Google Buying HubSpot - Suddenly it all makes sense

Google buying HubSpot...

It took me a few days to digest this. What the hell is the relation between them?

And then I realized that this deal is a huge sign that things are going to change. I'm talking huge changes.

So why would Google want to buy HubSpot? Several reasons:

1. The Rise of AI and Uncertainty It Brings

While 谷歌 is making strides into its own LLM and redefining Search before the market does it for their search engine, the future of Search is largely uncertain. We're all focusing on the new search engine that will provide us with answers and not just search results, but generally the experience would remain the same. You go to a website, you look for an answer and you get one. That means there are places to show you ads.

But what about the real change that's coming - when people won't need to go to a website as they'll have their own AI assistant looking for data for them, and browsing for them. If this happens Google will have less inventory to show ads. That's a major concern so google needs more channels to make money

2. The Cloud Wars

Google is only third in the game of cloud infrastructure, but it's still a huge business. Not just for hosting apps but also for providing cloud-based services and tools AND making money out of all the data that's currently stored there. Google is also a very large enterprise player with its Google Workspace solutions. But what it doesn't have, that Microsoft does, is a suite of CRM and marketing tools that it can bundle together.

HubSpot will allow Google to fight 微软 directly - with email, collaboration, cloud hosting and now CRM, marketing and service tools. HubSpot also has an experienced workforce that knows how to create and sell to large orgs and enterprises. The age of the new enterprise cloud wars is coming.

3. Bridging the Business Data Gap

Yes, Google has tons of data, but surprisingly it doesn't have a lot of business data. Most orgs are not on Google Workspace so it can't associate business emails with personal ones and you can see how few signals it has for advertising.

HubSpot on the other hand, has an insane amount of data simply by hosting tons of information about companies, contacts associated to them, who is making deals and with whom. Now, after buying Clearbit , it also had data on behavior of people in these organizations.

Adding this data to its portfolio will allow Google to compete head on with growing ABM Display companies like 6sense and Demandbase . I'm not talking about just Display, Google can actually integrate this data into their own Search and Youtube products and thus reclaim some of the potential loss from Search income.

4. Analytics 4 vs. HubSpot

I don't think it's a big issue, but honestly Analytics 4 is not good, especially when it comes to B2B.

HubSpot is not the best, but it's definitely better and provides more relevant data to organizations on the marketing and sales funnel. This could come in handy if Google wants to attract more B2B advertising dollars.

4. Size Matters

Last but not least, if there's one thing that HubSpot is lacking, it's size. It's not perceived as enterprise-grade company unlike Salesforce and Microsoft. That's why it keep losing deals for enterprise software sales.

However, with Google backing it up and an aggressive sales pitch that will include the entire suite of products and cloud hosting, suddenly HubSpot is playing on a whole different playing level.

And another scenario, just a thought really, but I do see Google giving HubSpot for free or at a reduced cost as long as you advertise through Google. HubSpot could be an improved gateway for Google Ads - it has all the infrastructure in place after all. Google sees all the ads running through HubSpot and I guess there's some serious growth there. I, for example, wouldn't mind it at all. It can't be worse than using Google Ads for B2B now after all.

So AI, Search, Ads, Enterprise Software... What more does the future hold for us? One can even start imagining a car company developing AI software products... Oh, wait...