Dharmesh Shah
Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur. He is currently the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. The company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has raised over $17 million in capital, and has over 1,400 customers. Dharmesh also authors OnStartups.com, a popular startup blog with over 15,000 subscribers and 80,000 members in its online community. He is an angel investor and a frequent speaker on the topic of startups and inbound marketing. He has a B.S. from UAB and an M.S. from MIT. He can be found on twitter as @dharmesh.
Recent Posts
21 inspiring ideas from Derek Sivers
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
I first met Derek Sivers (who most people know best as the founder of CD Baby) at the Business of Software conference, but I’d heard about him long before that.
In a world full of entrepreneurs who have done any number of incredible things, Derek … Continue Reading
8 more mutable suggestions of startup naming
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
What’s in a name? A fair bit, actually, when it comes to the startup world.
Last week, I offered nine suggestions to keep in mind when you’re searching for the right name for your business. This week, I’ve got eight more. Like my previous story, … Continue Reading
9 mutable suggestions of startup naming
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
Naming a startup is hard. Very hard. Many pragmatic entrepreneurs have thought: “I shouldn’t be wasting time on this — for every successful company with a great name, there’s one with a crappy name that did just fine. It doesn’t seem like a name has … Continue Reading
Your customers are not ignorant, selfish control freaks
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
Imagine you’re having some big, high-falutin’ meeting. Perhaps it’s a board meeting. Or, if you don’t have a board, perhaps it’s a management team meeting. Or, if you don’t have a team, perhaps it’s just you talking to yourself at 3 in the morning. … Continue Reading
What comes after the minimally viable product?
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
One of the key parts of Eric Ries lean startup movement is the concept of a “minimally viable product”. The MVP is a product that has the minimum set of features needed to learn what the market wants. The idea behind the MVP is … Continue Reading
23 insights from the Netflix culture deck
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
If you have time to read one document on the topic of startup culture, you should read through the NetFlix “culture deck” (embedded below). If you have time for two, read through the NetFlix deck twice — it’s that good. It is so good, … Continue Reading
The 10 most tempting software startup categories
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
I’ve been in the software startup business for a long time – long enough to spot a few trends. One I’ve found particularly interesting is that amongst first-time software entrepreneurs, certain “patterns” of applications kept recurring.
Time and time again, entrepreneurs are lured to … Continue Reading
9 quick tips for raising venture capital
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
As the market improves, many start-up owners are likely be thinking about raising funding. With my latest startup, I’m now a venture-backed startup founder (I’ve raised $33 million in three rounds of capital for my marketing software company). So, I’ve got some direct experience … Continue Reading
50 Three-word phrases that can make your start-up a success
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
For some reason, I like wordsmithing and trying to make phrases smaller (while still retaining some meaning). Not long ago, when I was up much too late, I tried to come up with some of my best startup advice and see if I could … Continue Reading
12 facts about entrepreneurs that may surprise you
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog. )
I have a picture in my head of what the average entrepreneur is like. I’d guess pretty young (think Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) living the red beans and rice lifestyle, working 80+ hours a week and sleeping under their desk.
On some parts, I’m … Continue Reading
11 things an angel investor will never say
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and angel investor.)
As a tribute to the very funny VC Non-Admissions and the follow-up Founder Non-Admissions, I offer to you my own take on this – from an angel investor perspective. Sorry that mine aren’t in a cool presentation form with pictures and such. I don’t have that kind of talent.
10 Things An Angel Investor Will Never Say
1. I really want to support … Continue Reading
14 tips for building a startup sales team
Your sales force if your company’s lifeblood. No matter how good your product is, it won’t sell itself, no matter how much you believe otherwise. Establishing a competent, effective team to draw customers is often challenging for entrepreneurs, though, who would rather focus on research and development or chase VCs.
First off, a few disclaimers: I’ve never been a sales person. I’ve never even played a sales person on TV. All the points below have … Continue Reading
10 Things Business Schools Won't Teach You
There’s no doubt that you can learn a lot at business school, but oftentimes, the most important lessons are mysteriously absent – especially for entrepreneurs.
Now that three years have passed since I got my graduate degree (and since the founding of my current startup), I think I can make fun of my alma mater a bit. Please note: Only a moderate amount of harm was inflicted on MBAs – and investment bankers, in the … Continue Reading
