Congrats! Been keeping an eye on you guys for a while.
What kind of trade offs were involved in the direct listing? How confident were you that was the best way to list?
Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
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Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#12It seemed critical early on that Amplitude basically made what MixPanel charged a lot for free, by providing a huge free tier. This is how my company ended up on Amplitude... and then we didn't pay for years, until we eventually ended up paying $40K/year then more.
That pricing structure seems like a very long-viewed approach that could have easily been ruined by short-term product thinking.
Was there ever internal or investor pressure along the way to cut or pare down the free tier?
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#13It seemed critical early on that Amplitude basically made what MixPanel charged a lot for free, by providing a huge free tier. This is how my company ended up on Amplitude... and then we didn't pay for years, until we eventually ended up paying $40K/year then more. That pricing structure seems like a very long-viewed approach that could have easily been ruined by short-term product thinking. Was there ever internal o…
There are loads of products this applies to, I think trying to charge small clients too soon is often a false long term strategy especially if you have growth and a plan!
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#14If I had a product page featuring either a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, which would get the most clicks?
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#15What did you do to beat Mixpanel to IPO - when they had a couple year head-start?
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#16If I had a product page featuring either a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, which would get the most clicks?
Obviously you have to A/B test it and try both.
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#17Thanks for doing the AMA!
How did you discover your repeatable distribution channel, and what did it end up being?
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#18Do you have any screen shots from the first version you put in front of customers? It'd be fun to see how far it's come. I assume investment banks were trying to convince you to do a traditional IPO instead of a direct listing, so they could collect some fat fees. What were their best arguments?
Oldest screen in web archive I can find is https://web.archive.org/web/20121204213532/http://www.amplit... "Welcome to our awesome mobile analytics platform!" with just a login form.
Oldest landing page I can find is https://web.archive.org/web/20130529150217/https://amplitude...
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#19Congrats!
HN is always saying that working for a FAANG is better money than working for a startup even if it IPOs, so my question to you is: How did your employees make out during the IPO? Is the prevailing HN wisdom correct? Did your average developer employee that stuck it through with you on your journey end up with more or less than what they would have made working at FAANG?
Re: Tell HN: Amplitude (YC W12) just went public – AMA
#20If I had a product page featuring either a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, which would get the most clicks?
Definitely the horse-sized duck.
Do one thing, and do it well.