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HubSpot and AWS meetup: Partnerships, startups, and HubSpot ventures

Picture of Hoala Greevy Hoala Greevy December 12, 2018

From the founder

Panel discussion at HubSpot and AWS meetup event

Panel discussion at HubSpot and AWS meetup on building successful startups

Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, and Kim Walsh After spending Sunday night sleeping on a cot at the office, I headed down to the AWS Pop-up Loft on Market Street yesterday for a HubSpot meetup. The meetup's topic: A Conversation with HubSpot and AWS: How to Build a Successful Startup As a secretbonus, there were a couple of new announcement's last night:

AWS and HubSpot announced a new partnership
HubSpot Ventures officially launched

Dharmesh Shah

Selfie with Dharmesh Shah Shortly after arriving, I introduced myself to HubSpot CTO and co-founder Dharmesh Shah. I succinctly gave him the Paubox elevator pitch and he politely listened as I rattled off our KPIs. As we positioned ourselves for a selfie (not always easy to do with co-founders of public companies), Dharmesh saw that I lassoed my lanyard around my neck to get the Paubox logo correctly in the shot. He then deftly unzipped his sweater to reveal his HubSpot t-shirt. Paubox + HubSpot selfie. I gotta say, Dharmesh is a chill guy.

Brian Halligan

Two people posing for a selfie at a conference event

Selfie with Brian Halligan Shortly before the program began, I introduced myself to Brian Halligan, CEO and co-founder of HubSpot. I mentioned I'd read his book Inbound Marketing and even did a synopsis on it. He asked me to tweet or email the link to him, which of course I will do shortly after publishing this post. Brian also asked if I'd read his other book, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, which I had not heard of. I ordered it from my iPhone several minutes later.

A Conversation with HubSpot and AWS: How to Build a Successful Startup

Here are my takeaways from last night's meetup:

Listen to your customers and think about how your business model may change around their needs
Co-founder conflict is the #2 reason for startup failure
For first 7 years of HubSpot, there was no self-service option. You had to talk to a human to buy something
HubSpot is obsessed with quantitative and qualitative feedback
HubSpot does NPS everywhere. Even HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan has an NPS score
Brian Halligan likes scotch, Casper beds and the Grateful Dead
According to Brian, the arbitrage opportunity in SaaS is creating remarkable customer experiences
“It’s never been easier to start a company... but it’s never been harder to scale.” Brian Halligan
There’s a lot of leverage in pricing and packaging
“The only thing worse than a sub-optimal price is no price." Dharmesh Shah
Brian doesn’t like Outbound Marketing: "Figure out how to scale your Inbound.. SEO scales like crazy.”
Inbound marketing still works
"I'm a goto market geek." Brian Halligan
Sequoia was very helpful to HubSpot
“You have to differentiate yourself, there’s so much noise in the market now.” Dharmesh Shah
HubSpot has roughly a 16 month payback period
It's possible to charge up to 25% of the first year's revenue in setup fees or professional services

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