How We Built It: Airtable Cobuilder
Airtable Cobuilder was the company's most ambitious product launch — an AI-powered feature that transforms how teams build apps and workflows. I directed this behind-the-scenes feature to humanize the engineering effort behind the product, spotlighting the people and process that made it possible.
The challenge was translating deeply technical concepts into an emotional, human story. We needed engineers and product leaders to feel comfortable on camera while still capturing the energy and stakes of shipping something this significant.
I conceived the format as a hybrid between product storytelling and documentary filmmaking. Rather than leading with features, we opened with the team — their ambitions, their debates, the whiteboard sessions at midnight. The product reveals itself naturally through the people who built it.
Shot across Airtable's San Francisco headquarters over multiple sessions, the piece interweaves sit-down interviews with verité-style footage of the team working through real problems. I used a single-operator cinema rig to keep the crew footprint small and the atmosphere natural.
The edit was structured around emotional beats rather than feature timelines. We let the engineers tell the story in their own words, then shaped the narrative in post to build toward the moment of launch. Sound design and a custom score gave it a cinematic quality unusual for product content.
This piece became a model for how Airtable approaches product storytelling — leading with the human side of building software, and trusting the audience to connect with craft over features. It was shared across internal channels, social media, and the company's main product page.