Founder’s Corner: HubSpot Co-Founder Brian Halligan’s Secrets to Staying Motivated During the Long Startup Haul
April 1, 2014
What does it take to stay motivated through the ups and downs of building a fast-growing company in tech? In this edition of The Founder’s Corner, HubSpot’s co-founder Brian Halligan shares the challenges the company has faced and what keeps him inspired on a daily basis.
Since its founding in 2006, HubSpot has become one of the fastest growing companies in tech. But for co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. Not least of which was the task of raising awareness for inbound marketing and encouraging businesses to transform the way they approached marketing. In this interview with OpenView, Halligan shares how HubSpot took the world by storm by doing what it does best: leveraging inbound marketing for massive growth.
The Key Takeaways
- How HubSpot made the case for inbound marketing worldwide
- The moment Halligan realized HubSpot had reached the tipping point of traction
- The biggest challenges Halligan and Dharmesh Shah faced adapting to rapid growth
- What keeps Halligan motivated on a daily basis and determined to build a company that will outlast him
Making Inbound Marketing a Mainstream Concept
OpenView: Not only did you guys have to build a product and a company, you also had to raise awareness and understanding of inbound marketing — a new concept for a lot of people. Can you talk a little about a) your plan of attack for that; and b) the moment you realized you had reached a tipping point of acceptance & traction?
BH: You’re exactly right – we started HubSpot because we believed that the way people live, work, shop, and buy has fundamentally changed, and that companies would need a new type of approach and software to transform their businesses to match that tectonic shift in the buying process. We have been fortunate that the big bet we made on the inbound movement paid off — companies worldwide have adopted inbound tactics, and more than 10,000 customers leverage HubSpot to power inbound experiences for their customers. We’re really proud of that.
At the end of the day, one of the things I’m most proud of is that we practiced what we preach in terms of leveraging inbound marketing to get where we are. Dharmesh and I wrote many of our initial blog entries. Mike Volpe and I hosted many of our first webinars. Every employee participated in production of our viral videos. We wanted to convince companies globally to adopt our approach, and doing so required a willingness to walk the walk on inbound marketing.
I’m proud to say that the plan of attack we recommend for businesses globally is one we ourselves have adopted and leveraged for massive growth. This inbound marketing thing really works: we have the results to prove it.
With regard to a tipping point, I think for me every year it’s our INBOUND conference. It’s a huge event, and one that we invest a lot of time and energy preparing for. Every single year, Dharmesh and I are overwhelmed by the energy in the room, the excitement our customers bring to the room, and the creativity and passion the inbound marketing community brings together. This year will be no exception, we hope you’ll join us!
Growing Pains
OpenView: You’ve seen the company grow by leaps and bounds and guided it through an incredible transformation from what it was starting out. What was one of the biggest challenges for you as a founder in personally adapting to and helping the company adapt to that rapid growth? Is there anything you wish you had known or done differently?
BH: Every entrepreneur has “woulda, coulda, shoulda” moments, but I think for Dharmesh and me, most of those experiences have led to some really great decisions and learning experiences. For example, one of the best decisions we made over the course of our business was acquiring Performable. David Cancel and his team have not only brought exceptional quality to our product, but also exceptional creativity and innovation to our overall engineering and development organization.
Gearing Up for the Long Haul
OpenView: They say working at a startup is like working in dog years (1 year = 7). How have you stayed passionate and motivated during your journey at HubSpot?
BH: I always say about HubSpot that they’ll have to drag me out of there on a stretcher or a straightjacket. Dharmesh and I started the company because we wanted to create a company that would outlast us. Given that, we’ve always planned on being at HubSpot for decades, not years, and throughout many different stages of growth.
A few things keep me motivated on a daily basis: the first is our customers. We have a universal tenet to solve for the customer, and hearing about their challenges, their experiences with our software, and their success with our software just makes me even more energized to do more, better, and faster to help them achieve their goals.
Second is our team. Last year we opened a Dublin office, and growing the team there has not only brought some truly exceptional standouts to our team, but also created a new set of challenges: explaining inbound to a more global audience, replicating our unique approach to culture in a new office, and adapting to the needs of our European customers and partners. We hire people who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo, and that includes pushing all of us to think differently — that means a day of work at HubSpot is never the same and always challenging.
Finally, we’ve always been committed to fighting uninspired compromise at every turn. That’s true of hiring, of scale, and of innovation and our product as well. Signals is our new sales product, and we’ve built a startup within a “scaleup” to give that team free reign to grow traction in the sales market and innovate on behalf of sales rep users without red tape or bureaucracy. We will always be seeking out ways to make that a reality, not only to keep folks like me engaged, but also to help us retain top talent by giving them the autonomy and space to be awesome.
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