Dharmesh Shah

Founder and CTO at HubSpot. Helping millions grow better.

Career startup guy.

Author of the book &quot;Inbound Marketing&quot; (http://InboundBook.com)

Specialties: Entrepreneurship, Software Development, internet marketing,SEO

Founder and CTO

Founder of HubSpot, a venture-backed software startup.  HubSpot offers the industry's first inbound marketing system for small businesses.  The software is available as a hosted service (SaaS).

"Why should companies pay for SaaS (HR/CRM/ERP/etc.) when they could just vibe code them?"

I get variations of this question or comment with some regularity (granted, it's sometimes just me talking to myself). 

Here are some biased (but hopefully, well-considered) thoughts:

1) I am a big proponent and user of vibe coding (what I call "agentic coding"). I do it every day, 7 days a week, including Sundays. It's amazing.

2) My company, HubSpot is a software company. We have hundreds of professional engineers -- just about all of them use AI for product development too. They are brilliant and know how to build production-grade products.

3) Even with this powerful army of talent, the number of internal, core SaaS applications that we have replaced with a vibe-coded variant is exactly ZERO. The number of applications we plan to replace is also exactly ZERO. 

4) It's not the absence of talent that keeps us from rolling our own SaaS apps, it's the presence of focus. It would be silly to try and replace our HR, team collaboration, expense tracking and 100+ other SaaS apps we use when we can just buy them. Just doesn't make sense.

5) That's us -- as a software company at some scale. If you're a non-software company it makes even less sense for you. Doesn't matter how good the AI coding tools get. Let's say you *could* vibe code a replacement for that SaaS app you're using, who's going to maintain it? Who's going to keep up with industry trends? What are you going to do when the 20-something genius that vibe coded it over a weekend leaves the company?  Who do you call when there's a major bug? 

6) If you're a Fortune 500 company at some scale, perhaps you could pull this off for some discrete use cases and the tradeoffs are worth it. You have an IT/Engineering department that is larger than the population of some countries.  You can take on the pain in return for the positives.

For the millions of others, my advice is:

Spend every calorie possible on creating value for your customers.

Never spend more time debating the priority of a product improvement than it would take to actually go ahead and do it. 

Small improvements add-up and they're morale boosters for both customers and the team.

In the early times at HubSpot we had something called "daily delights". Basically, every day, the product team would *ship* at least ONE small improvement to the product that was noticeable by customers (and hopefully delight a few of them).

We're bringing a variation of that idea back whereby we find and fix those minor annoyances in the HubSpot product and drive some customer delight. I'm thrilled. 

Sometimes companies have a tendency to overthink things and undervalue the compounding value of seemingly inconsequential improvements.

BREAKING:  OpenAI launches GPT 5.2 and boy is it smart.

I got immediate value out of it.

I was struggling with getting Codex CLI to work through a tricky coding (actually deployment) issue I was running into.  I was going back and forth with the coding agent for almost a dozen rounds -- to no avail.

Was even desperate enough to try Claude Code with Opus 4.5.  No luck.

Then, saw the news about GPT 5.2.  Switched to it.  It took a couple of more rounds of prompting -- but it solved the issue.

Look forward to digging in more tonight with a late-night coding session for a major overhaul of one of my popular agents. 

Thank you OpenAI!

I build a lot of AI agents for myself, which I increasingly also share with others. 

I don't build AI agents to make people unnecessary.

I build them to make people unstoppable.

The latest McKinsey State of AI 2025 report just dropped and I'll cautiously say it's pretty good. (Cautiously, because I'm a bit leery of reports from big management consulting companies -- they're often very mega-enterprise focused and I'm a startup/SMB guy.)

Some quick takes and insights:

1. Most companies are still “AI-curious,” not “AI-capable.”

Eighty-eight percent are using AI somewhere, but two-thirds are still stuck in pilot mode. Translation: lots of glitter, not much gold.

2. AI agents are the new interns.

Sixty-two percent of organizations are experimenting with agents, but only 10 percent have them doing real work at scale. Early days—but the ones that figure it out first will have an army of tireless digital doers.

3. High performers think beyond cost-cutting.

The top six percent of companies don’t just use AI to save money—they use it to reinvent workflows and drive innovation. They’re not trimming fat; they’re growing new muscle.

