What Is HubSpot for Startups and How Does It Work?

HubSpot is known primarily for its CRM platform, marketing, sales, and customer service software. Their main products include Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub.

Formerly known as the HubSpot Jumpstart Grant Program, HubSpot for Startups is available only to startup applicants that meet the program’s criteria. The HubSpot for Startups program provides startups with 30%-90% HubSpot services as well as mentoring, resources, and 24/7 customer support. 

HubSpot for Startups combines a variety of sales, marketing, customer service, and operations tools into one suite of tools, including: 

• Fully customizable customer relationship management (CRM) platform
• HubSpot Marketing Hub 
• HubSpot Sales Hub
• HubSpot Services Hub 
• Content management software (CMS) 
• Account-Based Marketing tools 
• Marketing automation 
• Sales automation
• Reporting dashboards 
• Discounts on HubSpot partner services 

All of these tools and services are available to startups at a discounted price that varies based on the company's funding amount as well as associations with approved partners. 

The HubSpot for Startups program is free to join. To use HubSpot tools and services, you will have to pay a fee; however, depending on the discount your startup qualifies for, that price will vary. However, here is an example of HubSpot software pricing compared to pricing after the highest HubSpot for Startups discount is applied:

• HubSpot Marketing Hub's Professional Plan — $800 per month
• HubSpot Sales Hub's Professional Plan — $450 per month
• HubSpot CRM Professional Plan — $1,600 per month

• HubSpot Marketing Hub's Professional Plan — $80 per month
• HubSpot Sales Hub's Professional Plan — $45 per month
• HubSpot CRM Professional Plan — $160 per month

As you can see, the startup program pricing is far below standard pricing for Professional Plans. However, there are three tiers of discounted pricing for the startup program that vary depending on what your startup qualifies for.

The general eligibility criteria for HubSpot for Startups is that you must be a new customer and apply discounts only to Professional and Enterprise level services. Eligibility and discount rates vary depending on your qualifications. 

• To qualify, you must associated with one of the HubSpot for Startups partners
• If you qualify, you receive 30% off your first year and 15% off every year after

• You must have raised over $2 million in funding
• Funding round cannot be Series B or higher 
• You must associated with one of the HubSpot for Startups partners
• If you qualify, you will receive 50% off your first and second year and 25% off every year after

• You must have raised up to $2 million in funding 
• You must be a member of an approved venture capitalist or venture capital firm, incubator, or accelerator
• If you qualify, you receive 90% off your first year, 50% off your second year, and 25% off every year thereafter

To apply for HubSpot for Startups, you need to be a new customer. Therefore, if you use HubSpot’s suite of products already, regardless of plan tier, you will not qualify. 

You can apply for HubSpot for Startups on their website by creating an account and submitting your application. 

HubSpot for Startups has a lot to offer entrepreneurs and their teams. However, beyond access to their suite of valuable tools, this program presents several other benefits as well: 

• Multi-use platform: HubSpot for Startups combines several different HubSpot tools for an all-in-one platform for your startup’s needs. 
• Discounts on other platforms: With HubSpot for Startups, you receive exclusive discounts on platforms such as Stripe and Segment. 
• Qualifying startups get a discounted rate: Applicants may receive between 30-90% off of their first year using HubSpot for Startups, depending on eligibility. 
• 24/7 support: Qualifying applicants receive support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help troubleshoot problems as they arise. 
• Extensive amount of integrations: HubSpot’s platform integrates with over 1,200 other software and tools.

There is a wide variety of use cases for HubSpot’s products, from sales and marketing efforts to customer relationship management and everything in between. Here are some of the most common use cases for HubSpot software included in the HubSpot for Startups program. 

A CRM is a valuable tool for organizing customer relationships. HubSpot’s CRM boasts features for the entire customer lifecycle, from inbound marketing to marketing automations and a customer service ticketing system. 

Whether you’re creating landing pages or running a company blog, HubSpot’s content management features keep all of your virtual content in one place to easily create, manage, and more either manually or through one of their included templates. 

During the content creation process, HubSpot’s platform helps you to optimize your content for higher ranking on search engines such as Google and Bing. Plus, there are features to help you plan content based on search engine trends. 

Email marketing is a popular and effective way to reach new and existing customers about your products and services. HubSpot offers email marketing tools, including templates, generated subject lines, and testing capabilities to hone your email marketing strategy. 

Another major marketing tactic for startups, social media marketing is doable through the platform. With scheduling, tracking, and reporting on the success of your campaigns, HubSpot helps you to dial in your efforts to connect best with your audience. 

Not only does HubSpot provide you with valuable, hard data on your conversions, it also equips you with web analytics to provide a comprehensive overview of your website’s success and where it could use improvement.