If you’ve used Handsontable anytime in the last decade, you’ve seen the fingerprints of one person: Marcin Warpechowski.

He built the very first version. He shaped the product as its co-founder and an intermittent CTO. Then he stepped away to try something new. Now, he’s back, but this time as CEO.

What’s it like to return to something you conceived? How does it feel stepping into the CEO role? And what’s next for Handsontable under his lead?

We sat down with Marcin for a short Q&A. Some product talk, some real talk. Let’s get into it.

Back to the Roots

Let’s go back. What sparked the original idea for Handsontable?

Marcin:  It started out of necessity. I was building my own application and needed a data table that felt like Excel or Google Sheets. At the time, open-source offered many things, but nothing that replicated that familiar spreadsheet experience. So I built one. And because I believed in open-source, I put it on GitHub as a way of giving back.

Very quickly, things took off. Feature requests, pull requests, community contributions, and then the big moment: waking up to see Handsontable as the #1 story on Hacker News. Within a week, it had gained about a thousand GitHub stars, and companies began sponsoring improvements. Soon, it wasn’t just me. Within a year, Handsontable had a small full-time team.

When did you realize this might become a full company, not just a project?

Marcin: Honestly, it happened almost immediately. The early response showed me the need was real, far bigger than my own project. The demand was so strong that the team expanded naturally, driven by users who wanted to fund new features.

The Change

You left for two years. What did you learn outside the company that changed how you see Handsontable?

Marcin: Handsontable opened doors for me. I met founders who used the library, discovered new opportunities, and ended up working in product roles at other companies, including ClickUp.

Those years taught me what it takes to scale a business and a product sustainably. I saw firsthand how ambitious teams operate and what “extraordinary” looks like at scale. All of that shaped my thinking.

Why now? What made you decide this was the moment to return?

Marcin: Because the potential was too big to ignore. After more than a decade, the demand for Handsontable kept exceeding every assumption we ever had. It was the right moment to shift gears and grow more boldly. I wanted to bring everything I’d learned back home.

And why as CEO?

Marcin: I know what a team can do with the right mindset, clarity, and ambition. When I talked with Chris Spilka, our previous CEO, about Handsontable’s next chapter, it was clear there’s huge potential in a new, long-term vision. Handsontable is the best-of-its-kind data grid today, but it can serve a much broader set of use cases. Ultimately, we want it to become the data table that businesses standardize on.

As the founder and the person driving this new direction, stepping into the CEO role was a natural move. My job is to point the leadership team toward the most meaningful outcomes, knowing they’ll execute exceptionally once we’re fully aligned on the target.

And honestly, the role suits me. I like switching contexts. As CEO, I get energy from moving across different challenges throughout the day, and each new day still feels unprecedented.

Did anything about the company surprise you when you came back?

Marcin: The depth of responsibility people feel for the product and the customers.

I never fully stepped away, but seeing the team from the inside again reminded me how loyal and committed they are. Many have been with us for years, and the desire to do right by users is incredibly strong.

The Product 

How do you see Handsontable evolving to meet developers’ needs today, compared to when you first built it?

Marcin: Two major shifts have happened since the early days. First, the spreadsheet-like experience we originally focused on is now just one of many ways people work with data. That expectation has broadened, and so has our product. We define “great UX” more widely now, and we keep learning from customers about what that should look like today and in the future. What hasn’t changed is our core mission: to deliver a polished, intuitive user experience that people expect in modern applications.

The second big change is on the developer side. When we started, a good developer experience was defined as a very open, deeply customizable kit with a powerful API that you can become an expert in. Now, the value is in simplicity, not complexity. Development cycles have become much shorter thanks to better tooling and especially AI. Developers no longer need to become experts in a specific library. What matters most is shipping faster. Our job is to fit naturally into that environment and help them get the best job done as quickly as possible.

What’s one thing you think Handsontable can do better for customers in 2026?

Marcin: We want Handsontable to be the default data table of choice for business applications – not only because of its great UX, but also because it performs well, integrates well, and adapts to evolving requirements.

Are there any upcoming features or directions you’re especially excited about?

Marcin: I’m especially excited about the Theme Builder project we launched recently. We’re developing it into a tool that lets users configure and design a data table quickly, without writing any code. It clearly shortens the path from idea to implementation.

I’m also excited about our work on deeper interoperability with design systems. We want Handsontable to fit naturally into modern enterprise applications, especially those built around strict design guidelines. Strengthening that alignment is a big focus for us going forward.

If you were a developer choosing between data table libraries today, why Handsontable?

Marcin: ​​With the rise of AI coding tools, software code is becoming a commodity. Developers don’t choose a tool like Handsontable just for the implementation. They choose it because they trust the vendor, because they know we take responsibility for the product, and because they can rely on solid support. Most importantly, it helps them ship faster with full confidence. Those are the qualities we focus on.

The Leadership 

From CTO to CEO: what part of the job excites you?

Marcin: What excites me most is that the impact of our work now depends heavily on how well we communicate and how clearly we identify where to focus. As a CTO, I was responsible for one area and always pushed to deliver the best possible work there. As CEO, my role is different; it’s about guiding the leadership team toward the most beneficial outcomes for the company.

I have complete confidence that the team will excel at whatever they take on. But if I do my job well, they’ll be working on the problems that matter most.

What do you want your leadership to feel like for the team?

Marcin: I want the team to feel my trust and support, and to always have a consistent vision and clear goals to work toward. I want people to have the space to truly own the problems they’re solving and choose the path they believe is best. That sense of autonomy, backed by trust and clarity, is what I want my leadership to feel like.

Finally, shifting to headspace for a second. What’s your go-to way to get unstuck mentally?

Marcin: The best way to get unstuck is to disconnect from the problem. I talk to people I trust to get a fresh perspective.

And recently, I’ve been using a floating chamber. It’s basically an hour of sensory isolation. It’s meant to help you relax or meditate, but for me, around the 50-minute mark, my brain starts firing with new ideas. Everything suddenly connects. I often walk out of there ready to solve a problem that felt impossible before.

Beata: Thanks for sharing your insights, Marcin. It’s not every day you see a founder come full circle – back to the roots, and ready for what’s next. Feels good to have the original builder steering the ship again!