Makerpad

No-code education platform and community, acquired by Zapier in 2021.

No-codeEducationOnline community

Acquired^{Source [4]}^{Source [1]}Last verified Oct 2, 2026

About Makerpad

Makerpad taught people to build apps, websites and automations with no-code tools through more than 320 tutorials and a paid member community.^{Source [1]}

Tossell started it after people asked how he had built his no-code side projects. He says it reached $30,000 a month in profit within about two months and raised $350,000 about six months after launch (self-reported).^{Source [2]}^{Source [3]}

Zapier CEO Wade Foster reached out after seeing a tweet suggesting Zapier buy Makerpad. At the March 2021 sale it had more than 8,000 members per Zapier, and Tossell has put annual recurring revenue at about $400,000 with three employees and a contractor (self-reported).^{Source [4]}^{Source [1]}^{Source [3]}

What happened

Ben Tossell founded Makerpad in 2019 to publish tutorials on building software without code and grew it into a paid membership community. Zapier acquired it in March 2021 as its first acquisition, for an undisclosed price, and initially ran it as a stand-alone business. The makerpad.co domain now hosts a beta product for running AI-built companies; who operates it could not be confirmed today.^{Source [1]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [2]}^{Source [5]}^{Source [6]}

Timeline

2021-03Acquired by Zapier, its first acquisition.^{Source [4]}^{Source [1]}^{Source [7]}
2020-10Launched Makerpad Fund, an AngelList rolling fund for no-code startups.^{Source [8]}
2019Founded by Ben Tossell and raised $350,000 from angel investors about six months later.^{Source [1]}^{Source [2]}

Products and brands

Makerpad tutorials: Step-by-step guides to building software with no-code tools.^{Source [1]}
Makerpad membership: Paid community and course access for no-code builders.^{Source [3]}^{Source [1]}

How it makes money: Paid memberships for tutorials and community access.^{Source [3]}^{Source [1]}

Leadership

Ben Tossell

Founder and Chief Executive Officer^{Source [1]}^{Source [2]}

2019 to 2023

Funding and financials

Annual recurring revenue: About $400,000 (March 2021, self-reported by the founder)^{Source [3]}
Acquisition price: Not disclosed (March 2021); founder describes it as millions in cash plus equity (self-reported)^{Source [4]}^{Source [2]}

Date	Round	Amount	Investors
2019	Angel^{Source [2]}^{Source [3]}	$350,000	Calm Company Fund, Andrew Wilkinson, Balaji Srinivasan, Sahil Lavingia and others

People on Founded, and where they went next

1 person on record, connected to 1 other company.

Person	Here	Also built
Ben Tossell	Founder and Chief Executive Officer2019	Ben's Bites2022 to nowActive

Sources

Zapier Acquires Makerpad, PR Newswire (Zapier), 2021-03-09. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
About - Ben's Bites, Ben's Bites. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
No-code learning community Makerpad acquired by Zapier, They Got Acquired. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Zapier buys no-code-focused Makerpad in its first acquisition, TechCrunch, 2021-03-08. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
MakerPad: Build AI companies that run themselves, makerpad.co. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
MakerPad (@makerpad) X profile, X (via FxTwitter API). Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Makerpad has been acquired by Zapier, X (@bentossell), 2021-03-09. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
From writing $1k checks to running a $1m rolling fund, Sacra. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

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