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This Week in Startups

HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah on empowering entrepreneurs, HubSpot’s journey, and AI automation | E1781

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

Technology

4.21.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. TWiST listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at vanta.com/twist Crowdbotics. Great ideas can change the world, and Crowdbotics is the fastest way to turn those ideas into code. Get a free scoping session for your next big app idea at crowdbotics.com/twist Fitbod. Tired of doing the same workouts at the gym? Fitbod will build you personalized workouts that help you progress with every set. Get 25% off your subscription or try out the app for FREE when you sign up now at fitbod.me/TWIST. *

Today’s show:

HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah joins Jason to discuss his angel investing origin and strategies (2:36), HubSpot’s journey from a startup to a public company (6:19), the potential of generative AI (42:03), and much more!

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Time stamps: (00:00) HubSpot Co-Founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah joins Jason (2:36) Dharmesh explains what prompted his angel investing journey (6:19) HubSpots journey from startup to where it stands today (8:48) Dharmesh’s decision to focus on Small Minus Big (SMB) investing (11:12) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist (12:19) SMB investing conversation continued (16:08) The difference in cycles between big and small businesses (17:45) The best reason to start a company (21:25) Ways to go about assessing ideas (23:29) Crowdbotics - Get a free scoping session for your next big app idea at crowdbotics.com/twist (28:34) Breaking down the entrepreneurial work ethic (34:15) Anticapitalist sentiment in the U.S. (38:11) Fitbod - Get 25% off at https://fitbod.me/twist (39:40) Starting a business in a downturn (42:03) AI’s impact on business and Business Process Automation (BPA) (46:39) Dharmesh’s thoughts on the next stage of AI and the effect on jobs (54:41) How AI will lead to more efficient organizations and increase margins

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Follow Dharmesh: https://twitter.com/dharmesh *

Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four

Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply

Buy ANGEL: https://www.angelthebook.com

Great recent interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland, PrayingForExits, Jenny Lefcourt

Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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Follow Jason:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

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Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

And the truth is, even when you start with an idea that you're super passionate about,

0:04.0

in greater than 50% of chances, you thought you were starting a jazz trio and you made,

0:08.6

you know, a rock band or a Southern rock band, whatever it is, you'll find your sound and you'll

0:13.8

find it by doing it. You have to play the music. And so, waiting for the perfect idea is the

0:20.0

enemy of success in a lot of ways. Yeah, and waiting for the perfect idea is actually the barrier

0:25.2

to finding the perfect idea. Even better saying that happens after you start once you come into

0:30.2

contact with customers in the market, you work together and you start, I love your analogy,

0:34.2

as you start playing is when you kind of really discover, kind of discover yourself and what's

0:37.9

out there. This week in startups is brought to you by Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a

0:44.4

deal breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report

0:50.3

fast. Twist listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time. Advanta.com-slash-twist.

0:58.1

Crowdbotics. Great ideas can change the world. And Crowdbotics is the fastest way to turn those

1:04.4

ideas into code. Get a free scoping session for your next big app idea at crowdbotics.com-slash-twist.

1:12.6

And Fitbot. Tired of doing the same workouts at the gym? Fitbot will build you personalized workouts

1:20.3

that help you progress with every set. Get 25% off your subscription. Or try out the app for free

1:27.2

when you sign up now at fitbot.me-slash-twist.

1:32.0

All right, welcome back to the program, everyone. Today we have another amazing guest, one of my

1:36.7

favorite people on the pod or just outside the pod. Narmeshah is the co-founder and CTO of HubSpot.

1:42.8

He was on the show 10 years ago this year, episode 334.

1:47.5

He is an incredible supporter of founders, angel investors thinker and friend of the pod. Welcome

1:54.6

back, sir. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here. You and I became friends because we share a

1:59.2

passion for entrepreneurship and writing those 25k, 50k checks, 100k checks into early startups.

...

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