In the early days of HubSpot, we wrote two blog articles a week and competed to see who could generate more leads from them, emphasizing the importance of high-quality content and effective titles. We built our audience on a blog before we even started writing the first lines of code for our startup, which took us a couple of years to be seen as experts in our space.

Our content marketing strategy focused on providing valuable insights to our target audience rather than just promoting our product, which helped us build trust and grow our user base.

Our marketing strategy initially relied on PR and organic growth, especially leveraging our unique owl mascot, which became a viral sensation.

In the beginning, our software was basic, so we compensated for its limitations by providing customers with valuable advice on optimizing their websites.

At that time, there wasn't a clear monetization route for Reddit; we didn't have advertising or any real way to generate revenue, so we operated as a lean startup to survive with scarce resources.

Content marketing was key in acquiring our first 3,000 signups during private beta, as I wrote blog posts that sparked curiosity about email and its future.

In 2004, I noticed that while you could find almost any content online, there was a lack of tools for understanding and connecting with other people.

Initially, we thought we were on the path to success, but I later realized that we were not converting users into paying customers because we were too focused on fundraising and PR instead of creating a product that people actually needed.

We chose not to spend money on marketing but focused on public relations, which resulted in significant media coverage, including an article in the Wall Street Journal.