About Spencer Skates
Spencer Skates is the co-founder and CEO of Amplitude, the product analytics platform (YC W12, now public). He publicly admits being an AI skeptic until October 2024, then transformed the company in 12 months with AI Week, two reorgs, and three acquisitions.
Career Highlights
- Amplitude (2012-present): Co-founder and CEO, YC W12
- IPO (2021): Took Amplitude public
- AI transformation (2024-2025): 12-month pivot to AI-native
- 3 acquisitions: Command AI, Craftful team, June, Anari
- Sonalight (2011): Previous YC startup
Notable Positions
On Being an AI Skeptic
Honest about what changed his mind:
"When managers in 2023 asked 'What's our AI strategy?', I pushed back. My co-founder saw 'massive scams' - promises of job replacement that model capabilities couldn't deliver. The tipping point was coding tools. When Cursor and Claude started transforming software engineering productivity, skeptics couldn't deny it anymore."
On AI Week
The transformation catalyst:
"Two days of training, then hackathon. Key move: had VPs and engineering leads demo the tech in front of the whole org. One product lead live-coded dark mode for Amplitude. Everyone saw leaders saying 'this is it' and showing how they do it. Rest of the week was 'work on things you're already doing, just faster with Cursor.'"
On Technology-First Product Development
Breaking the SaaS playbook:
"SaaS playbook is: talk to customers, ask what they want, prioritize, build, deliver, repeat. That doesn't work with AI because customers can't describe what's possible. You need engineering teams who understand model capabilities first, then map it back to product problems."
Key Quotes
- "AI skeptic until October 2024."
- "AI Week was the catalyst."
- "Customers can't describe what's possible."
Related Reading
- Enterprise AI - Amplitude's transformation
- Application Over Training - The product focus Spencer embraced
Video Appearances
AI skepticism
When managers in 2023 asked 'What's our AI strategy?', I pushed back. My co-founder saw 'massive scams' - promises of job replacement that model capabilities couldn't deliver. Uneven capabilities made it impossible for non-practitioners to know what fell into which bucket.
at 00:08:00
AI Week transformation
AI Week was the transformation catalyst. Two days of training, then hackathon. Key move: had VPs and engineering leads demo the tech in front of the whole org. One product lead live-coded dark mode for Amplitude. Everyone saw leaders saying 'this is it' and showing how they do it.
at 00:15:00
Tech-first product development
Technology-first understanding of what's possible. SaaS playbook is: talk to customers, ask what they want, prioritize, build. That doesn't work with AI because customers can't describe what's possible. You need engineering teams who understand model capabilities first.
at 00:22:00