The HubSpot IPO -- 4 'Get Rich' Lessons for Entrepreneurs

In an interview with TheStreet, Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot, said that as a student at MIT his goal was to bring a company public and ring the bell on the NYSE trading floor. He just succeeded. But, going public and getting monetarily rich was not the only reason HubSpot had its IPO a few weeks ago.

HubSpot, the inbound marketing company, went public on the New York Stock Exchange on October 8, raising $125 million. Over the past eight years, the company has been successful, achieving $100 million in annual revenue run rate.

For many startups, going public is the ultimate goal. However, if that is the goal, then what happens after the closing bell rings? Business returns to usual -- whether you want it to or not.

What happens next is the hardest part. After the dust settles and employees go back to their desks, there are still customers to support, products to deliver and even more work to be done. In fact, the company is no longer answering to a small group of investors, but is immediately obligated to act on behalf of all of its shareholders.

So if you're an entrepreneur or at a small company and focused on building something great, what can you really learn from the most recent darling of Wall Street?

Build for the long-term
When Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot’s CTO and co-founder, started HubSpot, they were focused on building a company that would not only make a significant change for marketers, but also one that would be around for the long-haul. They were not interested in building a company to sell for profit within a few years, but to build a company that would transform an industry. Even early on they had their heads up and were looking out.

Stay focused on the goal
It's easy for startups to get distracted—especially when competition starts heating up. But, if you set a clear vision for yourself and your company, you know where you are headed and are able to stay grounded in what you are trying to achieve. For HubSpot, that means staying focused on changing the entire marketing landscape. “We’re not out to make an incremental change. We’re transforming the whole concept and practice of marketing", said Shah.

Embrace your community
It would have been predictable for HubSpot to move to Silicon Valley once the company started to take off. But, that was not what Halligan and Shah envisioned. Both co-founders believed that keeping HubSpot in Boston would help the city while also staying true to their purpose. “Our focus has always been on creating a big, sustainable company, but it has been equally important to create that presence in Boston,” said Halligan. “Our goal is to build a west coast-style company here that will endure and outlast us. It will be bigger than ourselves.”

Be a resource to your customers
HubSpot's vision for transforming the practice of marketing is one that all startups should embrace. You need to be where your customer is going—and it's probably not a tradeshow. If she is looking to buy, she is going to be researching her options online and looking to trusted peers and influencers for guidance. This means that you need to be where she will likely end up before she gets there. Clearly, content is king and you need to craft it wisely. HubSpot generates lots of useful content for its customers and you should too.

While only a handful of companies have the opportunity to go public, for the HubSpot team, the IPO provides the means to continue to build the business that they envisioned. Time will tell whether the management team made the right financial decision, especially since HubSpot's losses are growing (but less quickly than its revenue).

Even if history proves that HubSpot made the wrong decision to go public, they are still free to pursue their true vision of transforming an entire industry. Isn't that worth the risk?

What are you building for the long-term and what advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?

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ABOUT BRIAN AND AHA!

Brian seeks business and wilderness adventure. He has been the founder or early employee of six cloud-based software companies and is the CEO of Aha! -- the world's #1 product roadmap software. His last two companies were acquired by Aruba Networks [ARUN] and Citrix [CTXS].

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