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Airtable gets $52M in funding

businessinsider.com

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Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#91

Post by Y_Y »

swaggyBoatswain wrote: post #45
nareiber wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you're going to be putting them in a db, why did you 'port' them to airtable? Wouldn't it be cheaper to store the files on s3 and insert in the db when you get your schema and everything solidified?

sorry I didn't mean "port" literally, I meant it as a slang term. I meant "move everything over". Airtable uses s3 to manage the file upload assets (I think). I like using Airtable over a traditional RDBMS since its extremely user friendly and easy to update your db schema. I don't have to memorize anything on the backend (E.g. with MS-SQL, it was always in an uphill battle working with sql-server management studio,…

This and your other comments read like ads. I don't mean to say that you're not being genuine, but when I (and presumably others) read a thread like this and see overly-enthusiastic reviews it raises a degree of skepticism. I wouldn't like to criticise you, especially since you just seem to be trying to inform others about a product you're pleased with, but i think there's a general problem on hn with comments above a certain threshold of complimentariness. Some are obvious shills, but there's a big grey area where it's harder to tell.

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#92

Post by sbierwagen »

ProAm wrote: post #69
kornish wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the better question is: during a life-and-death fire rescue effort, is it a better use of time to use Airtable as a backend or to write, deploy, and operate a concurrent editing backend yourself? There's a clear answer here.

Good point but most states have disaster relief infrastructure already in place for events like this? If this was scrounged up the day of it would make sense.

If you think local government has IT infrastructure just for disaster operations, or if it does, that you can add a user to it in less than two business weeks, then you haven't worked in local government.

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#94

Post by luckydata »

callesgg wrote: post #54

Airtable seams cool but i have a hard time understanding where in the market they are. Like between Excel and a relational db app? Not sure about that. Some things that often fail in excel is: * You cant easily verify what the user writes. * It is hard to stop users from destroying the formulas that make it work. * It becomes slow when the row count starts to go up. * You cant have user roles where some users is supp…

I think they are trying to be "access in the browser" but they are not all the way there yet.

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#95

Post by viksit »

cyberferret wrote: post #85
viksit wrote: post #58

I for one hope Salesforce acquires Airtable and integrates them into Quip. That will be a kick-ass workflow and documentation system.

Doesn't the article state that the founder of Airtable sold his previous startup to Salesforce and regrets it and doesn't want to go down the same path again?

Ah yes, the etacts debacle. Agree. I meant more the Quip integration (which would make sense) vs Salesforce as a company. But good point.

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#96

Post by d--b »

Pg's startup idea YC would fund from 2008:

22. A web-based Excel/database hybrid. People often use Excel as a lightweight database. I suspect there's an opportunity to create the program such users wish existed, and that there are new things you could do if it were web-based. Like make it easier to get data into it, through forms or scraping.

Don't make it feel like a database. That frightens people. The question to ask is: how much can I let people do without defining structure? You want the database equivalent of a language that makes its easy to keep data in linked lists. (Which means you probably want to write it in one.)

From: http://old.ycombinator.com/ideas.html

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#98

Post by ProAm »

sbierwagen wrote: post #92
ProAm wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point but most states have disaster relief infrastructure already in place for events like this? If this was scrounged up the day of it would make sense.

If you think local government has IT infrastructure just for disaster operations, or if it does, that you can add a user to it in less than two business weeks, then you haven't worked in local government.

I have worked in local government, and have dealt with these departments. While most cities probably dont have this infrastructure, most states do and open it to local muni's for these exact scenarios. Like I said if they had to create something last minute this is great, I was just surprised at their appreciation to scale something to 60 users.

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#99

Post by jlarocco »

So... time to dig through the terrible ideas of 20 years ago, and see which ones are now good ideas when adding "... on the internet"?

And I'm only being partially sarcastic. Their implementation looks neat, but having seen ugly Excel "apps" in the past, the idea of "spreadsheets programmed by anybody" makes me cringe.

IMO, if they're smart they'll have some kind of easy migration to "real" applications.

Re: Airtable gets $52M in funding

#100

Post by ProAm »

snomad wrote: post #90
ProAm wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point but most states have disaster relief infrastructure already in place for events like this? If this was scrounged up the day of it would make sense.

Why do you believe most states have IT-related disaster relief infrastructure in place? I worked for several years in CA govt, I would be surprised if anything beyond the major metros has much in place for coordinating shelters, etc. In fact, the sonoma fires are documented to have had lots of problems with reverse 911.

I have and there was always IT-related disaster plans and policies. But admittedly I have not worked in most states in this capacity and definitely not in CA so my experiences are limited.
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