Decision Focus:  If you were Halligan and Shah, what would you do to ensure that HubSpot becomes to marketing what salesforce.com is to sales?  Why would you take these actions?  And what keep you up at night about your plan? 

Preparation Questions:

1. Do you agree with HubSpot that the “rules of marketing” have changed?  If so, how?  Is inbound marketing the answer?  Why or why not? (Suggestion:  Identify the benefits and risks involved with inbound marketing and compare/contrast with outbound marketing.)
2. Who should HubSpot target?  Is HubSpot finding and serving the right set of customers?  Given its position as a start-up company, should it widen its focus to serve any customers that comes it way?  Or narrow their target, by focusing exclusively on either Own Ollies or Marketer Marys? Or by focusing exclusively on either B2B or B2C customers?
3. Analyze the customer lifetime value (CLV) of the different customer groups to inform your decision.  The basic formula for calculating the CLV of a HubSpot customer is: 

CLV = [(monthly profit) * (customer lifetime in months)] – (acquisition cost)

The case provides the churn rate which can be used to calculate the customer lifetime in months.

1. Does HubSpot have the right set of products for its targets?
2. Does HubSpot have the right pricing strategy? Does the software-as-a-service (SaaS) pricing model work for both Marketer Marys and Owner Ollies?  Should HubSpot try to immediately capture more value for either of these customers?
3. Are Halligan and Shah being too stubborn by not doing any outbound marketing? Ort should they continue to practice what they preach by focusing on inbound marketing alone?

These responses should reflect the material that is presented in the case, in the readings, and the opinions of the student when appropriate.  Briefs should be limited to three pages