How Amplitude found product-market fit: Curtis Liu on pivoting to analytics

Amplitude is the world’s #1 product analytics platform, currently trading at $1.6B. Launched in 2014, Amplitude started out as a mobile analytics tool, and eventually expanded to include all digital analytics, experimentation and personalization. The company now serves over 1900 customers.

In this episode, CTO Curtis Liu shares the story of how Amplitude was created after he and his co-founder, Spenser Skates, decided to pivot when their initial product idea didn’t find traction. They explored several options before landing on mobile analytics. Curtis walks us through their early prototyping and discovery process, as well as his approach to company-building as a technical leader and founder.

Join us as we discuss:

1:06: How Curtis and Spenser arrived at their first startup idea, Sonalight

4: 01: How they came to the conclusion that they need to pivot

6: 15: How they explored different options before landing on mobile analytics

9: 17: Their prototyping process which included doing interviews and creating mockups

15: 44: What Curtis’s learning process looked like as he was building Amplitude

22: 23: Curtis’s approach to doing research through both self-directed exploration and reaching out to experts

25: 15: How he approached his role as a founder and technical leader

36: 12: Amplitude’s core values and how the founders thought about creating a positive culture

38: 01: How Amplitude is expanding it’s product suite to support different types of datasets

41: 10: Curtis’s advice to new founders who are trying to find problems to solve

Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and

Twitter - https://twitter.com/sandhya

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/

Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.

Further reading from the Startup Field Guide:

Customer validation:

https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/customer-validation-going-from-idea-to-sellable-product

Tracking the user/buyer journey
https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/self-serve-user-buyer-journey

CEO/founder prioritization:
https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/ceo-founder-prioritization