HubSpot Acquires Starter Story to Expand Media and Entrepreneur Audience

HubSpot, the global software company known for its customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing tools, has acquired Starter Story, a fast-growing media brand focused on entrepreneurship and founder stories. The deal was confirmed this week and marks HubSpot’s latest move into creator-driven media as part of its broader audience and content strategy.

The financial terms of the acquisition were not made public. Starter Story will join HubSpot Media, the company’s in-house media division that already includes brands such as The Hustle and My First Million.

How Starter Story Began: From Coffee Shop Project to Media Brand

Starter Story was founded in 2017 by Pat Walls inside a small Starbucks in New York City. The idea was simple: interview real-world founders to understand how their businesses were built. At first, progress was slow, with Walls waking up early to work on the project before his day job.

Over time, the project grew into a respected media brand with:

• More than 800,000 YouTube subscribers
• About 275,000 newsletter followers
• A total cross-platform audience of around 1.6 million
• Over 4,000 founder stories published
• More than 10,000 paid members
• Hundreds of millions of views and multi-million-dollar revenue

All of this was achieved independently. Starter Story was bootstrapped and profitable without outside investment.

Pat Walls noted that the company grew beyond being his solo project and became a team effort with a small group, including his sister Sam (Chief Operating Officer) and producer Gus Tiffer, among others.

Why HubSpot Bought Starter Story

HubSpot said the acquisition aligns with its strategy to build media-led channels that attract entrepreneurs, founders and business builders, key audiences for its CRM and marketing products. Starter Story’s content naturally reaches this group at the earliest stages of business building.

Jonathan Hunt, HubSpot’s Vice-President of Media and Content, said Starter Story’s deep focus on founder-centric storytelling fits well with the company’s other media brands and helps expand HubSpot’s reach through video and long-form content.

The deal also significantly increases HubSpot’s presence on YouTube, where its combined media brands now reach nearly 3 million subscribers, a notable audience footprint in the creator economy.

What’s Next for Starter Story and Its Team

As part of the acquisition, the core Starter Story team, including Pat Walls, Sam Walls and Gus Tiffer, will join HubSpot Media. The company says Starter Story will remain its own brand and editorially independent but will benefit from HubSpot’s distribution, support and wider media infrastructure.

Pat Walls said the mission that started with a simple question about how businesses grow will continue. Starter Story’s long-term goal remains to inspire and help a billion builders around the world — now with the backing of a larger team and resources.

What This Means for the Media and Startup Space

This acquisition highlights a broader shift in the media and tech industries, where companies are increasingly investing in owned media and creator-led content to drive engagement and build audiences. Platform owners like HubSpot are looking beyond traditional ads and search traffic to build direct, trusted connections with users through video, newsletters and community content.

For entrepreneurs, it shows the growing value of storytelling and audience building as assets not just for media companies, but also for technology and software firms that want a foothold in the early stages of business growth.