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20Sales: Scaling Hubspot from $3M to $1BN in ARR | How to Hire and Ramp Sales Teams | How to Scale Customer Success Successfully | How and When to Go International and Crush It with Jeetu Mahtani

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Sep 27, 2024

Jeetu Mahtani, an early member of HubSpot, played a crucial role in scaling their revenue from $3M to nearly $1B. He shares valuable insights on international expansion, including key strategies and common mistakes to avoid. Jeetu emphasizes the importance of structured teams and effective onboarding in new markets. He discusses the challenges of scaling customer success, advocating for incentives that align with sales. Plus, he reveals his aversion to discounting and how to handle early sales team failures.

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ANECDOTE

Early HubSpot Days

Jeetu Mahtani and Peter Caputa initially tried to sell their event registration business to HubSpot.
HubSpot declined to buy the business but offered them jobs, with Peter joining sales and Jeetu initially being turned away from a product role.

ADVICE

International Expansion Timing

Prioritize strong core market economics before expanding internationally.
Focus on metrics like LTV to CAC and ensure a solid foundation in your domestic market.

ADVICE

Over-invest in Early International Expansion

Over-invest in early international expansions.
Send a dedicated team of experienced employees to support new hires and ensure successful integration.

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Jeetu Mahtani was an early member of the HubSpot team. Under his leadership and the sales organization, the business grew its non-US revenue from $3M ARR to close to $1B ARR. After running the International business as the global MD and Sales leader, he then moved to lead the customer success org which expanded to managing 1,500 people in customer success.

In Today's Episode with Jeetu Mahtani We Discuss:

1. How to Go International for Startups:

What are Jeetu's biggest lessons from Hubspot on what startups can do to make their international expansion a success?
What were the biggest mistakes Hubspot made in their international expansion?
How should every team in each new location be structured?
What should the ramp time and onboarding process look like or each new team and expansion?

2. Scaling Sales from $3M to $1BN in ARR:

What did Hubspot do so well to successfully scale to $1BN in international ARR?
What were the biggest mistakes Jeetu made in the expansion of Hubspot's sales teams?
What are the first things to break in sales teams? How do you handle them?
Why does Jeetu hate discounting? Why does Jeetu not like customer references?

3. Scaling Customer Success to 1,500 CS Reps:

When should founders make their first customer success hires?
What are the biggest mistakes people make in the scaling of CS teams?
Why should customer success be incentivised in the same comp plans that sales teams have?
How do the best CS teams work with sales and product teams most effectively?

4. Hiring the Best and Ramping Them:

What does Jeetu's hiring process look like for all new sales reps?
What are the must ask questions for Jeetu in all candidate interviews?
How fast do you know when you have made a mistake with a new hire?
What is the secret to effective onboarding? What are the biggest mistakes people make in onboarding?

20Sales: Scaling Hubspot from $3M to $1BN in ARR | How to Hire and Ramp Sales Teams | How to Scale Customer Success Successfully | How and When to Go International and Crush It with Jeetu Mahtani