for builders to submit their best AI-powered automation workflows. The competition, announced on LinkedIn by Navid Zandieh from the company's product team, runs through July 31 and awards a $20,000 grand prize to the winning submission.

The contest reflects Zapier's core value of "Build the Robot," the company's internal mandate to automate repetitive work. Now the automation platform is extending that philosophy outward, asking its user base to surface the workflows that have genuinely transformed how they work. Submissions are open to any AI-powered build on Zapier's platform, though the company has signaled particular interest in sales workflows.

Zandieh's announcement outlined the type of systems Zapier considers meaningful: agents that research accounts and generate call strategies before a sales call even begins, workflows that monitor support tickets and usage data to detect churn risk and trigger intervention playbooks, or pipeline management systems that surface the handful of deals worth prioritizing on any given day.

These examples extend the pattern Zapier users have been building for months. Following the company's recent release of open-source GTM agent skills, several teams have shared examples of AI-driven workflows: automated sales call analysis pipelines using Gong and Claude, AI agents that research candidates and draft personalized recruiting messages, and go-to-market agent stacks for marketing and sales teams.

The contest structure is straightforward: builders submit their AI-powered Zapier workflows, and the company evaluates them based on impact and execution. Sales workflows get a spotlight, but Zapier has left the door open for submissions across any vertical where AI automation has delivered measurable value.

Zapier's timing reflects a broader shift in how teams approach AI tooling. The gap between using AI to draft an email and building a system that eliminates entire categories of manual work is widening. As Zandieh framed it, "The average seller is using AI to write emails. The best sellers have built systems that make half their job disappear."

That gap is not just about access to tools. It is about wiring things together: connecting data sources, triggering actions across apps, and layering decision logic that AI alone cannot provide. Zapier has historically positioned itself as the connective tissue between SaaS tools, and the contest doubles as a public signal that the company sees AI automation as central to its next chapter.

The $25,000 prize pool also marks a deliberate investment in its builder community. By putting money behind automation workflows, Zapier is effectively funding R&D that happens outside its walls. The winning submissions will likely surface patterns and use cases the company can productize, document, or feature as templates for other users.

Submissions are open now through July 31. Details and entry instructions are available in the comments of the original LinkedIn post.