Dharmesh Shah: Discover the story of the co-founder of HubSpot and Inbound Marketing legend
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 12:24 pm
If you have read any of our articles or used any Inbound Marketing concepts in your business, Dharmesh Shah is indirectly responsible for it.
Shah is the co-creator of Hubspot—one of the leading marketing ig database companies on the planet—and was instrumental in creating the term Inbound Marketing and organizing all the knowledge needed to use this strategy.
Today, 81% of companies with blogs find a positive ROI in Inbound Marketing. If yours is one of them or you want to take advantage of this methodology, then you need to know more about Dharmesh Shah's story and the lessons we can learn from him.
Are you ready for this journey? Let's get started!
Who is Dharmesh Shah?
Why stop to listen to Dharmesh Shah?
What can you learn from one of the creators of Inbound Marketing?
3 facts about the life of Dharmesh Shah
Who is Dharmesh Shah?
A talented programmer, angel investor and successful entrepreneur, Dharmesh Shah is one of the co-creators of Inbound Marketing.
Born in India but raised and educated in the US, Shah revolutionized the marketing world in 2006 when he founded Hubspot with colleague Brian Halligan.
The duo met at MIT while pursuing an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management, which specializes in leadership, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
Since Hubspot was founded , Dharmesh Shah has served as CTO (Chief Technology Officer), dedicating his efforts to improving the company's software.
In addition, Shah also serves as an angel investor in Boston , supporting more than 35 startups in the region. Add to that the books he has published, the hundreds of articles he has posted online, and other activities.
Why stop to listen to Dharmesh Shah?
As we have seen above, Shah is a tireless content creator. He has hundreds of articles published in different sources, books written, TED Talks and other formats.
But why should you stop to listen to it? Yes, having created an impactful company is relevant, but is it enough to spend your time consuming its content?
In fact, Dharmesh Shah is much more than “just” the co-founder of Hubspot. Check out what he has already done:
MBA at MIT
Dharmesh Shah has a respectable academic background. He earned his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It was there that he learned to program and managed to obtain the technological foundation that would motivate his career.
Shortly after, he went to MIT to earn his Master of Technology, along with his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
In other words: he has a quality background on his resume.
Entrepreneurship Columnist
The foundation of inbound marketing is to deliver high-quality content to attract customers to your company, and Dharmesh Shah knows how to do it like no one else. During his time at MIT, he founded the website OnStartups and began writing about entrepreneurship.
By then, Shah already had a lot of experience thanks to his first startup, which he sold shortly before.
Currently, there are more than 500 thousand readers who rush to read each new article published on the site – an impressive number!
Best-seller
Dharmesh Shah is the co-author of two major marketing bestsellers.
Dharmesh Shah
The first was "Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs," released in 2009 and written with his partner Brian Halligan.
In 2014, the duo put together the book Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage and Delight Customers Online.
These two works were fundamental for the creation and popularization of Inbound Marketing throughout the world.
And of course, any professional who loves this field needs to read both.
Additionally, Shah compiled a series of articles written on OnStartups to launch the book On Startups: Advice and Insights for Entrepreneurs.
Angel investor
When Dharmesh Shah starts talking about entrepreneurship, it’s best to stop and listen.
In addition to having made two successful journeys in the world of entrepreneurship (we will talk about them later), he still acts as an angel investor in the US market, having invested in more than 30 different startups.
inbound marketing guide
What can you learn from one of the creators of Inbound Marketing?
For any entrepreneur or marketing professional, Dharmesh Shah’s life and career are full of lessons to apply to your own journey. Among them we mention:
Explore your options
Shah began his professional career as a software developer at SunGard, an $11 billion technology company, in 1992.
Two years later, he left the company to found Pyramid Digital Solutions, where he created software focused on the financial services market.
In a stroke of genius, he negotiated with SunGard to have his former bosses sell the software he developed at Pyramid, since he didn't like sales.
