Ecosystem Growth Strategy Tips

Many founders have misplaced assumptions about growth in the HubSpot app ecosystem. The reality…only 10% of apps in the HubSpot marketplace have > 1,000 installs (~150 / 1,686) After 2.5+ years exclusively focused on GTM for HubSpot apps, in-house (Arrows) and now in my own business, I’ve found consistent patterns behind successful HubSpot ecosystem go-to-market strategies. Here are 7 principles every founder considering betting on the HubSpot project ecosystem in 2025 should know: 1. Solve in HubSpot, Not just with HubSpot The best integrations don’t pull users out of HubSpot unless absolutely necessary. → Enable daily workflows inside HubSpot. → Enrich native HubSpot features like automation, workflows, and reporting. → Make HubSpot users feel like your product is part of their platform. 2. Build for mutual customers Your customer (who auths your integration) is also HubSpot’s customer. → Solve mutual problems that impact both sides. → Ask: “Does this create value for our customer in a way that fits their existing model?” → Pass every product and GTM decision through this filter. 3. Show up relentlessly There’s no shortcut to building trust if you want to be one of HubSpot’s favorite partners. → Solve problems that matter to HubSpot, not just to you. → Provide resources, templates, and insights that make HubSpotters job easier. eg. Help them solve for their customer in your problem space not just your product. Ask: “Why should HubSpot (as a huge public org) care about what I bring to the table? 4. Go beyond extractive integrations → Build integrations that unlock advanced HubSpot features. → Go deep into workflows, reporting, and automation. → Make your product irreplaceable in a HubSpot users daily tasks. Example: Koalify keeps duplicate identification and merges inside HubSpot native reports, workflows and CRM cards. 5. Content is a strategic lever The right content drives trust in the HubSpot ecosystem. → Create HubSpot playbooks and templates for your problem space beyond your product. Example: At Arrows, we published “How To Run Customer Success In HubSpot" that was downloaded by 3,000+ HubSpot users, CSMs and prospects. 6. Align yourself with HubSpot’s strategic goals HubSpot prioritizes adoption of pro and enterprise-level features. → Build tools that activate those features at a high rate. → Help users get more from their HubSpot investment. 7. Create a ‘Better Together’ narrative The best ecosystems apps create value that neither tool could deliver alone. → The more app integrations customers adopt, the more sticky HubSpot becomes. Example: Air Traffic Control enables relevant gifting campaigns for every contact in HubSpot when paired with Sendoso Ask: “What can we enable inside HubSpot that wasn’t possible before? How do we make 1+1 = 10?” Takeaway Winning in the HubSpot ecosystem isn’t about checking boxes and launching in the marketplace, it's: → Solving business problems for HubSpot customers

I was obsessed with creating the "perfect" AI tool. Our features were cutting-edge. Our algorithms were superior. Our UI was beautiful. Back when I was building my last business on top of GPT2. And yet, adoption crawled. The painful truth emerged during a customer call. "Your tool is impressive," they said, "but integrating it into our workflow is a nightmare." That's when it hit me: we weren't in the product business. We were in the workflow business. I learned my lesson for this go around. Instead of enhancing features, we: → Built bridges to existing tools they already trusted → Created templates for specific industry workflows → Developed a community where practitioners shared implementation strategies → Focused on being the connective tissue rather than a replacement Results came quickly. And things really took off when we stopped trying to be a standalone solution and started becoming part of our customers' ecosystem. We're entering what I call The Great Convergence - a post-product world where: → Distribution outweighs invention → Trust matters more than features → Execution systems beat standalone products This isn't just happening in AI. Look at the success of Salesforce (platform, not product), Stripe (financial infrastructure, not payment tool), or Figma (collaboration system, not design app). The pattern is clear: successful companies don't just make tools; they orchestrate systems. And it's an open secret that large companies are very well positioned because they also have the distribution advantage Now I'm building differently. I identify workflows where I have deep domain expertise, nurture communities of practice around those workflows, and develop multi-product portfolios that support nuanced integration. The biggest winners in this new landscape won't be those who build the most advanced technology. They'll be those who create the most trusted systems for putting that technology to work. In the era of convergence, being the glue is more valuable than being just another brick. #startups #founders #growth #ai — Hi, I'm Oliver — I help B2B founders build a repeatable GTM motion. Consistency and quality are the first things to go during busy times in the founder-led sales motion. If you're drowning in busy work or getting lost in the noise of AI tooling, DM me!

