How we restructured Airtable’s entire org for AI | Howie Liu (co-founder and CEO)

Overview

This episode features Howie Liu, co-founder and CEO of Airtable, discussing how the company has radically transformed to thrive in the AI era. From restructuring the organization into fast thinking and slow thinking teams to embracing a hands-on IC CEO approach, Howie shares actionable insights on adapting to AI's rapid pace. The conversation also explores the evolving roles of product managers, engineers, and designers, and the importance of experimentation, cross-functional skills, and rethinking traditional organizational structures.

Notable Quotes

- If you want to cancel all your meetings for a day or even a week and just go play around with every AI product you think could be relevant to Airtable, go do it. – Howie Liu, on fostering experimentation.

- If you were founding a new company from scratch with the same mission, how would you execute on that mission using a fully AI-native approach? – Howie Liu, on rethinking legacy businesses in the AI era.

- I take pride in being the number one most expensive inference-cost user of Airtable AI globally. – Howie Liu, on leading by example in AI adoption.

🧠 Rethinking Organizational Structure for AI

- Airtable restructured into fast thinking and slow thinking teams, inspired by Daniel Kahneman's framework.

- Fast Thinking Team: Focuses on rapid iteration, shipping AI features weekly, and creating jaw-dropping user experiences.

- Slow Thinking Team: Handles deliberate, long-term projects like scalable infrastructure and complex data systems.

- This dual approach balances speed with thoughtful execution, enabling Airtable to compete with AI-native startups.

🚀 The Rise of the IC CEO

- Howie has embraced the role of an IC CEO, actively coding, prototyping, and experimenting with AI tools.

- He reduced standing one-on-ones to focus on timely, high-impact discussions and hands-on product work.

- CEOs in the AI era must deeply engage with the technology to understand its potential and lead effectively.

🎨 Cross-Functional Skills in Product Teams

- Success in the AI era requires breaking down traditional role silos.

- Product managers should become hybrid PM-prototypers with design sensibilities.

- Designers should understand technical constraints and leverage prototyping tools.

- Engineers should think holistically about product and user experience.

- Howie encourages teams to experiment, prototype over creating decks, and embrace a playground mindset.

🛠️ Experimentation and the Role of Play

- Howie mandates play with AI tools, urging employees to block time to explore and experiment.

- He shares his own experiments, such as using AI to analyze sales call transcripts or create marketing assets.

- Prototypes and hands-on experimentation are prioritized over traditional planning documents to accelerate learning.

📊 Evals vs. Vibes in AI Development

- Howie warns against over-reliance on evals (evaluation metrics) too early in product development.

- Early-stage innovation should focus on vibes and open-ended exploration to discover what works.

- Evals become valuable once the product form factor and use cases are more defined, enabling iterative improvement.