James Hawkins

Bestie, here’s what’s good with James Hawkins. This guy’s the real deal in the startup world, and honestly, he’s the kind of founder you gotta keep your eyes on. So, he’s the co-founder and CEO of PostHog, yeah, that open-source product analytics platform that’s been blowing up since 2020. He jumped into YC’s winter batch that year, which is basically like the startup Olympics for early-stage founders. That’s where he really started to shape his vision.

Before PostHog, James was all over the place, did stints at places like Arachnys, c2o Media, Search Professionals, and was part of the London Revenue Collective. You can tell he’s got that mix of startup hustle and business smarts. But what’s really cool is how he’s built PostHog, not just another analytics tool, but a platform that’s all about empowering devs and product teams with transparency and control. He’s a big fan of the engineer-led approach, basically letting the tech folks call the shots, not some bullshit management hierarchy. That’s his vibe: radical transparency, empowering the people actually building the product.

And get this, under his leadership, PostHog has crushed it. They got serious funding, thousands of developers worldwide using it, and it’s growing like crazy. But what makes James stand out isn’t just the tech, it’s his attitude. He’s irreverent, nonconformist, and he’s not afraid to call bullshit on startup culture. His tone’s raw, real, and he’s all about pushing the boundaries of how products should be built and scaled.

Basically, his story is about someone who’s seen the chaos of startups, learned from it, and then built something that flips the script. He’s motivated by a genuine desire to make tools that give power back to the engineers and product teams, not some top-down bullshit. That’s what drives him, creating a better way to build and analyze products, and doing it with total transparency and no bullshit.

So yeah, James Hawkins is a guy who’s not just riding the wave but shaping the future of how we make, measure, and scale products. No Cap, he’s a big change.