Howie Liu - Building Airtable - [Invest Like the Best, EP.375]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Colossus

Investing, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2024

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone.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

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Teagus, where we're changing the game in investment research.
0:04.8	Step away from outdated inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting
0:09.3	over 100,000 transcripts with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone.
0:14.6	What sets Tegis apart? It's not just the sheer volume, it's the unmatched speed at which our library expands,
0:20.0	consistently outstripping competitors. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors,
0:27.0	putting us at the forefront of the industry.
0:29.0	Our collection is investor-led, ensuring unparalleled quality, and giving you access to questions and topics
0:34.5	investors care most about. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively
0:40.0	on Tegis, we offer insights you can't find elsewhere.
0:43.0	Forget the traditional way of doing things.
0:45.0	With Tegis, you have the most comprehensive, insightful, and rapidly growing
0:48.0	transcript library at your fingertips.
0:50.0	See the difference that a vast quality-driven transcript library makes.
0:53.5	Unlock your free trial at TECAS.com slash Patrick.
0:57.0	You may have heard me reference the idea of maniacs on a mission and how much that idea excites me.
1:03.6	Well, David Senra is my favorite maniac
1:05.6	on one of my favorite missions
1:06.8	with his weekly crafting of the Founders Podcast.
1:09.7	Through studying the lives of legends,
1:11.4	he weaves together insights across history to distill ideas that you can use in your work.
1:17.0	Founders reveals tried and true tactics, battle tested by the world's icons and has David's infectious energy to accompany them.
1:24.0	With well over 300 episodes, your heroes are surely in the lineup
	...

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