How Spencer Skates and Curtis Liu Built Amplitude: The Go-To Analytics Tool for Product Managers.
Company profile
Company business details
Motivation to build the product
The founders, Spencer Skates and Curtis Liu, were motivated to start Amplitude after experiencing the challenges of understanding user behavior while developing their previous project, Sonolite, a voice recognition company. They recognized the necessity for a robust analytics platform that provided deeper insights into user behavior, particularly when existing tools failed to address their needs.Problem that their product solves
Amplitude solves the problem of understanding user behavior in digital products, which is crucial for product managers, marketers, and growth teams. By providing insights into user retention, engagement, and behavior patterns, it helps these end users optimize their products and improve user experiences to reduce churn and boost engagement.Their unfair advantage
Amplitude's unfair advantage lies in its ability to provide intuitive, user-friendly analytics capabilities tailored for non-technical users, contrasting with traditional BI tools that require technical expertise.Strategies
Pre-Launch (Product Development & MVP)
Beta Testing with Targeted User Interviews
Before building Amplitude, the founders engaged directly with 30 different prospective customer companies to gather insights on their product analytics needs. They specifically sought feedback on the pain points faced by these users in using existing tools. This early market research helped validate the core problem they aimed to solve with Amplitude, ensuring they were building something that businesses actually needed.
Customer Engagement Focus
Before launching Amplitude, Spencer Skates emphasized the importance of engaging with potential customers by dedicating half of his time to talking with them. He reached out to 30 different companies to understand their pain points and gauge interest in an analytics platform, which was a key strategy. This proactive approach allowed him to capture insights that would inform product development, resulting in the identification of seven companies interested in using their analytics tools. This step was crucial in validating the idea before the official launch in 2014.
Iterative Idea Refinement
Spencer Skates and Curtis Liu initially presented a concept for a new version of Mechanical Turk to Y Combinator which was not successful. However, they demonstrated a strong ability to iterate on their ideas; by returning to YC with a different proposal—Sonalight—focused on making it safe to text while driving, they showcased how adaptable they were. Despite initial skepticism from YC's Paul Graham about the potential at that time, the founders remained committed to refining their idea until it resonated with their batchmates.
Launch Stage
Product Launch and Community Building at Y Combinator
While participating in Y Combinator (YC) with their previous startup Sonolite, the founders pivoted to develop Amplitude based on the insights gained from their peers and industry contacts. They leveraged their YC network to connect with other companies and encouraged them to use Amplitude's beta, thus gaining initial traction without asking for payment, and focusing on collaboration and user feedback.
Direct Sales Strategy
Upon launching Amplitude, Spencer employed a direct sales strategy focused on landing early customers. As he had no established brand or product at the beginning, he spent considerable time cold-calling potential customers and pitching his product, making commitments to build features they needed. This 'heroic effort' strategy was essential to transition from zero to one, as he customized the product based on feedback from initial users, ultimately helping the company to grow rapidly in their early stages.
Learn more about Amplitude
He Built the #1 Product Analytics Tool
How I Built A $1.4B Software Giant Called AmplitudeㅣSpenser Skates, Amplitude
