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One Line at a Time: Amplitude Analytics Spenser Skates, the visionary co-founder and CEO of Amplitude, has led the company to become a titan in the software industry. Amplitude's digital analytics platform is now the gold standard in product management, boasting an impressive roster of clients from budding startups to industry giants such as NBC Universal, Capital One, Dropbox, and Atlassian, including a significant portion of the Fortune 100. However, the journey to success was not without its challenges. Amplitude was born out of Skates' previous venture, Sonalight, as a spin-off with immense potential. Over the past decade, Skates has navigated the treacherous waters of entrepreneurship, scaling Amplitude to a team of hundreds and overcoming a multitude of operational hurdles that many founders face, from product development to go-to-market strategies. While pursuing a bioengineering degree at MIT in 2010, Spenser Skates grappled with questions about his life's direction and a desire to create something that would positively impact society. He was surrounded by talented students and aspiring entrepreneurs and was inspired by successful innovators and writers like Norman Borlaug and Paul Graham. Skates became passionate about the potential of technology to make a meaningful impact on society. As he reflected on the paths of successful companies, Skates realized that building a successful company was an incredible way to impact the world. However, during his time at Sonalight, Skates faced a common problem among founders: a lack of engagement with customers. Skates and his co-founder were focused on creating an outstanding product from an engineering perspective but failed to address the actual needs of their customers. When Skates and his co-founder started Amplitude in 2012, they decided to talk to at least 30 potential customers before building anything. Skates shifted his focus from product to sales and hired a sales coach to teach him the basics of selling, qualifying, asking the right questions, and focusing on customers with the right problems. Known to most Amplitude offers a Digital Optimization System that includes Amplitude Analytics, Amplitude Recommend, and Amplitude Experiment. The company's first product was listed as the #22 software product in 2021 by G2 Crowd. Amplitude acquired ClearBrain in March 2020 and Iteratively in May 2021. In June 2021, the company received $150 million in its final private investment led by Sequoia Capital at a valuation of $4 billion. Despite the recent funding, the CEO decided to take Amplitude public through a direct public offering, breaking from recent norms. The company had $300 million cash on hand, enabling them to make this choice. The first day of trading increased the company's value from 5 billion to 7.1 billion. Amplitude reported $72 million in revenue for the first half of 2021, a year over year increase of 56%. After going public, the company now has 490 employees across the US, Europe, and Asia and counts 26 of the Fortune 100 as customers. Skates emphasizes the importance of founders connecting with their customers to truly understand the demands of the market. He advises technical founders who lack sales experience to seek out a mentor or coach who has built a business before. This feedback and advice are crucial to understanding what product to build, which can only be achieved by talking to customers, according to Skates.