Fundraising Fox

Emmett Nicholas

Unicorn founder

Co-Founder and senior engineering leader at Airtable

Greater Seattle Area

FoundedAirtable$11.7B

About

Emmett Nicholas is a co-founder of Airtable, the no-code platform valued at $11.7 billion at its 2021 peak and sold to Bending Spoons for about $2.25 billion in equity value in 2026. A Duke computer science graduate, he wrote software at Microsoft and was a founding-era engineer at Stack Overflow before joining Howie Liu and Andrew Ofstad full-time in 2013; he served as Airtable's CTO until handing the role to OpenAI's David Azose in October 2025.

Deal analysis

Beyond investing

Education
Studied computer science and electrical engineering at Duke University, class of 2008.
More
Software engineer at Microsoft and a founding-era engineer at Stack Overflow before Airtable. Served as Airtable's CTO, owning technical architecture, until David Azose β€” who led ChatGPT Business Products engineering at OpenAI β€” took the role in October 2025.

Mentioned above: the Duke University mafia β†’

From Emmett's own website β€” common ground for a warm intro.

Co-Founder and senior engineering leader at Airtable

Intro paths

β†’

In turn, Emmett can intro founders to Airtable's investors below.

Airtable's investors Β· 32

BenchmarkSan Francisco Β· $100K – $30M checks Β· since 2018Bling CapitalMiami Beach Β· $1M – $5M checksCaffeinated CapitalSan Francisco Β· $3M – $50M checks Β· since 2015Coatue ManagementNew York Β· $1M – $20M checks Β· since 2018CrunchFundCRV (Charles River Ventures)Bay Area Β· $250K – $5M checks Β· since 2018CSC UpshotPalo Alto Β· $100K – $1.5M checksDCVC (Data Collective)Palo Alto Β· $5M – $25M checksDraft Ventures LlcSan FranciscoDVCRotterdamEthos VCSan Francisco Β· $250K – $3M checksFoothill VenturesLos Altos Β· $100K – $10M checksFounder CollectiveCambridgeFranklin TempletonSan MateoFreestyle CapitalSan Rafael Β· $1.5M – $4M checks Β· since 2015Friends Family CapitalSilicon ValleyGreenoaksSan Francisco Β· $1M – $50M checksHomebrewBurlingame Β· $100K – $500K checksICONIQ GrowthSan FranciscoInspired CapitalNew York Β· $500K – $20M checksJude GomilaLynnwoodSalesforce VenturesSan Francisco Β· $5M – $50M checks Β· since 2026Silver Lake PartnersMenlo ParkSlow VenturesSan Francisco Β· $50K – $1M checks Β· since 2019SNR VCSeattleSound VenturesSanta MonicaSummit Peak InvestmentsFort WorthT. Rowe PriceBaltimoreThrive CapitalNew York Β· $500K – $25M checks Β· since 2018Tribe Capital FirstlookPalo Alto Β· $25K – $40M checksTuesday CapitalSan FranciscoWndrCoRedwood City Β· $100K – $10M checks

Co-founders at Airtable

HLHowie Liu
Howie LiuCo-Founder and CEO
AOAndrew Ofstad
Andrew OfstadCo-Founder

Experience

  1. AirtableCo-foundercurrent2021 β€” presentSan Francisco
  2. AirtableCo-founder & CTO2013 β€” 2021San Francisco
  3. Stack OverflowSoftware Engineer2010 β€” 2013NYC
  4. MicrosoftSoftware Engineer2008 β€” 2009Redmond

Frequently asked questions

Who is Emmett Nicholas?
Emmett Nicholas is a co-founder of Airtable, the no-code platform valued at $11.7 billion at its 2021 peak and sold to Bending Spoons for about $2.25 billion in equity value in 2026. A Duke computer science graduate, he wrote software at Microsoft and was a founding-era engineer at Stack Overflow before joining Howie Liu and Andrew Ofstad full-time in 2013; he served as Airtable's CTO until handing the role to OpenAI's David Azose in October 2025.
Where does Emmett Nicholas work?
Emmett Nicholas is Co-Founder and senior engineering leader of Airtable.
What companies did Emmett Nicholas found?
Emmett Nicholas founded Airtable.
Where did Emmett Nicholas go to school?
Emmett Nicholas studied at Duke University (CS & ECE).

Founder mafias

Same school

Shared employers