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Howie Liu

CEO, Airtable

Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, a low-code platform designed for building collaborative applications. He graduated from Duke University in 2009 with degrees in mechanical engineering and public policy. Prior to founding Airtable in 2013, Liu co-founded Etacts, a CRM startup that was acquired by Salesforce shortly after its launch in 2010. His vision for Airtable was to create a user-friendly tool that combines the functionality of a spreadsheet with the capabilities of a database, facilitating easier collaboration among teams.12

Under Liu's leadership, Airtable has grown significantly, serving over 450,000 organizations, including major companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Nike. The platform has been recognized for its versatility and has achieved a valuation of approximately $6 billion as of 2024, reflecting its status as a leading tool in the enterprise software landscape.123 Liu's entrepreneurial journey has also included angel investing in various startups, showcasing his commitment to fostering innovation in the tech industry.14

Liu's approach to building Airtable emphasizes a gradual, thoughtful growth strategy, focusing on understanding customer needs and adapting to market demands. This philosophy has been instrumental in establishing Airtable as a critical platform for many businesses, particularly in the enterprise sector.23

Highlights

Apr 29 · twitter

Spent an hour with @gregisenberg on the agent economy.

The thing I keep saying out loud that people don't yet believe: a fleet of agents on the right platform can run a real company. Not a hobby. A real one.

We did 3 live builds on Hyperagent during the pod: → A hyperlocal real estate report product — research, business case, working V1, one thread → A "Greg Isenberg contrarian AI" skill that learns Greg's voice and gets sharper every run → A Twilio voice + SMS skill from zero — picks up the phone and books restaurant reservations

No infra setup. No API plumbing. No Mac mini in your closet. Cloud-native, deployable into Slack as a coworker in one click.

Greg and I think this is the biggest opportunity of our lifetimes and most builders are still wildly underestimating it.

$1K in credits for the first 1,000 SIP listeners. Go build a $100M company with 5 people — and post what you make.

Mar 24 · twitter

As agents become more capable of long running work, we need more ambitious and realistic benchmarks. Congrats @adarsh_exe @BrendanFoody on releasing APEX-SWE!

Jan 27 · TechCrunch
Airtable gets into the AI agent game with Superagent
Airtable gets into the AI agent game with Superagent
Dec 7 · TechCrunch
Is it time to ‘refound’ your startup?
Is it time to ‘refound’ your startup?
Aug 24 · secretleaders.com
doing it slowly, with Airtable Co-Founder and CEO Howie Liu
Jul 12 · clay.com
Who is Howie Liu, the CEO of Airtable? - Clay
May 30 · youtube.com
How To Grow As a CEO | Howie Liu, CEO of Airtable - YouTube
How To Grow As a CEO | Howie Liu, CEO of Airtable - YouTube
May 23 · youtube.com
How Airtable went from PLG darling to enterprise AI application giant
How Airtable went from PLG darling to enterprise AI application giant
Sep 15 · airtable.com
A message from our CEO - Airtable

Related Questions

What inspired Howie Liu to create Airtable?
How did Howie Liu's background in mechanical engineering influence his approach to entrepreneurship?
What challenges did Howie Liu face when transitioning Airtable from a PLG product to an enterprise platform?
How did Howie Liu's experience at Salesforce impact his vision for Airtable?
What are some notable companies that use Airtable today?
Howie Liu
Howie Liu, photo 1
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Experience

CEO at Airtable
Lead the social CRM product at Salesforce; Cofounder of Etacts; Computational Airfoil Design research at Duke University

Education

Research in Computational Airfoil Design at Duke University, Jan 2008 - May 2009

Location

San Francisco, California, United States