If I was the 1st partnerships hire at a startup, with a goal of driving 25% of revenue, here’s how I would build our partner program from scratch: BEFORE I STARTED: 1. Executive Alignment - Have a (potentially uncomfortable) conversation with my executives ASAP. Confirm alignment on our partnerships “Why? How? What? By When?” 2. Internal Partnerships - Have a plan on how to win over my cross-functional colleagues and take this as seriously as my external partnerships. ON DAY 1, I WOULD START WORKING ON THESE: 1. Operational Support - Whether it’s partner ops, revops, a CRM admin, or an intern I would make sure I have support to operationalize my program. 2. My P&L - I'm building a business within a business, so knowing my team's worth and cost is critical. 3. Knowing My Numbers - Measuring and tracking as much as possible, especially the KPIs my Executives care about. I'd start simple and iterate. 4. Talk to Customers - This is the fastest way to map our ecosystem and identify early partners. 5. Ideal Partner Profile - IPP has HUGE impact on time-to-value. To spend my time on the RIGHT partners, I'd create a data-driven IPP (and update it often). 6. Leverage my network - I'd hit the ground running with my existing relationships to shortcut the growth curve for our new program. 7. Process - I'd start building, and documenting, internal and partner-facing processes early. 8. Systems - I'd maximize our CRM’s capabilities, then layer on spreadsheets, and eventually a great Partner Management Platform when we’re ready to scale. AND EVERY DAY I WOULD: 1. Prioritize - When there are 100 things I could be doing, spending my time on the right ones will be critical to hitting goals. 2. Focus - Do my best to not get distracted by shiny object syndrome. And make sure my executives don't either. 3. Ask for help - Recognize I don’t need to know all the answers, but I do need to know where to find them. Internal teams and current partners are a goldmine. 4. Ask questions - I'd ask our partners what they want and need. And then go build it for them. 5. Make quick decisions - Most are reversible. Focusing on the critical ones and moving quickly is more important than getting everything right on the first try. 6. Fail fast - If I make a misstep (which I will), I'd identify and correct it quickly. 7. Just ship things - Done is better than perfect. I'd get our offering in front of partners. Collect Feedback. And then iterate from there. 8. Hire smart - I would find driven, entrepreneurial, go-getters… then empower them and get out of their way. Ultimately, it all comes down to being strategic, having a plan, creating (and maintaining) alignment, executing, and iterating. And most importantly of all, have fun. It’s going to be a wild ride.

The most overlooked startup growth strategy isn't the latest AI ads platform or improved funnel optimization. It's actually hiding in plain sight: how your product naturally spreads from one user to another. Teams that understand their product's inherent distribution mechanics outperform those relying solely on paid acquisition. This is less about forcing virality, and more about recognizing your product's natural sharing dynamics: - For communication tools, it's inviting collaborators - For design software, it's exporting and presenting work - For consumer apps, it's sharing results or achievements - For B2B platforms, it's onboarding team members At Gamma, we discovered our growth accelerator was reducing friction in how users share their presentations. And while that lever was specific to our product, the principle still applies universally: Identify where your product naturally creates opportunities for exposure, then systematically optimize that pathway. To this end, there are two questions worth asking: 1. When users get value from your product, how do others naturally see that value? 2. What's preventing that moment of visibility from happening more often? Every product category has different answers, but the approach is consistent: - Map out your product's natural exposure points - Measure how often those moments occur - Remove friction from that process - Build features that amplify visibility This thinking transformed our product roadmap. Features aren't just about utility; they're about enabling natural discovery. Your growth strategy might look completely different from ours, but the mindset remains the same: The best acquisition strategy is built into how your product is naturally experienced and shared.

