Howie Liu understands that staying ahead in technology means staying agile. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Airtable, he approaches leadership with a scrappy, hands-on mindset, ensuring that his company remains as adaptable as the smallest startups despite its growing enterprise reach. Under his guidance, Airtable has not only become a go-to platform for over half of the Fortune 500 but has also seamlessly integrated artificial intelligence into its no-code workflow solutions. Liu doesn’t just oversee product development—he personally invests time in customer interactions, identifying real-world challenges and refining Airtable’s capabilities to deliver truly transformative solutions.
Born in the United States, Liu pursued a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and public policy at Duke University. His early career included a stint at Accenture before he co-founded Etacts, a relationship management startup that was later acquired by Salesforce. In 2013, he launched Airtable with the goal of making software development accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise. Today, he leads the company in redefining how teams structure their work, providing an intuitive platform that enables users to build and automate workflows without needing deep coding knowledge.
Liu believes that success in AI isn’t about blindly chasing innovation—it’s about understanding how to apply it effectively. Rather than reinventing the wheel, he focuses on maximizing Airtable’s existing strengths, leveraging its robust platform and broad user base to integrate AI in ways that provide immediate, practical value. His leadership is defined by a willingness to get into the details, ensuring that Airtable’s solutions don’t just offer incremental improvements but deliver truly game-changing capabilities for businesses of all sizes. Through this approach, he continues to push Airtable forward, keeping it at the forefront of workplace productivity and intelligent automation.