Top Entrepreneur on Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Company | Brian Halligan #200

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From Cambridge startup to NYSE heavyweight, HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan reveals the sophisticated frameworks behind scaling a $30B enterprise. Now a Sequoia Capital Senior Advisor, Halligan shares rare insights into the nuanced decisions that separate exceptional companies from merely successful ones.

Learn the strategic principles of modern company building, including the counterintuitive culture choices, talent algorithms, and leadership pivots that defined HubSpot's trajectory. A masterclass in scaling excellence from startup to global enterprise.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:36) Halligan's life-changing snowmobile accident

(09:38) Shane's life-changing medical mystery

(14:38) The different phases a CEO goes through while growing companies

(20:44) Lessons learned from Steve Jobs

(23:18) How to hire and fire people (and when)

(27:55) The problems with "Best Practices" in business

(31:11) The most underrated public CEOs (and why Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead is on this list)

(43:38) The history and future of inbound marketing

(51:08) On decision making

(55:18) On work-life balance

(58:28) On success

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If I put tame calories and try to approve the feature, I get like a thousand out.
0:04.3	And so I more paid attention to the features and tried to get better at the features.
0:09.6	And this took me a while to figure this out and over time just tried to hire people around my weaknesses and I have plenty of them
0:15.8	I really looked at hiring the best I could in the areas where I was weak
0:19.6	Rather than trying to become an expert at it. And I'll give you one area.
0:23.4	And for years, I was convinced,
0:24.8	I was a great product designer.
0:26.8	I'm not.
0:27.4	I just don't have that genetic code.
0:29.4	That's actually quite bad at it.
0:31.6	It took a while before that feedback sort of hit me between the eyes.
0:35.8	We started hiring people really good at it and enabling me to let go. Welcome to the Knowledge Project. I'm your host Shane Parish. In a world where
0:51.1	knowledge is power this podcast is your toolkit for mastering the best of what other people have already figured out.
0:57.0	If you're listening to this, it means you're not a supporting member.
1:00.0	Members get early access to episodes, my personal reflections at the end of
1:04.8	episodes, which a lot of people say is quickly becoming their favorite part,
1:08.1	no ads, exclusive content, hand-edited transcripts, and so much more.
1:13.6	Check out the link in the show notes for more information.
1:17.0	My guest today is Brian Halligan.
1:18.8	Brian reshaped the way that we think about marketing, sales, and customer service.
1:23.2	With his co-founding of HubSpot in 2006,
1:26.0	he pioneered the concept of inbound marketing,
	...

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