Ep 7-$10M ARR with a "quirky, opensource product"? A Conversation with James Hawkins of PostHog The Thing

Product analytics is a weird, complex world. Posthog gives users (small and large) a way to dig into their user behaviour without vendor lock-in. Join me for a fascinating conversation with James Hawkins, co-founder of PostHog. We chat about

The Y Combinator journey...with shoes?
Why open-source? Strategy, spaghetti-slinging, luck and choices
Building with devs in mind- How PostHog shifted its focus.
Want the video of this?

https://youtu.be/ZXjn9ZOrMDg?feature=shared
James
https://twitter.com/james406posthog.com​​/handbook
GitHub-https://github.com/PostHog/posthoghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/j-hawkinshttps://posthog.com/https://twitter.com/posthog





(un)Supervised Learning linkshttps://www.linkedin.com/company/unsupervisedlearningko-fi.com/unsupervisedlearninghttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unsupervised-learning/id1728592020www.unsupervisedlearning.copod@unsupervisedlearning.co Sponsored by Jan https://jan.ai/

00:00 Intro
01:02 The Unsettled Debt 
01:40 Omg, Shoes  
03:14 The Evolution of Post Hog: From Idea to Open Source Analytics
06:47 The Genesis of Post Hog and Marketing Insights
08:36 Redefining Customer Retention and Product Development
12:17 Engineering Culture and Remote Work Dynamics at Post Hog
13:05 The Philosophy of Minimum Viable Understanding
16:17 Personal Reflections and the Craft of Invention
18:39 The Philosophy Behind Posthog's Product Strategy
18:45 Embracing Competition and Execution Over Concept
19:33 The Genesis of the Handbook: A Story of Trust and Transparency
20:12 Building Trust with Early Users Through Transparency
21:26 The Impact of the Handbook on Company Culture and Brand
22:07 Addressing Organizational Debt and Pay Transparency
23:38 The Unconventional Path
24:16 How Y Combinator Transformed Posthog
30:14 Navigating the Challenges of Building a Community