Character x Sundial: A growth acceleration story
The Challenge
Character’s user base was exploding, but their analytics lagged behind. With the team focused on building state-of-the-art models, they lacked a clear view of why they were growing and which levers to pull next. Without that clarity, prioritizing features and accelerating momentum felt like guesswork.
“Sundial’s analytics platform helped us rapidly act. In just a few weeks, we were able to get a level of insight and understanding of customers that would have otherwise taken 6-12 months.”
— Adam Rowings, ex-Head of Analytics, Character AI
The Sundial Transformation
From day one, the Character data team had the kind of visibility most teams spend months trying to build.
“Sundial has supercharged our Data Science team by reducing time to answers by an order of magnitude so our product and engineering teams can move faster."
— Andy Nahman, Head of Data Science, Character AI
Instant, Deep-Dive Analytics Out of the Box
With Sundial, Character tackled both high-level strategy and on-the-ground tactics — from ‘How has long-term retention trended over the past year?’ to ‘What happened to power users on Android in India last week?’ to ‘which specific characters were disproportionately responsible for higher ecosystem time spent?’
Sundial comes with prebuilt analyses for core needs like consumer growth, while its customizable architecture supports deep, tailored analysis of business areas that don’t fit standard templates — like Character’s creator ecosystem. Sundial has packaged common analyses such as:
Trace a metric drop to a specific dimension like country, platform etc.
Quantify seasonality’s effect on a metric like Weekly Active Users (WAU).
Map the interplay between characters and creators.
Measure power-user depth and revenue drivers.
Shift focus from short-term to long-term retention and pinpoint each “aha!” moment.
Detect behavioral friction tied to launches and product changes.
Identify the traits that turn core users into power users.
“Next level! Period.”
“Sundial is next level—period. The product is world-class, and every conversation with their team teaches us something new.”
— Sri, Data Scientist, Character AI
Why It Matters for Growth-Stage Companies
Character’s journey offers a playbook for any startup racing to scale. When growth is rapid, data maturity becomes a competitive edge. Sundial’s ready-made, deep insights help teams uncover opportunities early, refine product roadmaps swiftly, and stay focused on what truly moves the needle. Sundial’s world-class support operates as a seamless extension of Character’s own team, going beyond the typical vendor relationship. The support team is immediately responsive on Slack, serving as a trusted sounding board for product ideas and data questions. They actively participate in key strategic meetings, helping ensure insights quickly translate into informed decisions.
In today’s GenAI landscape, the difference between winning and losing comes down to how quickly you can make high-quality decisions. Fast-growing startups can’t afford to wait years to build a mature data function — growth is too rapid, iteration cycles are too short, and the margin for error is razor thin. Sundial gives these teams the data maturity they need from day one, increasing their odds of winning in an incredibly competitive space.
“Sundial has transformed our ability to operationalize how we build GenAI consumer products at scale and understand our monetization levers! Incredible team, great product!”
— Karandeep Anand, CEO, Character AI
