Who is James Hawkins?

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James Hawkins: Redefining Product-Led Growth with Humor, Insight, and Engineering Empathy

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James Hawkins is the co-founder and co-CEO of PostHog, a developer-focused analytics platform backed by Y Combinator. Known for his irreverent tone and tech-first principles, Hawkins advocates for an engineer-led approach to product development. He openly challenges startup dogma—from glorifying MBAs to overvaluing investor connections—and instead promotes lean, logic-driven growth.

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His social content blends humor and commentary with clarity and conviction. Hawkins shares stories from inside the startup trenches, often using wit to surface deeper truths about hiring, leadership, and scaling. He frequently critiques traditional corporate thinking while championing autonomy, transparency, and builder-first cultures. It's this mix of honesty and cleverness that draws in a loyal tech-savvy audience.

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Beyond his role at PostHog, James has become an online persona that founders and engineers alike turn to for perspective. He is especially popular among the YC ecosystem and open-source SaaS community, where his takes on fundraising, product iteration, and workplace culture stand out as both humorous and highly relatable.

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What makes Hawkins unique is that he never sounds like a marketer. His voice is authentic, at times raw, and always unconcerned with polish—yet the ideas land. For developers, founders, and startup operators, his content feels like advice from a peer, not a polished keynote speaker.

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An Influencer Active on Social Media

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James Hawkins leverages LinkedIn and X (Twitter) to share unfiltered insights and comedic commentary about building products, running a startup, and rethinking traditional founder paths.

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James Hawkins' Social Media Strategy Analysis

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LinkedIn: Tech Rants That Resonate

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James Hawkins’ LinkedIn account is a masterclass in balancing personal narrative with high-level product insight. He blends technical storytelling with punchy one-liners, making his content as entertaining as it is sharp. His top-performing posts often include startup pitch breakdowns, unexpected product decisions, or PostHog’s internal updates—presented with a mix of brutal honesty and wit.

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With 23.7K followers and an engagement rate of 1.08%, James stands out not by frequency alone but by originality. He posts a striking 45 times per month, averaging 103.6K monthly views, a remarkable feat for a B2B startup leader. His growth has jumped +8.46% in 30 days, showing that the mix of honesty and storytelling is working in his favor.

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Hawkins’ voice is unique in the LinkedIn feed: sardonic but sincere, tactical without being preachy. His visuals are minimal; when used, they typically support a punchline or satire. His post about a “diagonal SaaS” startup idea drew over 897 reactions and 167 comments—proof that even joke formats carry insight when coming from him.

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More than anything, James uses LinkedIn to humanize tech leadership. His tone invites reactions, questions, and even disagreement, which keeps engagement high and commentary rich. He doesn’t seek authority; he builds it by showing up with personality and unfiltered experiences.

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• Username: @j-hawkins
• Influence Score: 96.8 / 100
• Followers: 23.7K
• Activity: 45 posts / month
• Engagement Rate: 1.08%
• Growth: +8.46%
• Average Engagement: 256
• Posting Habits: Twice a day at 1 PM EST

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X (Twitter): The Playground for Founder Satire and Startup Memes

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On X, James Hawkins maintains a witty and slightly edgier version of his LinkedIn persona. With 12.5K followers and a 1.03% engagement rate, his tweets are short, sharp, and engineered to go viral inside tech Twitter circles. Here, Hawkins leans even more into memes, startup takes, and sardonic commentary on venture trends.

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He averages 11.6 tweets per week, which mirrors his LinkedIn activity but feels looser in tone. His tweet on raising $70M “at a unicorn-adjacent valuation” garnered over 145K views, showcasing his ability to turn personal updates into social capital. Even recycled content performs exceptionally well—his LinkedIn posts, when tweeted, often outperform their original versions in raw impressions.

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James isn’t trying to be a tech influencer—he’s building an audience by being himself, with humor that cuts through the usual startup jargon. His posts reflect what people in tech are actually thinking but rarely say out loud. Topics like founder psychology, fundraising myths, and SaaS strategy all get the James treatment: short, slightly absurd, but brutally insightful.

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This informal but thoughtful approach makes his Twitter account a go-to for developers, indie hackers, and SaaS founders. The crossover between his two audiences keeps his voice cohesive, and his growing influence shows he’s tapped into a valuable niche: founders who want to laugh while learning.

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• Username: @james406
• Influence Score: 79.2 / 100
• Followers: 12.5K
• Activity: 11.6 tweets / week
• Engagement Rate: 1.03%
• Growth: 0%
• Average Engagement: 128
• Posting Habits: Twice a day at 1 PM EST

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Newsletter: Product for Engineers

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James Hawkins also publishes a newsletter titled “Product for Engineers,” where he expands on his belief that technical minds—not just product managers—should lead product development. With his signature irreverence and clarity, he challenges traditional notions of what it takes to build successful software. Engineers, he argues, don’t need MBAs or polished investor decks—they need autonomy and sharp thinking.

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Although the subscriber count isn’t publicly disclosed, the newsletter clearly resonates with his core audience: engineers, indie SaaS builders, and PostHog users. The tone is casual but incisive, with each edition delivering dense insights without the jargon. James blends his lived startup experience with an engineer-first lens, writing more like a founder shipping code than a theorist pitching frameworks.

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Each post dives into real-world topics like org design, roadmap tradeoffs, and the cost of over-validation. Rather than presenting idealized models, James walks readers through what worked—and what didn’t—for PostHog. He isn’t afraid to expose mistakes, which makes the content more authentic and immediately applicable for teams building their first or fifth product.

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At its core, “Product for Engineers” is a manifesto: engineers should be empowered to lead. James reinforces that fewer gatekeepers and more ownership result in better, faster products. He avoids abstract advice, favoring examples and decisions grounded in shipping and iteration. For any engineer tired of fluff-filled advice, this newsletter reads like truth in a sea of noise.

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James Hawkins' Social Media Influence Summary

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James Hawkins ranks in the top 1% of LinkedIn creators in the United States and the top 5% in Startups & Entrepreneurship, showcasing his strong influence among tech founders and engineer-led product communities.

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Learn more about the Favikon Methodology here

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Content Strategy: Irreverent, Insightful, and Engineer-First

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Hawkins breaks every “startup influencer” rule—and that’s exactly why he works. His content is unpolished but precise, mixing dry humor with insightful founder commentary. He speaks directly to builders, not just founders, using metaphors, punchlines, and blunt truths to disarm while educating.

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Reachability and Partnerships

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James is an ideal partner for developer-first tools, SaaS platforms, open-source products, and startup support platforms. His audience includes engineers, product founders, and YC alumni—many of whom actively seek out new tools or philosophies that align with his message.

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He’s likely to collaborate only with brands that align with his values: transparency, utility, and technical empowerment. Partnerships that feel organic (like a founder story or product walkthrough) are far more likely to resonate with his audience than polished sponsor integrations.

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Conclusion: James Hawkins—Where Tech Realism and Humor Intersect

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James Hawkins doesn’t teach—he riffs, reflects, and challenges. In doing so, he’s become one of the most distinctive voices in the product and engineering space. Whether you’re laughing at a diagonal SaaS meme or nodding to a raw startup lesson, Hawkins delivers content that sticks. If you’re building something real—and want to speak to real builders—he’s the founder to follow.

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