Airtable is a business software, cloud collaboration service founded in 2012 and backed by, among others, Thread Capital, Freestyle Capital, Founder Collective, Caffeinated Capital and Evolution Corporate Advisors. The latest financing has propelled Airtable to unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation, up from the $152 million valuation it reached earlier this year.
Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to organize anything, share work with your friends, co-workers, set goals and track the progress of your projects. It has nice spreadsheet wise layout so it looks familiar to almost each of us making the use easy and intuitive. It allows realtime collaboration, you can feed it not only with text but also attachments, images and other content you want to have in a cell. You can use prepared templates (for a personal CRM, project tracker, and an employee directory) or just create the spreadsheet the way you like from scratch.
For new comers, it provides the exhaustive manual that shows the features and functionalities of the product. There is mobile and web version available and the tool is extremely flexible. The features you can use are endless and Airtable team publish new examples on how to effectively use the product every now and then. Make sure you check their blog on a regular basis and implement new functionalities to automate your work and benefit from the tool to the fullest.
The great thing is that by connecting Airtable to app automation tool Zapier, you can fill up your digital filing cabinet automatically by setting rules that pass data between Airtable and your other apps once certain events occur. You can also connect Airtable to Asana, Evernote, Slack, MailChimp and many others.
Airtable team constantly reviews the users feedback, updates the product and introduces new features. I feel like it’s always a step ahead of what I may need and before I think of it, it’s already added to the available functionalities.
Personally, Airtable is now my greatest library and collection of thoughts, blogs, websites, conclusions and inspirations.
I discovered the app some time ago and since then it’s been solving my everlasting need of organising my notes, articles and websites I found interesting, to do lists, inspirations, ideas for my next posts, people I’d like to connect with and it’s significantly reduced number of sticky notes on my desk, on my laptop, in my calendar, jacket pockets (if you know what I mean ;))
Even the free version is already fulfilling needs of a regular user. For business reasons the paid, extended version might be a better option but undoubtedly, Airtable got called the unicorn of 2018 not just by chance. It’s so ridiculously simple idea but nobody came up with this kind of solution before. It’s a clear message to us, founders, investors to step back, just watch our daily life and answer to people’s basic needs.
It’s sometimes not about innovation and most extraordinary and complex solution. It’s all about making our daily life easier, better organised and to make us feel that we benefit from the product, maximise our effectiveness and save our precious time.
