HubSpot — Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah

When HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah met in Boston in 2006, social media and the web as we know it today were just taking shape. Their unique insight would upend traditional approaches to marketing: It was now cheaper and more effective to pull customers in through search engines and social media than to push marketing materials out through ads and telemarketers. They tested their ideas with a blog started as a hobby, and coined their new approach “inbound marketing.” 17 years later, the ideas behind that blog are a $20+ billion success story, and HubSpot is synonymous with the inbound marketing category. From committing to serve small businesses over large enterprises to taking on a Goliath in a new category, the founders explain how the crucible moments that defined their journey hinge on defying conventional wisdom.