Amplitude Founders’ Award Winner: Bethany Mangan

At Amplitude, we believe great businesses are built by empowering great people. The Founders’ Awards represent our company's highest recognition, celebrating the Ampliteers who embody what it means to think and act like a founder.

As the late, great Steve Jobs once quipped, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell US what to do.” That ethos is at the heart of Amplitude’s beginnings, and since day one, we’ve strived to foster an environment where our people don’t simply excel in their jobs—they take a step back, see the big picture, and boldly tell us what needs to happen to drive the business forward. In other words, they think—and act—like a founder.

Today, we recognize one such Ampliteer who has risen to the challenge and is shaping Amplitude’s future with the same relentless vision and drive that built it.

Bethany Mangan, Sr. Sales Engineer

Bethany Mangan exemplifies what it means to act like a founder, holding herself to the highest standards and consistently going above and beyond to drive Amplitude’s success. As Sr. Sales Engineer (SE), Bethany’s impact in 2024 was undeniable—she was directly attached to $2.8MM in ARR with a close rate that placed her among the top SEs despite focusing on challenging Emerging Enterprise accounts. Her ability to build trust and showcase Amplitude’s value made the difference in competitive deals—in one such deal, she was praised for delivering “the best demo I’ve seen at Amplitude” by a longtime company veteran. Unsurprisingly, sales managers actively compete to have Bethany on their accounts—she is simply that good.

Beyond her direct contributions to deals, Bethany’s influence extends far beyond her own work, consistently identifying and addressing gaps in resources and enablement. Her drive to improve her own performance and empower the entire SE team is a testament to her leadership and dedication. Whether refining customer narratives, enhancing internal processes, or supporting the team around her, Bethany doesn’t wait for someone to solve a problem—she steps up and makes it happen. For her relentless pursuit of excellence and her profound impact on revenue and team performance, Bethany Mangan is more than deserving of the Amplitude Founders’ Award.

Congratulations, Bethany!

Tell us about yourself and what brought you to Amplitude

I came to Amplitude about two and a half years ago—it was the perfect blend of my interest in data analytics and my passion for helping customers realize the value and impact of data in their own organizations. It felt like a culmination of all my prior experience: in a GIS laboratory doing geospatial analysis, as a data scientist at a crowd-sourced data platform, and as a solutions consultant sharing that expertise with prospective customers. 

Amplitude marks the intersection between these interests, and pairing that with working with some of the smartest, most talented people I've ever met makes it all the more rewarding. I’ve already got another blog post about the culture of our core values, so I’ll spare you the details again—but each of my colleagues continually inspires me, and they have helped me grow tremendously!

What does acting like a founder mean to you?

To me, acting like a founder means taking ownership—not just of my individual work but of the bigger picture. Founders don’t wait for someone else to solve a problem; they step up, take initiative, and drive meaningful change. That mindset is what I strive to bring to my work at Amplitude every day. It might look like refining how we communicate our value to customers, identifying gaps in our processes, or collaborating with my teammates and enabling each other to be more successful.

It also means embracing a deep sense of accountability. It’s not all about tactical execution—being a founder implies a sense of genuine care—about the success of the business, the people around me, and the long-term impact of my decisions. I’m fortunate to work in an environment that encourages this kind of thinking, where everyone is empowered to challenge the status quo and push for better, taking risks. It’s about a mindset of ownership, curiosity, and relentless drive to make things better.

What’s your approach to delivering demos to clients?

When giving a demo, I think of the famous sales quote I first heard from my VP of Solutions Engineering, Brian Ivanovick: “Sales is the transfer of enthusiasm.”

If we break that down, what does it truly mean? What are we truly enthusiastic about? For me, I have always been enthusiastic about solving problems… wherever those problems are. In a demo and in my customer relationships, it’s enthusiasm for solving their problems. But to do that authentically, we need to have a deep understanding of what those problems are. We cannot be enthusiastic about something we don’t truly understand.

So, in a demo, getting to know each stakeholder and what problems they may face in a day-to-day workflow is essential. Balancing that with the general desire of a prospective customer just to see the product we’ve been talking about is an art, not a science. But if you get that right, you create a moment where the customer doesn’t just see the product—they feel its impact. A great demo isn’t a feature walkthrough. It’s a storytelling moment where the customer sees their own challenges reflected and solved in real-time. It’s about connecting the dots between their pain points and how Amplitude can transform their work.

Doing that well is not just about knowing the product inside and out. It’s about knowing the customer inside and out. What drives them? What frustrates them? What does success look like for them? A great demo meets them where they are and makes the solution feel inevitable. When that happens, enthusiasm isn’t just transferred—it's shared.

How do you measure sales success?

We hear it all the time—we need to be customer-obsessed. That means sales success isn’t just about a number but about the impact we create for our customers. A genuinely successful sale is one where the customer doesn’t just buy Amplitude but sees tangible value from it. Did we help them solve a real problem? Did we make their workflows more efficient, their insights more actionable, and their decision-making more confident? If the answer is yes, we’ve done more than just sell software… We've made a difference in their business.

To me, success is in those aha moments when a customer realizes how Amplitude can transform the way they work. The most fulfilling part of the job is knowing that what we do leads to real change. If our customers are winning, then so are we.