Figma didn’t generate any revenue from 2012 to 2016. Now they’re hitting $600M in ARR with an NDR > 150%. Despite their $20Bn deal with Adobe falling through, their growth trajectory remains strong. How? They have a solid GTM strategy 👇 🔸 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟭: 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁. Figma focused on a niche segment – designers. Building their product around common problems like lack of collaboration and accessibility. They made design accessible for everyone without software and made real-time collaboration possible. 🔸 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟮: 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱. Figma focused on one critical problem first – design collaboration. They drilled down on creating the best solution in the market, then expanded to adjacent problems. 🔸 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟑: 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬. Figma knew their market well; they knew that most of their users were using platforms like Slack for communication. By integrating with Slack, they made it even easier to collaborate, adopt, and incorporate Figma into their workflow, accelerating growth and stickiness. 🔸 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟰: 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁-𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 (𝗣𝗟𝗚). To build the best product, everyone has to be involved in customer support. This enabled them to get feedback and iterate quickly, creating a powerful feedback loop. They also nailed pricing; they offered different products at each tier, drilling down on the needs of each segment. 🔸 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟱: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗮𝘁. Don't just build a tool; build an ecosystem. They don't want to be known just as a design tool; they want to be known as "all things design," so they expanded their focus from just designers to the whole team. As more people used it, it created a self-reinforcing loop of adoption. They're also expanding their functionalities by acquiring companies like Dynaboard to expand their ecosystem. Takeaway? You can run 5 years without revenue... Your major deal might fall through... But if you have a solid strategy, you’ll be fine. Just take it from Figma. Jaryd Hermann and Aakash Gupta have great case studies about this! Want to scale your startup? Let's plan it ➡️ bit.ly/4aTjptW #Startups #Innovation #Strategy #Success

Partnering with Epic, one of the largest and most dominant electronic health record (EHR) providers, can be a significant growth opportunity for startups in the healthcare space. However, it’s no secret that collaborating with Epic can be challenging due to its stringent requirements, complex technology stack, and the high standards it maintains for integrations. To successfully create a joint go-to-market (GTM) strategy, integration plan, and long-term partnership with Epic, startups need to approach this process with insider knowledge and strategy. Here are some industry secrets for making this collaboration work: 1. Understand Epic’s Ecosystem and Priorities • Target Key Modules: Epic has several specialized modules (e.g., EpicCare for ambulatory care, MyChart for patient engagement, and Cogito for data analytics). Startups must identify which modules align with their solution and focus on those areas. Understanding which Epic products are growing or receiving internal investment is key to aligning with Epic’s strategic priorities. • Follow Their Roadmap: Epic’s focus can shift over time based on industry trends and regulatory requirements. By tracking Epic’s product roadmap, startups can position their technology to solve emerging challenges in areas like interoperability, patient experience, or value-based care. 2. Develop an Epic-Compatible Integration Strategy • Utilize Epic’s API Ecosystem (App Orchard): Epic’s App Orchard is the official marketplace for third-party integrations. Becoming part of App Orchard is the most direct route for startups to integrate with Epic. Although the process can be time-consuming and expensive (membership fees, plus technical requirements), it’s crucial to build an Epic-compliant API integration. • Epic APIs and FHIR: Use Epic’s APIs or FHIR-based standards to connect your solution to Epic. Familiarize yourself with their documentation and stay updated on changes, as Epic is constantly evolving its API infrastructure. • Integration Testing in a Sandbox: Epic provides testing environments where developers can validate their solutions against the Epic infrastructure. Be diligent about testing in these sandboxes, as any issues discovered during a production rollout can lead to delays or severed partnerships.