Getting Others to Build on Your Platform: Lessons Learned from HubSpot's App Accelerator

<p>In this episode of <em>SaaS Connect</em> by the <a href="https://www.cloudsoftwareassociation.com/">Cloud Software Association</a>, Scott Brinker, VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot, shares lessons learned from HubSpot’s App Accelerator.</p> <p>HubSpot started as an inbound marketing company to help marketers use inbound marketing successfully as a methodology, and their offerings included HubSpot Academy and software. Today, it has evolved into a full CRM platform.</p> <p>Scott’s role at HubSpot is to build out the app platform ecosystem. He is the mastermind of a lot of the work that’s been done, and someone who's been able to have a major influence in the development of that ecosystem for HubSpot.</p> <p>This is what you can expect to hear about in this episode:</p> <ul> <li>The mechanisms of building an ecosystem on top of the HubSpot platform.</li> <li>Lesson learned, and how App Accelerator built and cultivated a cohort of integrations from zero. They started with eight participating companies and by the third accelerator, they had 60, eventually learning that 25 companies was ideal.</li> <li>What made HubSpot decide to not incentivise. (Hint: they only wanted people to build something if there was legitimately a real market opportunity...)</li> <li>How Scott’s history as an ISV contributes towards innovation in HubSpot’s ISV program.</li> <li>What one thing about App Accelerator that they did not anticipate but turned out to be one of the larger side benefits. (Hint: the feedback about how to improve the platform...)</li> <li>How HubSpot defines success according to Northstar metrics. (Hint: active installs with customers...)</li> <li>Recruiting strategy for the project.</li> <li>The journey to become a HubSpot featured partner.</li> </ul> <p>Resources Mentioned:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix</a></li> <li><a href="https://martech.org/what-is-martech/">Martech</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.crossbeam.com/">Crossbeam</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.salesforce.