Dharmesh Shah

Founder and CTO at HubSpot. Helping millions grow better.

Career startup guy.

Author of the book &quot;Inbound Marketing&quot; (http://InboundBook.com)

Specialties: Entrepreneurship, Software Development, internet marketing,SEO

Founder and CTO

Founder of HubSpot, a venture-backed software startup.  HubSpot offers the industry's first inbound marketing system for small businesses.  The software is available as a hosted service (SaaS).

This might be the SCARIEST and/or CRAZIEST thing I've done in years.

But, here we go...

Even before PLG (Product Led Growth) there is usually Founder Led Growth.

I've long believed that *everyone* in an early-stage startup should be selling the product and helping customers get value. Even if you've never done sales. *Especially* if you've never done sales.  

But, there's no reason to limit this to just the early days of a startup.

So, in the spirit of curiosity, learning and love, I'm trying something new.

I'm going to jump back into "early-stage" mode and help sell HubSpot. Not just sell the vision of HubSpot (which I do all the time), but sell the actual product/platform that we provide to customers.

HubSpot is 20 years old and has 280,000+ customers. Why would I do this? 

Simple, because:  I LOVE HUBSPOT! 

And, I want to share my love with as many other founders and founding teams as I can. 

Also because I'm competitive and love a challenge.  

I'm going to track it all and see how many people I can get to sign-up for HubSpot Free or Starter edition. 

I've got a ton of ideas I want to try that I think will help drive sign-ups. 

As part of this effort, I'll be creating a series of "founder to founder" videos. Some ideas I have:

1) A "speed-run" of signing up for HubSpot and getting your first contact in there and starting to use it.

2) A demo/screencast of how I *personally* use HubSpot for Agent.ai (a HubSpot Next project).  It has 2.5M users and is growing. So, it's a *real* startup with real data. I get to also then show-off how we're using HubSpot with AgentAI to automate some things (like monitoring for VIP signups). 

3) WTF is an ACP (Agentic Customer Platform) and does a startup really need one?

4) Why can't I juse vibe code my own CRM?

5) Why wouldn't I just use one of the super-cool AI-native CRM products? 

Or...any questions that you folks have.

Phew!  I'm nervous...but excited.  

If you're already a HubSpot customer, THANK YOU! 

If not, then give me a chance to convince you.  :)

Visit:  GOHUBSPOT .ai

And in the meantime, please leave your comments, feedback, questions and pushbacks for upcoming videos.

Off to the races!

Thanks for your support.

#ILoveHubSpot #GoHubSpot

Woo hoo!  Thrilled to share a sneak peek of HubCode -- The Vibe Coding Tool for HubSpot.

I talked about this a few weeks ago (which feels like forever). 

Been cranking on it and am ready to show you the actual app now.  Link to video in the comments. Or, just type video.hubcode .com in your browser (it takes you to YouTube).

Some notes:

1) This requires no terminal -- runs completely in the cloud

2) You can vibe code both app cards and full apps that live inside the HubSpot web UI.

3) Generated apps can access data within HubSpot (of course).

4) SUPER EXCITING: Apps can reuse any of the public agents in agent .ai (there are 2,000+ of them). This makes your apps super-powerful because you can access all sorts of data and services. And, you can build your own agents and access them too.

This gives you access to all the major frontier models, a bunch of really useful data sources and a ton of other capability. Go to agent .ai to see what's available.

The demo shows pulling YouTube videos related to a company right into the app card.

5) You can paste in screenshots or other visuals as part of your vibe coding process (if you haven't done this before, it will feel magical). 

The HubCode app runs on the agent .ai platform and is in private beta (because this one's going to take some testing and iteration give the power and flexibility).  To apply, just go to hubcode .com.

This is an early "proof of concept", but will be iterating on it maniacally as I get user feedback.

Let me know what you think.  All thoughts, ideas, feedback and wishlist items appreciated.

FEEDBACK IS A GIFT.  Thank you!

Thank you for your support.

Fractional CCO + Advisor | Building Brand Affinity at the Intersection of CX, Social Media, & Community | Award-Winning Leader | Featured in Adweek, Forbes, The Next Web, PR Daily, Entrepreneur, and Digiday

I help growing companies maintain intimacy at scale, turning the relationships that built them into the infrastructure that sustains them.

The problem I solve: 
Companies break the very relationships they need to scale. They grow, automate, and optimize for efficiency—fracturing trust with the people who built them.

What I do: 
I build trust systems that preserve humanity at scale. Scorecards that measure relationship health. Playbooks that recover trust after breaches. Frameworks that turn empathy into operational CX.

Why my background is different:
Most CX leaders come from support—they understand problem resolution but miss the broader relationship dynamics. I come from everywhere customers actually experience your brand.

My multidisciplinary foundation:
• Former teacher → Understanding how people learn, adopt change, and internalize new behaviors
• Social media strategy → The frontlines of customer conversation, brand perception, and real-time feedback
• Community building → Scaling engagement, turning audiences into advocates, facilitating connection
• Customer experience operations → Building measurable frameworks that work across organizations
• Marketing → Understanding promise-making and the gap between expectations and delivery
• Customer advocacy → Turning satisfied customers into active champions

I've seen the entire customer relationship from every angle. 

I'm the rare person who can:
• Turn social listening into trust intelligence (not just sentiment monitoring)
• Build customer advocacy programs that drive revenue (not just feel-good testimonials)
• Create cross-functional frameworks (because I've worked in every function)
• Measure relationship health (not just transactional satisfaction)
• Speak the language of marketing, product, support, and success (and translate between them).

Worked with Fortune 500s, venture-backed startups, agencies, and SaaS companies across industries.
Author, Kogan Page:
• Transforming Customer-Brand Relationships (2025)
• Second book in progress (forthcoming)

Featured: Forbes, Adweek, HubSpot Academy, Campaign US, INBOUND, The Next Web, PR Daily

Currently: Fractional CCO helping companies scale without breaking what built them.

Data without empathy is noise. Empathy without systems is unsustainable. 
I help you turn both into operational trust.


If you’re working to repair or strengthen customer–brand relationships, you can reach out here on LinkedIn or explore my book below.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1398621323

Christina Garnett, EMBA

Christina Garnett

CCO | Author, “Transforming Customer-Brand Relationships” | Creator, Customer Trust Equation & Customer Trust Infrastructure | Bylines: Campaign US, PRWeek, Adweek, The Next Web

Don't let your fear of rejection stand between you and your greatness. 

Do the thing. 
Pitch the idea. 
Go for the opportunity.

Your desire to create content for others is blocking you from creating what you are meant to create. 

That desire for popularity stands between you and sharing your unique perspective.

CCO | Author, “Transforming Customer-Brand Relationships” | Creator, Customer Trust Equation | Bylines: Campaign US, PRWeek, Adweek, The Next Web

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