PostHog
PostHog helps product engineers build successful products by providing a single platform containing every piece of SaaS needed to build products, talk to customers, and analyze customer data. The company aims to increase the number of successful products in the world.
Founding Story
PostHog was founded on January 23, 2020, by James Hawkins and Tim Glaser, who met while working at Arachnys, a regulatory technology startup in London. Before PostHog, they explored a startup idea focused on helping engineers manage technical debt, which failed to gain traction. The idea for PostHog was born from their experience of building products 'blind' without clear visibility into user behavior during their previous failed venture. They started PostHog to address data complexity and tool sprawl by creating an all-in-one, developer-centric analytics platform. PostHog was accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2020 batch. They launched their MVP on Hacker News just 4 weeks after starting to write code, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. For the first year and a half, the company focused exclusively on open-source software development rather than revenue.
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Leadership
Founders
James Hawkins
James Hawkins spent 10 years attempting to be a professional cyclist while doing part-time web development. He taught himself web development to fund his cycling career. He worked at Arachnys (a regulatory technology startup in London) for over 4 years, rising from an individual contributor to VP of Sales. Co-founded PostHog during Y Combinator's W20 batch in 2020. Currently serves as Co-CEO.
Tim Glaser
Tim Glaser started coding at age 11, was earning money for code by 13, and held his first formal employment at 16. He worked at Arachnys (where he met James) in multiple roles including software engineer, product manager, and R&D lead. His experience building data infrastructure at Arachnys informed PostHog's technical architecture. Currently serves as Co-CEO and CTO.
Executive Team
James Hawkins
Co-CEO and Co-Founder
Former professional cyclist who taught himself web development. Previously VP of Sales at Arachnys for over 4 years.
Tim Glaser
Co-CEO, CTO, and Co-Founder
Started coding at age 11. Former software engineer, product manager, and R&D lead at Arachnys.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Usage-based pricing with generous free tiers. PostHog generates revenue through API usage, event tracking volume, and premium features. The company operates on a product-led growth model with no outbound sales team. 98% of customers use the product for free, with 2% converting to paid plans. The platform offers both cloud hosting (SaaS) and self-hosted options.
Pricing Tiers
Generous free tier available for all products; 98% of customers use the product for free
Usage-based pricing that scales with event volume and features used; no sales calls required
Enterprise plan for teams with thousands to millions of users requiring higher volume and support
On-premise deployment option for companies requiring full data control
Target Markets
- Engineering-led startups and companies
- Product-led growth companies
- Software development teams
- SaaS companies
- Developer tools companies
- Technology startups
- Product analytics and user behavior tracking
- Feature rollout management and experimentation
- Customer feedback collection
- Error monitoring and debugging
- Data-driven product development
- User experience optimization
- Y Combinator
- 1Password
- Mistral AI
- Airbus
History & Milestones
Raised $70M Series D led by Stripe at $920M valuation
Raised $75M Series E led by Peak XV Partners, achieving unicorn status with $1.4B valuation; grew to over 190,000 teams using the platform
Grew to approximately 80 employees; achieved multiple tens of millions in ARR with 3x year-over-year growth
Achieved cashflow positive status
Raised $15M Series B led by Y Combinator Continuity Fund; reached over 150 external contributors and thousands of deployments
