Howie Liu

Can a no-code giant reinvent itself in the AI-native era? This week on Grit, Airtable CEO Howie Liu shares what it means to “refound” a company, how speed comes from tearing up old playbooks, and why conversational AI is reshaping his product—and his company. Guest: Howie Liu, Co-Founder & CEO of Airtable Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:04 First startup & YC 04:06 Salesforce acqui-hire 07:31 Life-changing exit at 22 11:07 Scaling too fast, layoffs 14:04 Sparks vs. coasting growth 19:33 Two years to launch 24:04 Could AI Build It Faster? 27:06 Vibe coding & AI startups 36:47 Everyone can build software 41:08 Refounding Airtable with AI 51:04 Sprint vs. marathon 58:15 Cap tables & control 01:03:29 Always be hiring 01:05:00 What grit means Links: Connect with Howie X LinkedIn Connect with Airtable Website: airtable.com X LinkedIn Connect with Joubin X LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, the no-code platform valued at around $12 billion. After a viral tweet declared “Airtable is dead” based on incorrect data, Howie led a radical transformation: reorganizing the entire company around AI, becoming an “IC CEO” who codes daily, and achieving over $100 million in free cash flow. What you’ll learn: 1. The “fast thinking” vs. “slow thinking” team structure that lets Airtable ship AI features weekly (inspired by Daniel Kahneman) 2. Why Howie uses AI hourly (not daily) and is Airtable’s #1 inference-cost user globally 3. Why CEOs must become ICs again in the AI era (and how to restructure your calendar to make it possible) 4. Why “playing” with AI tools should be mandatory—Howie tells employees to cancel all meetings for a week to experiment 5. The specific skills product managers, engineers, and designers need to develop to succeed in the AI era 6. Why evals can kill innovation (and when to use “vibes” instead) — Brought to you by: LucidLink—Real-time cloud storage for teams DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers Claude.ai—The AI for problem solvers and enterprise — Where to find Howie Liu • X: https://x.com/howietl • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howieliu/ • Email: howie@airtable.com — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Howie Liu and Airtable (04:05) The “Airtable is dead” viral tweet controversy (08:07) The rise of IC CEOs (10:57) AI’s paradigm shift in product development (16:27) Specific changes Airtable has made (21:38) Fast- and slow-thinking teams (32:57) The emergence of new form factors in AI models (34:48) Airtable’s vision and philosophy (40:20) Empowering teams with AI tools (46:50) Encouraging experimentation and play (50:55) Cross-functional skills in product teams (01:03:35) The importance of evals and open-ended testing (01:08:06) Key strategies for AI-driven success (01:12:43) Counterintuitive startup wisdom (01:22:21) Don't step away from the details that you love (01:25:50) Advice for aspiring engineers and designers (01:30:00) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/ • All In podcast: https://allin.com/ • Nikita Bier on X: https://x.com/nikitabier • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • The AI-native startup: 5 products, 7-figure revenue, 100% AI-written code | Dan Shipper (co-founder and CEO of Every): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-every-dan-shipper • Every: https://every.to/ • Cursor: https://cursor.com/ • The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell • Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/ • Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan • Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/ • Omni: https://www.airtable.com/lp/ai-psu-plp • How ChatGPT accidentally became the fastest-growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley • Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/ • Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/ • v0: https://v0.dev/ • Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch • Replit: https://replit.com/ • Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad • Lovable: https://lovable.dev/ • Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika • Runway Game Worlds: https://play.runwayml.com/login • Sesame: https://www.sesame.com • NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com • Andrew Ofstad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aofstad/ • Stripe: https://stripe.com/ • Eames chair: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eames_Lounge_Chair • OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai • Anthropic’s CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next • IDEO design thinking: https://designthinking.ideo.com/ • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • The Studio on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-studio/umc.cmc.7518algxc4lsoobtsx30dqb52 • Silicon Valley on HBOMax: https://www.hbomax.com/shows/silicon-valley/b4583939-e39f-4b5c-822d-5b6cc186172d • Self Edge: https://www.selfedge.com/ • Studio D’Artisan: https://www.selfedge.com/studio-dartisan • Whitesville T-shirt: https://store.toyo-enterprise.co.jp/shopbrand/ct48/ • Guest Series | Dr. Paul Conti: How to Understand & Assess Your Mental Health: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/guest-series-dr-paul-conti-how-to-understand-and-assess-your-mental-health — Recommended books: • Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555 • The Three-Body Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032 • Trauma: The Invisible Epidemic: How Trauma Works and How We Can Heal From It: https://us.amazon.com/Trauma-Invisible-Epidemic-Works-Heal/dp/1683647351/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

