HubSpot Acquires YouTube-Based Media Brand Starter Story

On Monday, HubSpot Media, the in-house media division of the enterprise software firm HubSpot, announced the acquisition of the creator-led entrepreneurship publication Starter Story. Jonathan Hunt, vice president of media and content at HubSpot, confirmed the news to Adweek. However, he did not disclose the terms of the deal.

Founded in 2017 by software engineer Pat Walls, Starter Story has developed into a video-first media brand boasting over 800,000 subscribers on YouTube and a newsletter audience of 275,000, amounting to a total audience of approximately 1.6 million across various platforms. The publication is profitable, generating a “seven-figure” revenue, as noted by founder Pat Walls. The company operates with a lean team of three full-time staff members: Walls, his sister and chief operating officer Sam, and producer Gus Tiffer.

With this acquisition, all three team members will join HubSpot Media, which hosts brands such as The Hustle, My First Million, and Mindstream. This move signifies the increasing interest among media companies in popular YouTube channels, a trend reflected in recent partnerships between companies like Vox Media and ESPN and well-known YouTube creators. New media startups, such as Dynamo and NewPress, are also leveraging YouTube as an operational base instead of relying on traditional websites, as consumer attention increasingly gravitates towards video content.

Acquisition Rationale

The acquisition fits into HubSpot’s larger strategy of integrating media to support its core software business. According to Hunt, HubSpot Media currently generates over 50 million monthly engagements and tens of thousands of leads each month. Notably, lead generation from YouTube has surged by 68% year-over-year, while leads derived from newsletters have seen a rise of 53%. With Starter Story joining its portfolio, HubSpot’s YouTube network will encompass a total of 2.9 million subscribers, surpassing the YouTube presence of Morning Brew and more than doubling that of Salesforce.

The addition of Starter Story aligns with HubSpot’s core target audience of early-stage founders and small businesses eager to grow. The company aims to harness this audience by expanding its strategy of acquiring creator-led media brands, similar to its past acquisitions of My First Million and Mindstream, which feature small, founder-centric teams. Hunt articulated that HubSpot believes that the process of software adoption will increasingly start from YouTube video content rather than traditional search queries or ads.

“Small business is a core audience for us,” Hunt stated. “Starter Story is one of the largest non-traditional media brands speaking to founders who are gaining momentum and need tools to accelerate that growth.” This strategy is grounded in the evolving ways buyers discover software, as search traffic declines and advertising costs on social media platforms increase. Customers are now more likely to seek information through varied channels, such as Reddit, ChatGPT, Youtube, and newsletters. By owning niche media brands, HubSpot aims to create a more robust channel to connect with these audiences earlier in their purchasing journey.

Growth Through Video Content

Starter Story’s rapid growth has been significantly attributed to its recent pivot towards YouTube, where its long-form founder interviews garner between 1.5 million and 2 million views monthly according to Walls. “We saw the attention shifting toward video and jumped on that wave,” he remarked, highlighting a broader industry trend where YouTube emerges as the principal incubator for a new wave of media businesses, providing avenues for both discovery and monetization as traditional website traffic wanes.

Prior to the acquisition, approximately 75% of Starter Story’s revenue stemmed from its own products, which include subscriptions, courses, and a paid community of over 10,000 members, rather than from advertising. For HubSpot, the main focus of this acquisition is not necessarily on advertising revenue; rather, it is about constructing a media ecosystem that effectively fuels its sales pipeline. The media division is already reaching millions of business professionals on a monthly basis, and future monetization opportunities for Starter Story are expected to revolve around demand generation and community-driven products within HubSpot’s larger network.

This acquisition is timely, as more individuals are entering entrepreneurship, supported by diminishing barriers to entry partly thanks to AI tools. “We’re seeing more founders being able to build than ever before,” Walls concluded.

Adweek’s report highlights this significant acquisition reflecting ongoing trends where media companies increasingly seek to engage audiences through attractive content on platforms like YouTube.

Mark Stenberg is Adweek’s senior media reporter.