5 ms·
Airtable Became a Unicorn by Reinventing the Spreadsheet
- ec109685 8y agoWhat have Google Apps been doing in the meantime? Google Drawing expecially hasn’t changed in years. Google Sheets isn’t improving at anything close to a rapid pace.
- phonon 8y agoThey released App Maker. https://developers.google.com/appmaker/overview https://developers.google.com/appmaker/overview It's only available on the "Business" plan level or above ($10/user/month) https://gsuite.google.com/pricing.html https://gsuite.google.com/pricing.html
- hopler 8y agoJust enough to credibly say that they have a product in the space.
- toppy 8y agoNotion (https://www.notion.so https://www.notion.so) is doing something similar yet simpler with its 'Databases' view.
- wodenokoto 8y agoIs there something about Kutcher I don’t know? Why would you think of him as your potential first investor into your spreadsheet app?
- wulfmann 8y agoDid you read the article? The relationship began when Kutcher approached him to invest in his first product.
- wodenokoto 8y agoApparently not close enough. Thanks for the clarification
- pxtail 8y agoTbh to me it looks more like reinvented MS Access than Spreadsheet
- vb6lives 8y agoIt did both. Databases are big scary things to many people. They made it accessible by using a spreadsheet as a user interface.
- jbottoms 8y agoI believe it was Big Brother that had a patent for AI using spreadsheets back in the early 1980's. It did not stand up to scrutiny if I recall.
- prepend 8y agoI remember in the 90s there were all these neat and wonky 4/5GL databases like Clarion, Foxpro, Powerbuilder, etc. They were neat because they were ways for data users to design all the workflow around their subject. They had downsides, of course, that are apparent if you ever had to debug or support one. But a cloud dev front end that recreates the freedom and flexibility of these dB tools has massive potential. Airtable srrms the closest to this dream.
- arleny 8y agoIt's crazy how such a simple CRM dashboard like Etacs could bring in 700k funding in 2010. Nowadays that's a hackathon project.
- framp 8y agoIt wasn't any different in 2010 in the majority of the world, for most people; the 700k funding comes from a special location / network.
- xiaodai 8y agoLast time I tried, it was slow as hell. Let me try again!