Airtable

No-Code SoftwareFounded 2012

Market Data Current As Of: September 12, 2026

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Airtable

No-Code SoftwareFounded 2012

Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya

Last reviewed: September 12, 2026

Market Data Current As Of: September 12, 2026

Founders

Who Founded Airtable?

Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, Emmett Nicholas · Founded 2012 · San Francisco, California, United States

Quick Answer

Airtable was founded by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, Emmett Nicholas in 2012 in San Francisco, California, United States. The company is currently led by Howie Liu.

Founding Story

In 2011, 22-year-old Howie Liu was working at Salesforce after selling his first startup, Etacts, to Marc Benioff. Liu observed a profound contradiction: while software developers had access to incredibly powerful relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL) to build sophisticated apps, 99% of business professionals were trapped using spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets) that had not fundamentally changed since the 1980s. When non-technical employees tried to track complex projects, products, or creative assets, spreadsheets broke down into confusing, duplicate, unlinked chaos. Liu teamed up with college friend Andrew Ofstad (former Google product manager) and Emmett Nicholas (engineering prodigy) to build a platform that gave ordinary knowledge workers the power of a software developer. They spent three full years in stealth mode perfecting the interface, launching Airtable in 2015. By making relational databases as easy and beautiful to use as a spreadsheet, Howie and his co-founders ignited the global no-code revolution.

Howie Liu

Background

Howie Liu studied Mechanical Engineering and Public Policy at Duke University, founding CRM startup Etacts (acquired by Salesforce) before founding Airtable.

Role at Airtable

Howie Liu is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Airtable. In 2012, Liu founded Airtable to democratize software creation through visual relational databases. Liu architected Airtable's product vision, raised over $1.3B from elite venture firms, pioneered Interface Designer, and scaled Airtable into an $11B decacorn.

Andrew Ofstad

Background

Andrew Ofstad earned a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and worked as a Product Manager at Google, leading the Android Google Maps redesign.

Role at Airtable

Andrew Ofstad is the Co-Founder of Airtable. Ofstad guided early product management, user experience design, and customer community growth.

Emmett Nicholas

Background

Emmett Nicholas is an American software architect and Duke University alumnus who specialized in real-time distributed web applications.

Role at Airtable

Emmett Nicholas is the Co-Founder and former Chief Architect of Airtable. Nicholas engineered Airtable's underlying real-time reactive relational data engine.

Airtable: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Howie Liu

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

2012 – Present

Visionary entrepreneur who conceived the visual relational database, raised $1.3B+ in funding, launched Interface Designer, and scaled Airtable to an $11B decacorn.

Andrew Ofstad

Co-Founder & Board Member

2012 – Present

Former Google PM who designed early product UX and fostered Airtable's passionate community of template creators.

Compare Airtable With Competitors

Airtable vs Microsoft Corporation →Airtable vs Smartsheet →Airtable vs UiPath →Airtable vs Xero →

Who Founded Airtable? FAQ

Who founded Airtable and in what year was it established?

Airtable was founded in 2012 by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, Emmett Nicholas in San Francisco, California, United States.

What was the original founding vision for Airtable?

The founders established Airtable with the objective of solving core inefficiencies in No-Code Software, Relational Database Platforms, Enterprise Connected Apps, Workflow Automation & Generative AI, laying the foundation for its current global scale.

How does Airtable preserve its founding principles today?