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Niti Shah
HubSpot for Startups — Get up to 90% off HubSpot's sales and marketing software.
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Get marketing and sales software, education, and support at a startup-friendly cost. Get 90% off HubSpot software for eligible startups with under $2 million in funding and 50% off HubSpot software for all eligible startups with over $2 million in funding.

Replies
William Dinkel
Very cool stuff, @dharmesh. Is there any leeway with regard to the funding and ARR figures for the Seed Stage package? ... For companies based in certain expensive geographies (where seed rounds tend to be larger), there could be a big gray area in these tiers between the specified Seed scoping and the Series A round. Just askin' ;)
Kim Walsh
Maker
@dharmesh @williamdinkel Hi William, unfortunately, we do have to follow the eligibility criteria for both the Seed Stage offering and Series A. www.hubspot.com/startups
Kim Walsh
Maker
@dharmesh @williamdinkel We just updated on eligibility criteria, so wanted to ping you on here in case it is valuable. See below: 1. Less than $2m in funding 2. Affiliated with an approved partner of HubSpot for Startups 3. Not a current HubSpot Marketing Basic / Pro / Ent customer
Praveen Singh
Thanks @dharmesh for Hubspot for Startups, we @99tests are delighted to get started
Kim Walsh
Maker
@dharmesh @99tests @praveensinghv Welcome @99tests! We are excited to watch your success.
Bill Lewis
World class worst service for the SMB market I used the product for two years with nothing but issues with Hubspots team from the onboarding initially to everything else. Final straw was that they would not allow me to use a Wordpress site on Hubspot . I was told it needed to go thru one of their designers. Once you build your own site the tools are out there in order to do the rest of the job far cheaper and better I would steer clear of Hubspot at all costs if you are a startup as their service is nothing short of horrific
Jared Brewer
@workstationw Hi Bill, I work on the HubSpot Startup Success team, a dedicated team of Customer Success Managers who work with startups in this program. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have a good experience as a HubSpot customer. As far as services for startups in the HubSpot for Startups program, there are two teams that customers have access to. One team is the team that I'm a part of - the Startup Success Team. Through 1:1 office hours, we help customers use HubSpot by providing strategic direction, talking through use-cases and providing recommendations. In addition to our team, customers also have unlimited 24/7 access to HubSpot's technical support team (always available by phone in less than 5~ minutes). I genuinely believe that HubSpot's customer service is a strength of the company, not a weakness. I did also want to speak to your comment around integration with Wordpress. Many HubSpot customers host their websites on Wordpress and use HubSpot for their marketing activities. We actually have a Wordpress plugin to make integration super easy (https://www.hubspot.com/products...). As you mentioned, HubSpot also has a comparable CMS platform to host websites which many of our customers use.
Nishith Gupta
Why funding is a criteria? There are also incubators who encourage bootstrapped ventures. Don't you think having funding as a criteria is actually giving a wrong precedence?
Palash Bagchi
@nishith_gupta @nishith_gupta This is a no-risk discount to catch early start-ups. However, to ensure that you start paying full amount very soon, the only assurance is that you are funded by Top VCs and Accelerators. Who believes in bootstrapped companies? While there are good alternatives which still cost less even after HubSpot's 90% discount, HubSpot is not a Charitable institution. Don't get them wrong. Apart, seems PH is now becoming a Deals marketplace. Probably another new organic direction. Get the cue Ryan. :-)
Kim Walsh
Maker
@nishith_gupta HSFS does partner with incubators who encourage bootstrapped ventures and those bootstrapped ventures typically take advantage of the seed stage offering. We capped the funding to $1 Million in revenue for the seed stage, however, have no funding criteria for the Series A program.
Kim Walsh
Maker
@nishith_gupta @palash76 Thank you for your comment @palash. Our mission is to help startups grow and we think this is a good way to do it by offering education, support and startup friendly pricing to help startups use HubSpot when they typically couldn't afford it. We do realize it's not perfect by any means and we will continue to figure out ways to support the global entrepreneurial ecosystem. Please feel free to email me directly at kwalsh@hubspot.com. We love to hear better ways of doing something and new ideas anytime.
Will Curran

I can talk about inbound marketing and Hubspot for days but this is one of the few softwares that does it all. If you're considering this I recommend getting Inbound certified and then when you get the product getting Hubspot certified to learn everything you need to know.

Pros:

Best marketing software ever. It's been the main reason for our 2x growth year over year.

Cons:

This is a long term investment of time and resources. However, now with the startup program, money investment isn't as large.

Lee McNiel
@dharmesh @niti_shah I agree with @nishith_gupta , we're a bootstrapped startup who can use all the help we can get. Is there a possibility that this will also be available for bootstrapped startups?
Shaun Nestor
@leemcniel HubSpot already offers a free version of their CRM and their email integration, Sidekick, is ~$20/m. This combo is perfect for bootstrapped startups
Niti Shah
Maker
@dharmesh @nishith_gupta @leemcniel We hear you. We actually have a completely free set of tools -- HubSpot CRM Free, Marketing Free, and Sales Free. These tools were created with bootstrapped startups in mind and is a great way to get started.
Nishith Gupta
@dharmesh @leemcniel @niti_shah Hi Niti, I think my comment got a wrong perspective. Bootstrapped do not mean that we are not growing. It's an option I prefer of how I want my business to grow. Yes, that definitely means we like to be frugal when it comes to expenditure. But here my comment was more on criteria of startup. Since you are branding as Hubspot for Startups, keeping funding as criteria is not right. There might be companies who are growing probably better than some funded ones but this 90% advantage is not there for them.
Sam Rye
@dharmesh @leemcniel @niti_shah @nishith_gupta 100% agree with this. There's a huge range of startups who have chosen to reinvest profits into future growth (bootstrap) rather than be trapped in the VC Funding and Accelerator model. Excluding us from this program seems to signal that Hubspot cares more about new business driven by a partnership model with incubator/accelerators, than it does about the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Sam Rye
@dharmesh @leemcniel @niti_shah @nishith_gupta another piece on why this is important: https://medium.com/strong-words/...
Ari
What's the qualification criteria?
Kim Walsh
Maker
@ariaitch You can find more information on eligibility here: http://www.hubspot.com/startups
Kim Walsh
Maker
@ariaitch We just updated on eligibility criteria, so wanted to ping you on here in case it is valuable. See below: 1. Less than $2m in funding 2. Affiliated with an approved partner of HubSpot for Startups 3. Not a current HubSpot Marketing Basic / Pro / Ent customer
Joana Fonseca

