HubSpot For Startups

What's the one thing AEs must have for a successful sales strategy? In our latest Science of Scaling clip, host Mark Roberge reveals why some sales reps consistently hit their numbers while others falter when marketing leads dry up. Hint: It's about ownership, not blame. ?? Watch Mark break down the "Bob scenario" that every sales leader will recognize! Want more insights: listen to Mark's full conversation with Databricks CRO Ron Gabrisko on building high-performance sales teams. #SalesLeadership #TheScienceOfScaling?

Very few startups can say they’ve made it to the coveted unicorn status, where a company earns a valuation of $1 billion. Even fewer startups can boast a $40 billion valuation. So how did Databricks, a data intelligence platform, scale from zero to a $40 billion valuation and $2.5 billion in revenue? Ron Gabrisko, CRO at Databricks, shares his journey of utilizing a strong sales playbook to help the startup skyrocket to success. From investing in a scalable, repeatable playbook as early as possible to incorporating contests and other incentives to make prospecting and sales more fun, Ron offered a lot of helpful insights that other startups can incorporate into their own journeys to higher valuations and revenue growth. Reinvigorate your startup’s sales playbook by listening, watching, or reading the latest The Science of Scaling podcast episode—find the links in the comments below, or listen wherever you find podcasts.

From HR Startup to Global Unicorn: How did they do it? Darwinbox transformed from a small startup challenging giants like SAP and Oracle into a $1B+ unicorn serving 3 million users worldwide. HubSpot helped play a role in forming their unified data strategy. And HubSpot for Startups played a role in their access to HubSpot. "HubSpot for Startups helped us accelerate our journey because it allowed us to leverage HubSpot's solutions to its best and expand into new markets with confidence," says Shantanu Kundu, US GTM Marketing Manager. The results speak volumes: 25% improvement in operational efficiency, 30-35% annual database growth, and seamless collaboration between previously siloed teams. Read how the HubSpot for Startups program provided Darwinbox with affordable access to enterprise-grade tools that helped them scale globally while maintaining their rapid growth trajectory. [link in comments ??] #HRTech #StartupSuccess #HubSpotForStartups

Founder-led content can be the difference between a customer or investor backing your business—or a competitor. Reports show that 77% of customers are more likely to buy from a company if the CEO is active on social media. Not only that, but some founders report that as much as 90% of their inbound leads come from online platforms. So, just by sharing your experiences as a startup founder, you can organically drive interest in your company. Here’s what our writer and content creator herself Taylor Cromwell shared about the benefits of founder-led content: “I’ve seen this play out firsthand with a company I work with as a freelance writer: beehiiv. beehiiv is an email newsletter platform that has grown into one of the most recognizable brands in its space, not just because of a great product but because its founder, Tyler Denk ??, has been building in public since day one.?That kind of presence isn’t accidental. It’s the result of consistent, strategic content led by the founder, and it works. When beehiiv opened a new investment round, it hit capacity within a day because the audience already believed in what the company was building.” If you want to achieve this kind of success with your content strategy, you need to learn the dos and don’ts of founder-led content. Today on our sales and marketing blog, we have not only a great article on how to do this effectively, but you can get our free playbook on how you can do it yourself! Link in comments. ??

When Your Team Uses What You Build, Magic Happens! ???? There's nothing more powerful than a team that believes in their product enough to use it themselves. In this clip from the latest episode of The Science of Scaling with Mark Roberge, former Shopify VP of Revenue Loren Padelford shares how Shopify employees were encouraged to launch their own stores—creating a culture where the team didn't just build the product, they lived it. This "eat your own cooking" approach isn't just good practice—it transforms your team into your most valuable product testers, passionate advocates, and source of authentic innovation. At HubSpot, we've seen firsthand how using our own tools has helped us discover opportunities for improvement that analytics alone could never reveal. When your team experiences the product journey alongside your customers, they develop a deeper empathy and understanding that drives better decision-making at every level. What about you? Does your team use your product? We'd love to hear how it's impacted your business culture and product development. #ProductDevelopment #TeamCulture #UserExperience #Startup

Many startup teams can hardly dream of the day they’re bringing in $1B annual recurring revenue (ARR). What does the journey from zero to more than a billion look like? Loren Padelford, CRO at Slice and former VP of Revenue at Shopify, got to experience this level of growth first-hand with Shopify Plus. During his time with Shopify, Loren helped oversee the growth of Shopify Plus from a concept to a wildly successful product with $1B ARR over a seven-year period. From tying science to sales and using data to drive decisions, Loren offered plenty of unique insights into how the team was able to scale to great heights in the latest The Science of Scaling interview. Loren also shared his personal story and how these experiences led him to better understand and embrace work-life balance in his current role. Get inspired by listening, watching, or reading the latest The Science of Scaling podcast episode—find the links in the comments below, or listen wherever you find podcasts. #sales #startups

That feeling you get when you close your first VC round! ?? ???? Who can relate? ?? #startupculture

If an investor doesn’t understand what your startup does within the first three slides of a pitch deck, you’ve already lost them. With hundreds, if not thousands of pitch decks to review each year, a VC doesn’t have time to decipher a pitch deck filled with lofty visions and fanciful language to find the core components. That’s why if startups want to stand out and get closer to a “yes” on investment, they need to know how to properly craft a clear, concise, and engaging pitch deck. Jesse Heikkil?, a seasoned VC at Failup Ventures spoke with HubSpot for Startups to share the most common pitch deck mistakes, plus his top tips for creating a pitch deck that stands out. Here’s one tip to add to your notes right now: “I recently reviewed a deck where it took 17 slides before I understood what the company did,” he explained. “That’s far too long. If an investor can’t immediately grasp the core problem and solution, they won’t care about your market opportunity, financials, or growth potential.” Now you know to tighten up the pitch deck, but what else can you do to stand out from the crowd? Learn more pitch deck tips in this HubSpot for Startups post. (Also included is playbook to help you craft the perfect pitch deck).

HubSpot Community Champions are invited to apply to become an INBOUND Correspondent. Applications are open until March 21 or until the maximum number of applications has been received. https://hubs.ly/Q03cc1f90

Back due to popular demand! Join HubSpot for Startups and our VC guests, for yet another session of our Pitch Perfect series! During this live session, we will select three to four dynamic entrepreneurs to showcase their startup pitches and receive real-time insights from our panel of prominent investors from Serena, Fuel Ventures ??, and Atlantic Labs. The deadline to submit your Pitch is 24th March. Don't miss out! Learn more and submit your pitch through the link in the comments.? https://lnkd.in/gXWuSp_D