Howie Liu is the Founder and CEO @ Airtable, the fastest way to build apps for your business. To date, Howie has raised over $1BN with Airtable with the last round valuing the company at $11BN and an investor base including Benchmark, Thrive, Caffeinated, Greenoaks and Coatue to name a few.
In Todays Episode with Howie Liu We Discuss:
1. Scaling into Enterprise:
- What are the single biggest challenges when moving from PLG to enterprise?
- Why does Howie believe you have only truly hit enterprise when you sign $1M contracts?
- How long did it take for Airtable to sign their first $1M ARR contract?
- How can founders know when is the right time to scale into enterprise?
- How does the product need to change with the scaling?
2. Enterprises: Do They Really Love AI:
- Why does Howie believe that enterprises are not jumping on AI yet?
- When does enterprise interest turn into enterprise buying and purchasing?
- What are the single biggest barriers to enterprises buying AI solutions today?
- Post-purchase, what are the biggest implementation challenges for enterprises with AI?
3. The Changing Sales Process:
- Are we seeing the bundling of tools within large enterprises today?
- Which categories and vendors are most vulnerable? Which will survive the cuts?
- What do vendors need to do to prove to CFOs that they need to remain in their budget?
- How has the customer success process changed over the last year with tightening budgets?
4. Howie Liu: AMA:
- Airtable famously got Benchmark to lead their Series C, how did this come to be when they famously always only do Series A?
- Why does Howie believe that it is total BS to suggest post-PMF, everything is good?
- What does Howie know now that he wishes he had known when he started Airtable?