In 2005, 11 years later, he sold his first startup to SunGard for millions of dollars. It was at that point that he entered MIT, already with a success under his belt and ready to start Hubspot with his future colleague Brian Halligan.
Shah is the co-creator of Hubspot—one of the leading marketing ig database companies on the planet—and was instrumental in creating the term Inbound Marketing and organizing all the knowledge needed to use this strategy.
Today, 81% of companies with blogs find a positive ROI in Inbound Marketing. If yours is one of them or you want to take advantage of this methodology, then you need to know more about Dharmesh Shah's story and the lessons we can learn from him.
Are you ready for this journey? Let's get started!
Who is Dharmesh Shah?
Why stop to listen to Dharmesh Shah?
What can you learn from one of the creators of Inbound Marketing?
3 facts about the life of Dharmesh Shah
Who is Dharmesh Shah?
A talented programmer, angel investor and successful entrepreneur, Dharmesh Shah is one of the co-creators of Inbound Marketing.
Born in India but raised and educated in the US, Shah revolutionized the marketing world in 2006 when he founded Hubspot with colleague Brian Halligan.
The duo met at MIT while pursuing an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management, which specializes in leadership, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
Since Hubspot was founded , Dharmesh Shah has served as CTO (Chief Technology Officer), dedicating his efforts to improving the company's software.
In addition, Shah also serves as an angel investor in Boston , supporting more than 35 startups in the region. Add to that the books he has published, the hundreds of articles he has posted online, and other activities.
Why stop to listen to Dharmesh Shah?
As we have seen above, Shah is a tireless content creator. He has hundreds of articles published in different sources, books written, TED Talks and other formats.
But why should you stop to listen to it? Yes, having created an impactful company is relevant, but is it enough to spend your time consuming its content?
In fact, Dharmesh Shah is much more than “just” the co-founder of Hubspot. Check out what he has already done:
MBA at MIT
Dharmesh Shah has a respectable academic background. He earned his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It was there that he learned to program and managed to obtain the technological foundation that would motivate his career.
Shortly after, he went to MIT to earn his Master of Technology, along with his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
In other words: he has a quality background on his resume.
Entrepreneurship Columnist
The foundation of inbound marketing is to deliver high-quality content to attract customers to your company, and Dharmesh Shah knows how to do it like no one else. During his time at MIT, he founded the website OnStartups and began writing about entrepreneurship.
By then, Shah already had a lot of experience thanks to his first startup, which he sold shortly before.
Currently, there are more than 500 thousand readers who rush to read each new article published on the site – an impressive number!
Best-seller
Dharmesh Shah is the co-author of two major marketing bestsellers.
Dharmesh Shah
The first was "Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs," released in 2009 and written with his partner Brian Halligan.
In 2014, the duo put together the book Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage and Delight Customers Online.
These two works were fundamental for the creation and popularization of Inbound Marketing throughout the world.
And of course, any professional who loves this field needs to read both.
Additionally, Shah compiled a series of articles written on OnStartups to launch the book On Startups: Advice and Insights for Entrepreneurs.
Angel investor
When Dharmesh Shah starts talking about entrepreneurship, it’s best to stop and listen.
In addition to having made two successful journeys in the world of entrepreneurship (we will talk about them later), he still acts as an angel investor in the US market, having invested in more than 30 different startups.
inbound marketing guide
What can you learn from one of the creators of Inbound Marketing?
For any entrepreneur or marketing professional, Dharmesh Shah’s life and career are full of lessons to apply to your own journey. Among them we mention:
Explore your options
Shah began his professional career as a software developer at SunGard, an $11 billion technology company, in 1992.
Two years later, he left the company to found Pyramid Digital Solutions, where he created software focused on the financial services market.
In a stroke of genius, he negotiated with SunGard to have his former bosses sell the software he developed at Pyramid, since he didn't like sales.
In 2005, 11 years later, he sold his first startup to SunGard for millions of dollars. It was at that point that he entered MIT, already with a success under his belt and ready to start Hubspot with his future colleague Brian Halligan.