Want to scale your side hustle with AI? Get 700 prompts here: https://clickhubspot.com/wbc Episode 725: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to the founder of Airtable, Howie Liu ( https://x.com/howietl ), about 7 AI business ideas he would start if he was in his 20s. — Show Notes: (0:00) IDEA: Live Shopping w/ AI avatars (5:34) IDEA: AI personalized news (10:36) IDEA: AI Personal Finance Advisor (18:27) IDEA: AI PE model of buy an existing business (24:20) IDEA: Cursor for email (36:53) IDEA: AI-native social apps (38:42) IDEA: Uncensored AI search — Links: • Sesame - https://www.sesame.com/ • Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/ • HeyGen - https://www.heygen.com/ • Superhuman - https://superhuman.com/ • Kubera - https://www.kubera.com/ • Addepar - https://addepar.com/ • Airtable - https://www.airtable.com/ • Chief.so - http://chief.so/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Howie Lou, CEO of Airtable, joins host Lukas Biewald to dive into Airtable's transformation from a no-code app builder to a platform capable of supporting complex AI-driven workflows. They discuss the strategic decisions that propelled Airtable's growth, the challenges of scaling AI in enterprise settings, and the future of AI in business operations. Discover how Airtable is reshaping digital transformation and why flexibility and innovation are key in today's tech landscape. Tune in now to learn about the evolving role of AI in business and product development. 🎙 *Listen on Apple Podcasts*: http://wandb.me/apple-podcasts 🎙 *Listen on Spotify*: http://wandb.me/spotify ✅ *Subscribe to Weights & Biases* → https://bit.ly/45BCkYz 🎙 Get our podcasts on these platforms: Apple Podcasts: http://wandb.me/apple-podcasts Spotify: http://wandb.me/spotify Google: http://wandb.me/gd_google YouTube: http://wandb.me/youtube Connect with Howie Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howieliu/ https://x.com/howietl Follow Weights & Biases: https://twitter.com/weights_biases https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb Join the Weights & Biases Discord Server: https://discord.gg/CkZKRNnaf3

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

This week on No Priors, Sarah Guo and Elad Gil are joined by Howie Liu, the co-founder and CEO of Airtable. Howie discusses their Cobuilder launch, the evolution of Airtable from a simple productivity tool to an enterprise app platform with integrated AI capabilities. They talk about why the conventional wisdom of “app not platform” can be wrong,  why there’s a future for low-code in the age of AI and code generation, and where enterprises need help adopting AI. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @Howietl Show Notes:  (00:00) Introduction (00:29) The Origin and Evolution of Airtable (02:31) Challenges and Successes in Building Airtable (06:09) Airtable's Transition to Enterprise Solutions (09:44) Insights on Product Management (16:23) Integrating AI into Airtable (21:55) The Future of No Code and AI (30:30) Workshops and Training for AI Adoption (36:28) The Role of Code Generation in No Code Platforms

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

My guest today is Howie Liu. Howie is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, a no-code app platform that allows teams to build on top of their shared data and create productive workflows. The business began in 2013 and now has use cases built out for over 300,000 organizations. As Airtable begins to integrate AI and the latest LLMs into its product, Howie has maintained a focus on an intuitive building experience, allowing anyone to build out their workflow within minutes or hours. We discuss the future of the platform in the era of AI, his perspective on horizontal versus vertical software solutions, and his crucial moments as a leader in building a critical component to the advancement of productivity. Please enjoy this discussion with Howie Liu.  Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:49) Exploring Horizontal vs. Vertical Software in the AI Era (00:11:00) The Future of Customized Applications (00:15:28) Perspectives on AI's Future and Enterprise Adoption (00:18:13) The Evolution of LLMs and Their Impact on Software Development (00:23:33) Harnessing AI for Business Transformation and Innovation (00:27:28) Reflecting on Airtable's Founding and Evolution (00:33:23) Airtable's Approach to Customer Engagement and Innovation (00:39:59) The Impact of AI on Platform Versatility and Market Penetration (00:46:00) Achieving Product-Market Fit and Initial Monetization (00:50:23) Scaling Up and Securing the First Unicorn Round (00:51:52) Rapid Growth and Organizational Scaling Challenges (00:55:00) Reflecting on Tough Decisions in the Business (01:02:55) The Role of Capital Allocation in Expanding Airtable (01:06:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Howie

