In just a few years, James Hawkins took PostHog from an idea hacked together right before YC’s W20 deadline to a unicorn powering product analytics for thousands of teams.
In this episode of Founder Firesides, he sits down with YC’s Brad Flora to talk about surviving six months of "pivot hell," why open-source analytics was the breakthrough, and how PostHog grew from fighting for its first users to launching full product lines. James also shares what he’s learned about momentum, staying close to customers, and using transparency and humor to build a company that stands out.
Learn more about PostHog: https://posthog.com/
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
Chapters:
00:00 What is PostHog?
2:04 The initial product
3:25 Pivot hell, getting into YC
7:20 Keeping hope alive after so many pivots
13:00 The fundraising experience
21:08 Having more fun with the work now
26:19 PostHog’s unique brand strategy and marketing
38:02 Outro
