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 Trailer 00:43 Introduction 01:26 AI is still very early 05:48 The urgency of building from the ground up 08:49 Bringing in new blood 11:23 Higher valuations and going public 15:00 Who’s leading who 18:39 Markets being open and closed 21:14 Being the incumbent in AI 24:40 Slow innovation 31:43 The ultimate founder 37:06 Things willing to relinquish 44:04 Being the person I want to be 46:41 Between family and work 50:08 Becoming the person you hate 55:16 Chief general, chief justice, chief priest 1:02:56 Tired founders 1:04:32 Missing out 1:14:51 Who Amplitude is hiring 1:15:41 What Spenser means to Spenser 1:16:54 Outro Mentioned 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 Jordan Links: Connect with SpenserXLinkedIn Connect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins