Brian Halligan

I started HubSpot with my MIT classmate Dharmesh back in 2006. We grew it from 2 people and a new idea we called “inbound marketing” to 8,000 people and a CRM platform used by millions today.

That journey looked smooth from the outside, but it was two steps forward and one step back over and over again on the inside. That long strange trip taught me a lot about creating a category, building a culture, pivoting at scale, going multi-product, competing with giants, building a channel, product-led growth, going public, building boards, managing my own psyche, etc., etc., etc.

A few years into the journey, we met Jim Goetz and Pat Grady from Sequoia who made an investment in us. That worked out pretty well for both Sequoia and HubSpot. Sequoia gave us credibility, plugged us into an amazing network, and helped us think through our business model to scale. They were terrific partners when we were private and then again after we went public, buying HubSpot shares again through their unique capital structure.

The experience was so good that I joined the Sequoia team. My new Sequoia chapter is all about helping startup founders turn into scale-up CEOs — I coach them, create community for them, and podcast for them.