SaaS Downturn? HubSpot CEO Explains All!

Name: SaaS Downturn? HubSpot CEO Explains All!
Uploaded: 2025-01-10T13:02:33+00:00
Duration: 1 min 17 s
Channel: Jason M. Lemkin
Description: Brian Halligan, HubSpot's co-founder, says the SaaS downturn started before Q3 2024 and began recovering that quarter. He blames over-hiring, high…

10 Jan 2025 · 1 min

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Brian Halligan, HubSpot's co-founder, says the SaaS downturn started before Q3 2024 and began recovering that quarter. He blames over-hiring, high downgrade rates, and weak growth-retention. Now he wears three hats: chairman at HubSpot, partner at Sequoia Growth, and member of Propeller VC.

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It being said, SaaS was in a downturn. I don't know when it started, but I think it ended in Q3. If you look at the SaaS companies' numbers, see it through Sequoia, see it through all my HubSpot dashboards where I see our customers, it felt like we came out of the recession in Q3 of 2024. And I also just think it's like the universe like slammed SaaS down and then splashed it way up and then slammed it down again. Yeah. And it's flashing back up. I think we're in a different place in Q4 of this year than we were in Q4 of last year, economically, SaaS. People overbought, people had too many employees, and the downgrades were high. The growth retention for people were low, and I think we're just getting back into a better spot.
Hello, Saster. We are here with one of our all-time friends and favorites, Brian Halligan, co-founder, chairman of HubSpot. OG SaaS executive, thought through all the things we've thought through over the years, been to SaaS Annual several times. Now wearing 3 hats, right? 3 hats. Chairman of HubSpot, Sequoia Growth, and Propeller VC fund, wearing 3 hats in, in Mountain 2. Are you on Mountain 1 or Mountain 2?