Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Balfour: Non-viral B2B startups need day-one growth hires before PMF

Brian Balfour · Brian Balfour: Startup Growth Secrets from HubSpot; Distribution Stratagies; Impact of AI | E1049 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Aug 16, 2023 · at 19:55

Brian Balfour, founder of Reforge and former VP of Growth at HubSpot, explains why marketing-driven software products require growth hires prior to product-market fit to build funnel volume.

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“Whereas the amplitude competitor is one where it's like, Hey, I need somebody dedicated on this from day one to drive some volume to understand whether or not what the hell we're building is even close to on the mark.”

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Assertion Not checkable as stated
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