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]

 I co-founded this

All-in-one inbound marketing

and sales software.
$HUBS IPO: OCT 2014
 HubSpot Revenue
$115.9M

$42.9M $47.7M
$38.2M 58% Y/Y 57% Y/Y
58% Y/Y
$77.6M

$51.6M
Q1’15 Q2’15 Q3’15

$28.6M
$15.4M
$6.6M

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

 Safe Harbor

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.  
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.
A decade ago, I met
this super-clueful guy
at MIT.

Just one problem:

He’s in business school.
13
P(success) = 0.01 (1%)
 .01
P(success) =
2 n
 .01
P(success) =
2 n

n = # of MBAs on early team

 Another
problem:
I’m in business
school too.

17
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.

 All-In-One Platform
First 4 Years:

Top Of The Funnel

25
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.

 o
0/m
Note:
$25

Not “starting at”

WE CALLED IT
INBOUND
MARKETING
TOOLS VS
TRANSFORMATIONS
ARE BOUGHT ARE SOLD
 N
ATTRA T I G
ATTENTION IS CHEAPER
THAN RENTING IT.
 125,000+
Members

Available in

9 languages
14,000+
Registered Attendees

Not just a
brand, a BLOG
movement. 2.0+ million
Monthly Visits
Trained and certified
17,000+ professionals

2,700+
Partners
Partners stat as of 9/30/15. All other stats as of October 22, 2015.
19
WebsiteGrader.com Freemium Hack:

Instead of giving away a

part of the solution,

Give away a tool that

diagnoses the problem.
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