My advice:
Experiment and play with AI. That's how you learn.
But don't stop there.
Lean in and truly leverage it.
Even if it's for small, discrete tasks.

The next frontier isn’t “using AI.”
 It’s working with AI.

At HubSpot we're investing in helping millions of SMBs make this transition -- just like we've done in the past. Everything from our featured agents like Customer Agent and Prospecting Agent all the way down to simple, task-oriented agents on Agent.ai.  

We're not interested in high-falutin', performative AI.  We focus on the practical: What can AI actually *do* for you?

What's the difference between a company's mission and vision?

Here's how I think about it...

A mission states who the company is, what it is pursuing and why.  It's describes what is (hopefully) happening *today*.

A vision describes where the company is going, what direction it's moving and where it aspires to be in the *future*.

For example, HubSpot's mission is to "help millions grow better". So, everything we do can be connected back to that mission. The products we build, the underlying platform it uses, our partner ecosystem, HubSpot Academy, our free tools, Agent.ai, our INBOUND conference...everything. It's all in service of that core mission of helping millions grow better. 

So, what's our VISION? Candidly, we're currently iterating on it. With the advent of AI, we think we can be more aspirational and set a higher bar in terms of what we can accomplish.

I empower millennial & gen X job seekers in tech to interview with confidence

Do you feel frustrated with the current job market?
Do you struggle to communicate in interviews?
Do you get rejected often? 
Do you get ghosted?

It usually takes a handful of interviews to warm up. 
But those handful of interviews are jobs. 
Jobs you might really want. 

For the last 20 years, I’ve been studying interviews. 
First as a candidate, then as a hiring manager. 
I’ve been in hundreds of interviews. 

I interviewed countless candidates and interviewers. 
I worked with interviewers to make hiring decisions. 
I learned what worked and didn’t work. 

And I learned that interviews aren’t about trivia. 
They’re about human connection. 
They’re about story telling. 

Interviewers want to experience working with you. 
Interviewers want to see if you’re like them. 
People want to work with people they like. 

I know what rejection feels like. I’ve been there. 
And I know what it’s like to crave feedback.
I know what it feels like to be ghosted. 

And I know what it feels like to get the offer. 
What it feels like to crush an interview. 

Today, I help people make a lasting impression. 
I help them show, not tell, how they work. 
I coach them on how to tell their story. 

I give them the feedback they crave. 
So they don’t have to warm on when it counts. 

Dozens have worked with me so far. 
And they’ve seen results in as little as 7-8 weeks. 

So what are you waiting for? I’m here to help you.

Jonathan Corrales

We all start new jobs with potential. Sometimes those hopes are dimmed by unexpected challenges.

A few years ago, I'm sitting in my office looking out of my window. It oversaw a little air strip where small planes and helicopters landed. 

One of my devs leads, M, knocks on the door. He wants to talk about a recent hire, J. 

J passed his interviews without any issues. But he wasn't performing as expected.  

M starts to tell me about J's performance issues. He asks me for guidance. J is a few months in. I worry M is about to recommend J goes somewhere else.

"J isn't doing well," M says. "Maybe there's another team he's better suited for."

"Actually," I say. "I have an idea. Our support team could use a resident dev to help with support requests. I've got buy-in from leadership to fill that role."

"That sounds like a plan," M says. 

I meet with J and review the plan with him. I ask if he's interested in making the switch. 

"Let's do it," J says. "Sounds like fun."

Fast forward to J's performance evaluation a year later: his new lead gives him a glowing review. "J is one of the best hires we've ever had."

J still works there six years later. 

And that's why it's important to understand expectations before beginning a new job. Ask as many questions as you can throughout your interviews. 

Make sure you understand those expectations clearly. 

--
#techjobs #jobseekers #interviewprep #protips

I empower millennial & gen X job seekers in tech to land and pass interviews with confidence

I was about to fail my job interview, and I knew it. 

It's 2005. I'm standing in a room with three interviewers staring at me. It's not a big room. I'm not sure why I'm standing. 

I feel like they're waiting for me to say something impressive. 

They're about to be very disappointed. 

