No Reset Button: Reinventing Amplitude in a Post-AI World (Spenser Skates)

Amplitude helped define the modern analytics stack, powering digital products with deep behavioral insights. But in a world shifting toward agentic interfaces and vertically integrated AI, even a category leader has to evolve.In this episode, CEO Spenser Skates shares how he’s rethinking AI within the constraints of a 13-year-old codebase, why analytics remains Amplitude’s competitive edge—and why taking the company public early was a risk worth taking. Chapters:00:00 Trailer00:43 Introduction01:26 AI is still very early05:48 The urgency of building from the ground up08:49 Bringing in new blood11:23 Higher valuations and going public15:00 Who’s leading who18:39 Markets being open and closed21:14 Being the incumbent in AI24:40 Slow innovation31:43 The ultimate founder37:06 Things willing to relinquish44:04 Being the person I want to be46:41 Between family and work50:08 Becoming the person you hate55:16 Chief general, chief justice, chief priest1:02:56 Tired founders1:04:32 Missing out1:14:51 Who Amplitude is hiring1:15:41 What Spenser means to Spenser1:16:54 OutroMentioned in this episode: OpenAI ChatGPT, Command AI, Oracle Corporation, Anthropic Claude, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Rippling, Stripe, Meta Platforms, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, Figma, Canva, Peter Thiel, Anne Lee Skates, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michael JordanLinks:Connect with SpenserXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected] more about Kleiner Perkins