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Spencer Skates

Spencer Skates

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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."