Biography

Brian Halligan, co-founder and executive chairperson of HubSpot, served as the company's CEO until 2021. During this time, he earned consistent recognition on Glassdoor’s and Comparably’s lists of best CEOs. 

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 where he continues to stay involved. Brian developed MIT’s popular Scaling Entrepreneurial Ventures class, which he has taught for over a decade. In recognition of his outstanding mentorship in entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan honored Brian with the Monosson Prize in 2023. In addition to teaching on the topic of scaling, Brian tweets, writes, presents, and talks on the topic often.

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. As the proud owner and steward of Jerry Garcia's Wolf guitar, he continues to honor the legacy of the iconic band. 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.