Blog post: How I got to PostHog

[kevan-gilbert]

(Working on a blog post / not ready for review yet)

“I abhor all content marketing,” wrote my friend. “With one notable, emphatic, exception. And that’s PostHog.”

“What the heck’s PostHog?” I thought as I clicked the link. In a moment, the brand revealed itself to me, as my screen was overtaken by hedgehog cartoons, brilliant copywriting, electric references and unusual product claims.

My friend’s note continued: “nostalgia, brand.”

He wasn’t wrong. The site was activating some throwback internet core memories, and making me feel optimistic about the future all at the same time, somehow. “Imagine…” it seemed to be saying. “…if creators could be themselves; if humour was available, if joy was an option.” I felt like I hadn’t seen a site like this in years. I clicked further, following my friend’s trail.

One of the posts was called, “How to get a job at a startup.”

Hey now. I was in the middle of a job application process myself.

I read further.

“What I actually see when I review resumes,” was another one.

I read it. “This is super helpful,” I thought, then: “Hang on.” I pulled open my CV. I’d already applied for 30 jobs this past month. I wonder how my own resume was doing in following these principles?

It was clear it could be better. The upper third wasn’t telling a very compelling story. I decided right then that I was going for it.

I started by quoting the message my friend had sent me.

“‘I abhor all content marketing,’ wrote my friend…”

——

X weeks later, I heard back: “You’re in!” Wrote Joe.

I couldn’t believe it. I used the 3 weeks to research the company more, rebuild my portfolio (and continue sending in job applications).

I had, as the handbook said would happen: the culture screen interview, the technical interview, and the interview with the co-founder. And then, the infamous SuperDay. A paid day of work where they give you a real assignment, and gauge your ability to actually ship in the confines of the genuine-feeling environment.

---still writing/drafting---

My friend. He’s an engineer, and we’ve known each other for about 15 years. Lately, he and I had been collaborating on some of his own side-projects. He’s a super-talented polymathic software developer / indie hacker who is always building something interesting. He was sending me PostHog as inspiration for his own preferred vibe, since I was helping him out with some product marketing thinking.

My own business had been experiencing a bit of a “summer slow-down” that wasn’t turning into any autumn speed-ups, and he had the need for some of my services on the side.

This itself was a move of openness.

It was a lovely mutual fit in this fallow season.

The business I had started was now two-and-a-half years old. When I took the leap to start it, it fit the mold of what writer Michael Gerber calls “an entrepreneurial seizure.” It’s when an idea grabs you and doesn’t let go, and you basically have no choice BUT to start the business. I hadn’t studied business or aspired to be a founder; I simply found myself with a concept I couldn’t surrender.

Collaborating with my friend was a new step for me — while I’d spent my career in the world of technology and creativity,

Two and a half years ago, I had taken the leap to start my own business. It happened when inspiration (I was working on an idea I cared about) met a catalyst (the company I was working for was unexpectedly acquired, meaning an unwanted shift in vision and priorities was thrust upon me). My four kiddos need a dad who wasn’t just paying the bills, but also staying true to himself — so I grabbed my parachute and jumped.

My small team and I built the business, the brand, the website, and found some really lovely clients and partners. But as time ticked on, and the economy shifted, so did people’s priorities, and two-and-a-half years later, I found myself looking deeply into questions of what I really needed for our family.

“I’m realizing I’m open,” I said to my wife one Sunday afternoon in September. “Open to the idea of a job-job.”

She was relieved, curious and encouraging. We’d been carrying the load of the business for a while now, and while it offered autonomy, creativity, flexibility, there’s nothing quite like the unique burden of running a business as your family’s main source of income to create one’s fair share of tough chats and heavy times.

As I began polishing up my CV, I also opened up to the idea of

I hadn’t really intended to found anything, but I found myself stewarding an idea that was really important to me. I thought it was just a “work idea,” but when my work ended up merging with

--- Rough outline notes --

Alvin’s message
What is this place?
This must be the place.

Okay: I wrote a cover letter. Optimized the top part. Used humour.
This was application #31

My job stats:

I heard back from Joe: we’re gonna interview you! 3 weeks. We’re just busy. Won’t forget you.
I believed him.
3 weeks head start. I jumped in.
Researched more about the company.
Rebuilt my own portfolio.
When the time came, I was ready. On edge, maybe, but equipped with genuine interest and knowledge.

Culture screen > technical interview > culture interview > go!

Superday. “High fail rate”
Throw a lot at you.
“We do have good balance but that’s not this day”

Woke up the day before with an idea” what if I filmed it?”
Shot b-roll. Interviewed my kids.

The day of: ready. saw the assignment: “write about your day”
Oh dang. I’ll do you one better. I’ll make a documentary. I’ma do it

Here it is [ ]

I waited.
It wanted an answer the same day.
The handbook says postHog aims to make decisions within 48 hours.
But 48 hours after my superday ended would be…the weekend, UK time.
And that was just their own internal decision.
They’d still have to move things forward to create and offer letter, if it was a yes.

But it came through. As the handbook says, Charles reached out with a letter of offer. I thought I’d jump through the screen and hug this lovely man.

Onboarding with PostHog is preferred as an in-person activity. So I was able to take a trip to London to meet my new colleagues. As I spent the days at WeWorks and Work.Lifes, By the second-to-last day there, I had this sad sense of wishing I’d had the creativity and forethought to plan a documentary for my onboarding week, too, so I could end with a note of surprise.

And then I realized I still could! All week, I’d been creating videos to send back home to my family, who were working hard to hold down the fort while I travelled. And I had packed some additional audio/video gear in case I ended up with spare time in the evenings for personal projects. So on the final morning, I woke up at 6, and spent the next 2 hours stitching together this mini-doc on my onboarding week in London. It’s called Noticing.

[video]

I’m writing this on a plane back from