PostHog
The open-source product analytics suite.
Founded in 2020 by James Hawkins and Tim Glaser through Y Combinator, PostHog was built as the open-source, privacy-first alternative to tools like Mixpanel and Amplitude. The key insight was that many engineering teams and companies with strict data compliance requirements cannot send user data to third-party analytics services. PostHog can be self-hosted, keeping all data on the customer's own infrastructure. The company raised $27 million in 2022 at a $225 million valuation and has grown to over 20,000 companies using PostHog including Hasura, Assemblyai, and Y Combinator itself. PostHog is notable for being one of the most transparent companies in software, publishing its revenue, business strategy, and internal metrics publicly on its website.
Active Founders
James Hawkins
Founder / CEO
James Hawkins is the co-founder and CEO of PostHog. A British entrepreneur, he previously worked in enterprise sales and product management at several UK startups before co-founding PostHog through Y Combinator. James built PostHog with radical transparency as a core value — the company publicly shares its revenue figures, hiring processes, and strategic decisions. His open-source first approach has attracted a passionate developer community that has made PostHog one of the fastest-growing product analytics tools despite operating with a tiny team.
PostHog