Zero to IPO: Lessons From Unlikely Story of HubSpot

Zero to IPO: Lessons From The Unlikely Story of

Hi, I’m @dharmesh This is #saastrannual

The full video of this talk is available. [click for video]

All-in-one inbound marketing and sales software. I co-founded this

$HUBS IPO: OCT 2014

HubSpot Revenue 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 $6.6M $15.4M $28.6M $51.6M $77.6M $115.9M $38.2M 58% Y/Y $42.9M 58% Y/Y Q1’15 Q2’15 Q3’15 $47.7M 57% Y/Y

This presentation includes certain “forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our position to execute on our growth strategy in the mid-market, and our ability to expand our leadership position and market opportunity for our inbound platform. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts and statements identified by words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates" or words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control including, without limitation, our history of losses, our ability to retain existing customers and add new customers, the continued growth of the market for an inbound platform; our ability to differentiate our platform from competing products and technologies; our ability to manage our growth effectively to maintain our high level of service; our ability to maintain and expand relationships with our marketing agency partners; our ability to successfully recruit and retain highly-qualified personnel; the price volatility of our common stock, and other risks set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 4, 2015 and our other SEC filings. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Safe Harbor

MY MISSION: Help you increase your probability of breakthrough success.

Beware of extrapolations from small sample size. (n=1)

MYTH: Unicorns excrete sage startup advice applicable to everyone.

13 A decade ago, I met this super-clueful guy at MIT. Just one problem: He’s in business school.

P(success) = 0.01 (1%)

P(success) = .01 2n

P(success) = .01 2n n = # of MBAs on early team

17 Another problem: I’m in business school too.

Founder/CEO MBA Founder/CTO MBA

Founder/CEO MBA Founder/CTO MBA VP Marketing MBA VP Sales MBA

Founder/CEO MBA Founder/CTO MBA VP Marketing MBA VP Sales MBA VP Customer MBA VP Engineering MBA

Founder/CEO MBA Founder/CTO MBA VP Marketing MBA VP Sales MBA VP Customer MBA VP Engineering MBA WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

“Targeting small and medium businesses is a Very Bad Idea. - SAID ALMOST EVERYONE.

GREAT ADVICE: Startups should focus on ONE thing.

25 First 4 Years: Top Of The Funnel All-In-One Platform

Charge early, charge often.

QUESTION: If it takes 6 MBAs 3 months to come up with pricing, how long does it take 2 MBAs?

QUESTION: If it takes 6 MBAs 3 months to come up with pricing, how long does it take 2 MBAs? ANSWER: About 3 min.

$250/mo Note: Not “starting at”

WE CALLED IT INBOUND MARKETING

TOOLS ARE BOUGHT VS TRANSFORMATIONS ARE SOLD

ATTENTION IS CHEAPER THAN RENTING IT. ATTRA T I N G

Not just a brand, a movement. Available in  9 languages 14,000+ Registered Attendees 2,700+ Partners 125,000+ Members Trained and certified 17,000+ professionals 2.0+ million Monthly Visits BLOG 19 Partners stat as of 9/30/15. All other stats as of October 22, 2015.

Freemium Hack: Instead of giving away a part of the solution, Give away a tool that diagnoses the problem. WebsiteGrader.com

The #1 Community For Marketers

Churn is not the quickest way to kill a growing SaaS company. But, it’s the most reliable.

Real estate: Location, Location, Location SaaS: Retention, Retention, Retention

Absence of cancellation is not proof of the presence of delightion.

Let’s wind down…

CRAZY THEORY #1: Maybe not all MBAs are psychologically predisposed to startup cluelessness.

CRAZY THEORY #2: It takes more than technology, to build something big. You also need a philosophy.

Crazy Theory #3: 100+ of you will do crazy things and build brilliantly successful SaaS businesses.

dharmesh@hubspot.com @dharmesh on twitter