The AI Refounding Test
by Howie Liu • Co-founder & CEO at Airtable
Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Previously, he founded Etacts (acquired by Salesforce) and is known for his deep focus on product design and flexible software architecture.
🎙️ Episode Context
Howie Liu discusses the necessity of 'refounding' a decade-old SaaS company in the AI era, emphasizing the shift of CEOs back to 'Individual Contributor' (IC) roles. He details Airtable's organizational split into 'Fast Thinking' (AI innovation) and 'Slow Thinking' (infrastructure) groups, and explains why product leaders must prioritize 'vibes' and hands-on usage over rigid evaluations in the early stages of AI development.
Problem It Solves
Determining whether a legacy software company can survive the AI paradigm shift or if it should exit.
Framework Overview
A strategic framework for founders to decide how to pivot. It asks leaders to imagine starting from scratch today with AI-native approaches and evaluate if their current assets (codebase, brand, customers) act as leverage or liability.
🧠 Framework Structure
Clean Slate Imagination: If you found...
Asset Valuation: Do your existing bui...
The 'Sell' Criterion: If you cannot e...
The 'IC CEO' Mandate: The CEO must pe...
When to Use
During strategic planning sessions when facing existential threats from AI-native competitors (e.g., Cursor vs. VS Code).
Common Mistakes
Adding superficial 'AI features' to a legacy product without rethinking the core value proposition from first principles.
Real World Example
Howie realized Airtable's structured data primitives were better 'lego blocks' for AI agents than raw code generation, validating their pivot rather than a sale.
If you can't... then you should find a buyer and then if you really care about this mission, go and start the next carnation of it.
— Howie Liu