I'm holding a dry erase marker that smells like strawberries. They want me to solve a problem that reminds me of a physics problem I couldn't solve in class. 

"That's it. You're screwed," I think to myself.
"Can you repeat the question?" I ask. 

I start writing whatever they say. I underline things like distance, speed, and draw a circle. I'm hoping I magically remember how to calculate the circumference of a circle. 

"I know pi is part of it," I think to myself. "I should have paid attention in math class. Fu..."

"Jonathan," one interviewer says. "Can you say what you're thinking out loud? We want to understand how you're doing thinking about the problem."

I look at him. I probably made a face that showed I was irritated or nervous. Both would have been correct. I can feel a bead of sweat forming on top of my head.

"Sure," I say. "No, problem."

But there was a problem. I couldn't solve this problem in silence. How was I supposed to solve this problem thinking out loud? Awkward.

That's when I realized I was going to fail that interview. There was no way to save it. 

Ever since that experience I practiced solving problems out loud. I would practice with others, my friends, my family, my wife. Anyone that'll humor me for a few minutes. 

And that's why today I help my clients practice solving problems out loud. I help them organize their thoughts and deliver responses clearly and concisely 

That's what turns interviews in to offers, especially in the tech industry. 

--
👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan.
I empower people in tech ace their job interviews.
#techjobs #jobseekers #interviewprep #protips

He was exhausted from working holidays and weekends, but terrified of what it meant to chase his dream in tech. 

A year ago, one of my clients was working in retail as a manager. He worked 60 hours a week for more than 10 years. 

He was tired of it. He wasn't a fan of working holidays and weekends. He wanted to spend more time with his wife. He wanted to break into the tech industry. But he was terrified it was too late for him.

He went to school while working retail and got a bachelor's in computer science. He went to school at night. Still, he was worried he couldn't break into tech because he lacked experience in the field.

When I met him, he wasn't getting a lot of interviews. The ones he got ended in rejection. 

He was working on a side project to build experience and keep his skills sharp. He was helping a bootstrapped startup build a cloud-based platform by building its infrastructure. 

He had something to talk about in his interviews. If only he could get someone to look at his application and see potential. If only someone gave him a shot to prove himself. 

After I heard his story, I was emotionally invested. 

I helped him get organized and stay consistent throughout his search. He started getting interviews. It helped him get traction.

Then I made sure his resume showed his qualifications for a systems engineer role.

One day he got an interview at local university in one of their engineering departments. He passed his interviews. A few weeks later, they gave him an offer. 

On the way to his retail job, he got a phone call. It was an offer for his first position as a systems engineer. He broke in to tech. He called his wife and cried with her the phone. 

He was finally able to take nights and weekends off. 

And that's why I'm a firm believer in showing employers what you can do, especially in tech. I help my clients put together portfolios, pitch desks, and complete take home assignments to secure offers. 

--
👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan.
I empower people in tech ace their job interviews.
#techjobs #jobseekers #interviewprep #protips

"I don't need to tell you about how dehumanizing the application process has become."

To make sure I stay empathetic and compassionate for the job seeker experience, I like to help clients apply to jobs. 

I'll join call with them. Then invite them to open a position they're interested in and we go to work. I show them how to parse job descriptions, tailor resumes, and so on. 

Occasionally, we come across applications that require so much information, it's kinda like a body cavity search. 

Some applications want a video recording. And some want to see demos of side projects. Some ask for sexuality. One asked for a spirit animal. (I wish I made that up). 

I'm talking applications for all sorts of companies from large to small, and everything in between. 

I'm old enough to remember when applying to a job meant filling out a single double-sided piece of paper on a clipboard with a pen that barely worked. 

Today, the expectation for job seekers is exhausting. Frustrating. Intrusive. Exhausting.

So when a job seeker says, "I don't need to tell you about how dehumanizing the application process has become," my response is "Nope. I'm well aware."

If you're a job seeker in this market. I see you. I feel what you're going through. This mess isn't your fault. Employers need to focus on improving the candidate experience. 

Everyone has been a job seeker at one point. Everyone can be a job seeker again. 

--
👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan.
I empower people in tech ace their job interviews.

#techjobs #jobseekers #interviewprep #protips

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