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Lemon.io. Get access to Lemon Hire, a platform with more than 80,000 pre-vetted engineers that you can interview within 48 hours. Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire today! IntouchCX. Give your startup a boost and simplify your processes with next-level automated customer support solutions from IntouchCX. Discover your custom strategy at Intouchcx.com/twist Northwest Registered Agent. When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit http://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist to get a 60% discount on your next LLC. * Today’s show: Airtable CEO Howie Liu joins Jason to discuss his philosophy of product-led growth (1:35), the current explosion of AI (36:37), and much more! Time stamps: (0:00) Airtable CEO Howie Liu joins Jason (1:35) Howie’s philosophy on product-led growth (5:05) Bridging the gap between spreadsheets and purpose-driven apps (7:12) Tweet storm referenced on the All-In podcast (13:19) ⁠Lemon.io⁠ - Get $2000 off your first hire at ⁠https://lemon.io/hire (17:13) Blitzscale hiring (24:28) InTouchCX - Get started with a free consultation at ⁠https://intouchcx.com/twist (26:18) Charging per-seed basis and revisiting Airtable on E814 in 2018 (30:36) Jason shares two successful use cases utilizing Airtable (35:32) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at ⁠https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist (36:37) The AI boom and its potential dangers * Check out All In E146: https://youtu.be/X-Sb8sIi22g?si=fhiIi5ehFOyrMUD-&t=3673 Check out Howie in TWiST E814: https://youtu.be/55JnirJ7oHk?si=oPlNol8cotYrJTI1 * Follow Howie: https://twitter.com/howietl * Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply Buy ANGEL: https://www.angelthebook.com Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow Jason: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

Howie Liu is the Founder and CEO @ Airtable, the fastest way to build apps for your business. To date, Howie has raised over $1BN with Airtable with the last round valuing the company at $11BN and an investor base including Benchmark, Thrive, Caffeinated, Greenoaks and Coatue to name a few. In Todays Episode with Howie Liu We Discuss: 1. Scaling into Enterprise: What are the single biggest challenges when moving from PLG to enterprise? Why does Howie believe you have only truly hit enterprise when you sign $1M contracts? How long did it take for Airtable to sign their first $1M ARR contract? How can founders know when is the right time to scale into enterprise? How does the product need to change with the scaling? 2. Enterprises: Do They Really Love AI: Why does Howie believe that enterprises are not jumping on AI yet? When does enterprise interest turn into enterprise buying and purchasing? What are the single biggest barriers to enterprises buying AI solutions today? Post-purchase, what are the biggest implementation challenges for enterprises with AI? 3. The Changing Sales Process: Are we seeing the bundling of tools within large enterprises today? Which categories and vendors are most vulnerable? Which will survive the cuts? What do vendors need to do to prove to CFOs that they need to remain in their budget? How has the customer success process changed over the last year with tightening budgets? 4. Howie Liu: AMA: Airtable famously got Benchmark to lead their Series C, how did this come to be when they famously always only do Series A? Why does Howie believe that it is total BS to suggest post-PMF, everything is good? What does Howie know now that he wishes he had known when he started Airtable?

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

For many SaaS companies, serving the world's largest businesses requires evolving some of its most critical business strategies and operations. In this session, Airtable's Howie Liu sits down with Coatue's Caryn Marooney to share the lessons he's learned from scaling Airtable. From how to think about competitors and categories, to the importance of building the right organizational culture, Howie and Caryn reveal what SaaS leaders need to consider as they move upmarket. Video: https://youtu.be/if4nKnNMl4s Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software. Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976 Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/ Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

Caryn Marooney

VP of Global Communications (former)

FacebookCoatue Management

As one of the early champions of "low-code", Howie Liu shares the lessons he's learned building and scaling a company in an entirely new category. He'll discuss how Airtable focuses on solving customers' increasingly complex needs, all with products that are easily adoptable. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/lessons-in-scaling-a-low-code-platform-with-airtable/

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable

Howie Liu is the Founder & CEO @ Airtable, the all in one collaboration platform that has taken so much of our ecosystem by storm. To date, Howie has raised over $170M from some of the best in the business including Benchmark, Thrive, Coatue, Caffeinated Capital, Founder Collective, CRV and Freestyle to name a few. Prior to founding Airtable, Howie was the Co-Founder @ Etacts, an automated intelligent CRM that was acquired by Salesforce just 9 months after creation. Howie then led the social CRM product at Salesforce. Fun fact, Howie started his career as an intern at Freestyle Ventures. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Howie made his way from founding Etacts to changing the way we think about databases and spreadsheets today with Airtable? How did Salesforce acquiring Etacts impact Howie's operating mentality with Airtable? 2.) With the rise of remote work, what have been Howie's core observations from the last month of the world going WFH? What does it take to succeed? What mistakes have Airtable made in their process of work from home? Why did it not work? What lessons did Howie take from that? 3.) How does Howie think about Airtable's transition from an application to a platform? What does he perceive as the core challenges in making the transition? What lessons has he learned from studying others who have done it? Why did Howie choose Peter Fenton @ Benchmark to work with? 4.) How has Howie seen himself evolve and scale as a leader over the last few years? What have been the most challenging elements? How does Howie think about which individuals he would like as mentors? How does he determine which advice to ingest vs to reject? 5.) How does Howie analyse the remote work/collaboration tools environment today? Does Howie believe we will enter a period of consolidation with the proliferation of new tools created? Does Howie believe we will see an unbundling in collaboration tools? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Howie's Fave Book: Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire, Spying on Whales As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Howie Liu

Co-founder and CEO

Airtable