Version: Beta

Feb 28, 2010

Brian Halligan

@bhalligan

The HubSpot WayA Living Guidebook For Potential & Current Employees

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The HubSpot Way

Our Mission

People • HubSpotter Grader (i.e. Our Values)• Hiring• Pay and promotion• Location

New ways of working• Extreme experimentation• Agile Scrum• No door policy• Wiki• HubSpot TV• Trust• HubSpot Fellows Program

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Our Mission

Our mission isn’t just happy talk. We are building a company that will….

Transform How The World Does Marketing

Our Mission

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The HubSpot Way Our Mission

People • HubSpotter Grader (i.e. Our Values)• Hiring• Pay and promotion• Location

New ways of working• Extreme experimentation• Agile Scrum• No door policy• Wiki• HubSpot TV• Trust• HubSpot Fellows Program

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People

When surveyed, our employees told us their favorite thing about HubSpot is

other HubSpotters!

To ensure we hire the right people and develop the right things, we set out to define our values, hire for them, and

review based on them.

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HubSpotter Grader (Our Values)

Inbound Marketer

Awesomely Analytical

Totally Transparent

Constantly Changing

Respectfully Humble

Effing Effective

Thinks Scale

We value MATCHES with HubSpot culture:

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We are “digital citizens.”

We live and breathe inbound marketing.

We try to be on the “bleeding edge” of ideas and trends in internet + marketing.

We believe that the way people learn/shop has changed and that the marketing industry needs to transform to catch-up.

Inbound Marketer

HubSpotter Grader

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We live by Edwards Deming’s quote: “In God we trust, all others bring data.”

We behave more like a B2C company (i.e. Amazon, eBay) than a B2B company (i.e. Oracle, IBM)

We yearn for counter-intuitive insights derived from analyzing data.

Awesomely Analytical

HubSpotter Grader

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We believe “sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

We don’t wear “rose colored glasses.”

We strive to be open and approachable.

We exercise a “no politics” approach to interacting with colleagues and customers.

We share freely and widely. We voice opinions and share relevant information.

Totally Transparent

HubSpotter Grader

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We embrace and thrive on change. We seek opportunities to learn and do so rapidly.

We challenge conventional wisdom and seek innovative ways to disrupt the status quo when warranted.

We champion, design and execute value-enhancing experiments.

We agree with Mark Twain, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, its time to pause and reflect.”

Constantly Changing

HubSpotter Grader

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We strive to be modest, unpretentious and ego-free.

We believe “hubris kills companies.”

We foster mutual respect and trust.

We try to exhibit confidence without arrogance.

We acknowledge shortcomings and seek to correct them.

Respectfully Humble

HubSpotter Grader

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We “get s#!t done.” We deliver lots of high quality work output and high ratios of results to effort.

We “make the numbers.”

We are accountable.

We publicly share and honor our commitments.

We exercise sound judgment and take prudent risks to accomplish objectives.

Effing Effective

HubSpotter Grader

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We are fiercely committed to building a big, remarkable, successful company that “transforms how the world does marketing.”

We strive to minimize complexity and achieve simplicity.

We tend to decide and take actions that support a long-term ability to scale rather than short-term accomplishment of objectives.

Decisions are made through the lens of “will this increase Enterprise Value.”

Thinks Scale

HubSpotter Grader

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To recap the HubSpotter Grader…

Inbound Marketer

Awesomely Analytical

Totally Transparent

Constantly Changing

Respectfully Humble

Effing Effective

Thinks Scale

At HubSpot, we value MATCHES with our culture:

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Hiring

We value capability over experience.

We are open to superheroes who have not necessarily demonstrated their superpowers in this area before.

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Promotion and Pay

We offer opportunities to rotate around the company and to move quickly.

We vastly prefer promoting from within.

We hire at market rates and offer increases for exceptional performance.

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Location

Our HQ is in Cambridge, MA and will always be in Cambridge, MA.

We think being in Cambridge gives us unfair access to exceptional thinking and talent.

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The HubSpot Way

Mission

People • HubSpotter Grader (aka our values)• Hiring• Pay and promotion• Location

New ways of working • Extreme experimentation• Agile Scrum• No door policy• Wiki• HubSpot TV• Trust• HubSpot Fellows Program

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New ways of working

The TV show MadMen pokes fun at corporate culture 50 years ago. We are

trying to build a culture that is in step with the future, not the past. We are not afraid to ignore conventional wisdom in

that cause.

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Extreme experimentation

Consistent with our value of constantly changing, experimentation is happening at all

levels within HubSpot.

We experiment a lot and are not afraid to take risks or to “fail fast.”

Experiments come from all corners of the organization.

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Extreme experimentation

Alpha• Project/experiment is done in addition to the day job duties of the

employee during nights and weekends.

Beta • The alpha project/experiment goes well and is promoted to beta.

The experiment champion is given the project full-time as her new day job.

Version 1 • The beta project/experiment goes well and is promoted to

version 1. The experiment champion typically will get more resources, including heads, core development or scrum time, etc.

An implicit process for experimentation has emerged at HubSpot:

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Agile Scrum

We use agile scrum methodologies not only in R&D, but also in Marketing, Sales and Service.

Each month scrum teams decide what they will work on for the next month from a project backlog list. Teams decide for themselves what they will get

accomplished and who will do what.

This self-organizing, de-centralized approach to our work fosters autonomy and empowers HubSpotters to

be accountable to one another.

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Agile Scrum

Rather than formal presentations of scrum team results, we have monthly “Science Fairs.”

Each scrum team has a table where HubSpotters can visit and learn about their

latest sprint work.

This more informal approach to sharing results enables HubSpotters to get to know one

another better and to interact in a deeper, more meaningful way.

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No door policy

We take the “open door policy” up a notch. We have a “no door policy.”

Everybody changes desks every three months.

The CEO and the leadership team sit out in the open with desks situated throughout the company.

We sit in cross-functional “pods,” small groups of 5-6 that include HubSpotters from Development,

Marketing, Sales and Service.

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Wiki

We keep no secrets. Everything is out there on the Wiki.

We post board meeting minutes, VC funding meeting minutes, key business metrics and financials (e.g. cash

balance in the bank).

Our CEO posts 1-2 articles a week to share thoughts and ideas, ask questions and seek feedback.

HubSpotters from across the company openly and actively comment and engage in the dialogue.

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HubSpot TV

We broadcast a live TV show every Friday afternoon.

This is a forum for the entire company to come together to share, learn and have fun.

HubSpot TV is open to the public and is distributed as a highly-followed podcast.

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Trust

“We trust you,” and our actions reinforce that.

We no longer track vacation time – we trust that HubSpotters are using common sense and being

responsible about how they spend their time.

We don’t have a dress code.

Employees blog and Tweet their hearts out.

All employees are encouraged to contribute to our award-winning blog.

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HubSpot Fellows Program

We are experimenting with a HubSpot Fellows Program for our employees.

The Dean of the Program is Andrew McAfee, a Professor at MIT’s Sloan School, best-selling author of Enterprise 2.0,

Harvard Berkman Fellow, blogger, Twitterer, and great guy.

The program begins in May with 4 mini-courses that are four 75 minutes sessions each taught after work:

Strategy HubSpot Style

Quantitative Reasoning

Communication Skillz

Negotiation Skillz

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Learn More

You can learn more about our company at www.hubspot.com/blog

You can learn more about how to transform marketing at http://blog.hubspot.com