As a marketers I have has the chance to use many different marketing automation platforms for the last 12 years. The evolution is amazing in this time period, but so far, Hubspot has been my favourite marketing automation platform. Super complete, we can manage and report on most digital channels. I am an Inbound and Hubspot fan!

Pros:

Very complete, all-in-one marketing automation platform. Very user friendly.

Cons:

After the startup offer period, it is quite expensive to keep it.

Tony Loyd

Before you apply, please be aware that you must be backed by a VC, incubator, or accelerator currently in HubSpot's partner program

Pros:

Awesome tools and access

Cons:

You must be backed by a VC, incubator, or accelerator currently in the HubSpot partner program

emailexpert.org ♛
It is big bait and switch!
Matt Mclelland
I've always had conflicting thoughts on the "Startup" pricing plans by Drift, Intercom, Hubspost etc. I love the discounts, but it very clearly shows how much they are overpaying traditional businesses. From my standpoint, there can only be a 90% discount if there is at least a 90% margin on the typical price. I HIGHLY doubt that they are losing any money on these plans. The B2B SaaS industry is currently seems to be in a golden age of high pricing but I wonder how long it can last. Anyways, I'm in the Intercom startup plan so I can't complain too much :)
Azam Khan
@matt_mclelland1 us too! What did you end up selecting for marketing automation?
Niti Shah
Maker
We're so excited to share HubSpot for Startups with Product Hunt! We created it because we realized something: startups are great at creating products customers love, but they have trouble acquiring customers to love them. That's why we've teamed up with over 700 incubators, accelerators, and VCs around the globe to provide startups with the education and software you need to grow and scale your business. Our team is passionate about helping startups succeed -- we've been there, we've felt your pain, and we want to support you as you grow. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Bruce Kraft Jr.
@niti_shah Hi there, i am heading up a new startup handling advertising and marketing but we are not series-a, and we are a very small team. Would you be willing to work with us with your new startup program? niti_shah
Niti Shah
Maker
@brucekraftjr Hey Bruce, first of all congrats on the new startup! Are you affiliated with an incubator or accelerator by any chance? Also feel free to email us at hsfs@hubspot.com and we can figure out howe we can best help you :)
Romain Violleau
Great idea! Hubspot is a good product.
Julián Maya

I applied for the program through Start-Up Chile accelerator for my startup.

I would like to start saying that it is not a perk or a benefict but a scam.

As some people advice us that HubSpot is a great tool for inbound marketing, but at the end of the day there is no inbound product included in the perk, it is just a simple CRM and useless chat for the website.

Finally we did our inbound by hand, and found a good CRM with a great chat automatization with less than hubspot charge us.

Now I am using none of the 4 agents that I strated with, but they still charging for each one of thoose arguing that it is a 12 month contract. Finally I am wasting 30 dollars per month with this program. Keep away of them.

Pros:

It is a basic CRM

Cons:

They force you for a 12 month contract per agent

Julián Maya
I applied for the program through Start-Up Chile accelerator for my startup. It is a bad product, it lacks of quality, features and it is expensive. That is ok, you have the choice to deliver bad quality as I have the choice to find other solution. But I can not cancel hubspot account, now we are attached to a 12month contract per agent without any advert. I'm watching how they take my money every month even when I am not using it, and i begging them to cancel my account, they refuse. Keep away from hubspot for startups, this is more a SCAM than a support program.
David Meerman Scott
I always recommend HubSpot to my advisory clients because it is the best sales and marketing tool out there. Under normal pricing, it can be a challenge to buy when you're running close to the wire financially. Fortunately, HubSpot for Startups solves this problem in a big way! (Disclosure: I have been a HubSpot advisor since 2007).
Købi Heisenberg-Dænger Ømenækå

Don't be deceived by the entry level costs!

Pros:

it looks pretty

Cons:

Use zapier and connect the dots between different apps!

Irana Sverbitskaya

great idea. hubspot has great soft. and the idea of sharing some at low cost for a starter business is great.

Pros:

great idea

Cons:

none,paid?

Rajnish Kumar
Not recommended, the sales reps talk something in call and once you are ready to make the payment they will say sorry it is not valid on this package. It was super horrible experience and heard from couple of my friends. Please stop being evil @hubspot. Not at all expected.
Kristi Anderson

Startups, of course, never have enough hours in the day, but with HubSpot, your hours go a lot further. I can create a landing page in an hour, which is insanely helpful for me, and also my development team as I no longer have to pull them away from product to help me out. You can automates (almost) all of your marketing activities: email, social, campaigns, workflows, lead scoring, and even tie in ads!

Pros:

Great for any startup! You won't find a better bang for your buck anywhere else, and it's replaces about 5 different separate services.

Cons:

Their Sales product needs a better SaaS-based deal structure. Right now, you can't automate recurring deals, but they're working on it.