Slides from talk by Dharmesh Shah at the Business of Software conference on Oct 1, 2012 in Boston, MA

1. Making Meaning,
Money and Magic
In The Business of
Software
Dharmesh Shah
Co-founder/CTO, HubSpot
Blogger, OnStartups.com

2. @dharmesh

3. * I have strong opinions on things I don’t
fully understand.

6. HubSpot
provides the
toolbelt to
make
marketing
superheros
p.s. Kathy Sierra changed
my life. Thanks, Kathy!

8. Growth
HubSpot
Customer
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1,000
2,000
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9. Your
company
should be
coming from
a place of
love.

10. Zynga’s motto is “do evil”.
It is one of the most evil places
I’ve run into from a culture
perspective and in its business
approach.

13. Before you gamify
your product,
you should
decrapify it.

14. Go big great
or go home.

15. Attention is finite,
problems are infinite.
Build companies
that solve problems.

16. Work on a problem you care
enough about that you’d be
happy even if someone else
solved it.
@dharmesh

17. From: Software Equity Group, LLC

19. =

20. Revenue?
What about
profits?!

21. From: Software Equity Group, LLC

22. Great!
So, how do I
increase the revenue
multiple?

23. From: Software Equity Group, LLC

24. 1
2
3
4
5

25. 1
2
3

26. A better
engine lets
you go
faster.

27. Visibility: The further you can see,
the faster you can go.

28. The better your
brakes, the faster you
can go.

29. Build a moat around your castle.
~Warren Buffet

30. You don’t just want
customers. You want crazy
loyal fans.

31. Technical switching costs should be low.
Emotional switching costs should be high.

32. Porter’s Five Forces
Threat of Framework
Entrants
Supplier Buyer
Power Rivalry Power
Substitutes

33. Pick markets
where the
barrier to exit is
low.

34. Really?
I can build
my business
on your
platform?

35. Platform
partnerships
are awesome.
Until they’re
not.

37. How important is culture?

38. Your early
culture sets
your future
destiny

39. How do I scale my team
without losing my culture?

40. Take
the
mask
off

41. Strive not just to build a great
startup.
Strive to build great
entrepreneurs.
@dharmesh

42. Daddy’s been stressed out
about this.
Hopefully he did OK.
Love,
Sohan
42

43. I love open
discussion
and debate
tweet: @dharmesh
OnStartups.com