HubSpot vs. Salesforce (and the value in being #2)

When I mention "CRM," who do you think of?

Salesforce, right?

What about after Salesforce?

Probably HubSpot.

Being #2 in the CRM space is no small feat—especially when there are other well-funded competitors like Oracle, Microsoft, Zoho, Pipedrive, and ActiveCampaign vying for the same position.

So how'd HubSpot do it? Two contributors come to mind:

1. The HubSpot Podcast Network

HubSpot hosts nearly three dozen popular business podcasts. And they promote their CRM in each of them. The most notable example is My First Million—a podcast that was started by The Hustle, which HubSpot acquired for $17M in 2021.

Here's what their annual report said about this acquisition:

"The Company believes the goodwill is attributable to the significant value obtained from the Company utilizing the advertising space within the Hustle’s newsletter and podcast, as well as the market influence of the premium research content to promote its products to the Hustle’s customer base and acquire new customers."

Put plainly, the podcast's advertising space is really valuable. And that's just one out of 35 podcasts in their owned network. Using this ad space to promote their CRM has led to it growing more top of mind for buyers over competitors.

2. Word Of Mouth & Social Commentary

This one's trickier to track, but it's one of the most common debates I see on social media today.

Here's who I've seen post about this:

HubSpot employees (all the way up to the CEO... which tells you how strategic this move is):

HubSpot agencies:

People who aren't associated with HubSpot:

And then finally pro-Salesforce folks share their opinion. That's ok though. HubSpot's still in the conversation, which is the most important thing for them.

HubSpot's ability to keep this topic of conversation going is nothing short of remarkable.

When was the last time you saw a conversation around Salesforce vs. other CRMs? You probably can't remember (unless you've been researching CRMs lately).

Ok but why is this important? Salesforce is still the 10,000lb gorilla in the room.

Because in massive product categories like CRM, the #2 spot is still insanely valuable. How valuable? $1.3B to be exact (HubSpot's 2021 revenue... 97% of which was derived from their CRM product).

Have you seen these HubSpot vs. Salesforce debates on social media? How have they resonated with you?

How the CEO of a $200M Company Approaches Competitive Intel

Patrick Campbell sold his company, ProfitWell, for $200M last year.

They were 100% bootstrapped yet routinely beat VC-backed competitors like ChartMogul and Baremetrics.

In our conversation, Patrick shared how he profiled ProfitWell's competitors, his advice for obtaining and sharing competitive intelligence, and the results he saw from taking action on it.

What’s Happening Now

• The FTC proposed a ban on nearly all noncompete clauses. Commissioners will determine a final ruling after a 60-day comment period. More here.​

• Discord acquired Gas in a move to a) expand beyond their core gamer-focused audience and b) compete with other popular social media apps. More here.

Advice From The Community

• Denise asked how to gather and share competitive intel across an organization. Lots of folks chimed in.​

• Lisa asked a relevant question... what's the right way to react when a competitor announces layoffs? Here's what the community advised.

• You can probably guess how the community feels about non-compete clauses potentially getting banned. Here's what folks had to say.​

Whenever you're ready, join the Healthy Competition community where we exchange 1,000+ messages per month about Competitive Intel and Product Marketing best practices. Join here.

Hey one last thing—if you liked this newsletter and you know someone else who might enjoy, would you forward it to them? I'm new to this newsletter game, so any help I can get growing out the audience would be a real help.

Ok, I guess one MORE last thing—reply back to this and say hi 🙂 I would love to know what you thought of this newsletter.

-Andy