Brian Halligan

Brian Halligan, co-founder and executive chairperson of HubSpot, served as the company's CEO until 2021. Brian coined the term "inbound marketing" and together with Dharmesh Shah built a movement around the concept, which included organizing the INBOUND event and co-authoring the book Inbound Marketing. Prior to HubSpot, Brian earned an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. Brian developed MIT’s popular Scaling Entrepreneurial Ventures class, which he has taught for over a decade. As the founder of Propeller Ventures, Brian directs a $100 million climate tech venture fund, specializing in ocean innovation investments. He serves on the boards of Navier and Aquatic Labs. A passionate fan and scholar of the Grateful Dead, Brian co-wrote Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead with Bill Walton and David Meerman Scott. Currently, Brian is working on a film that explores the life and times of John Perry Barlow. He is also a co-author of an upcoming Harvard Business Review case study on the Grateful Dead. Brian started his career with a BSEE from the University of Vermont. He was an early employee at PTC and rose to become an SVP of sales there over a 10-year span. Then he ran sales at Groove Networks, which was later acquired by Microsoft.