Eric Richard, VP of Engineering at HubSpot, presented on the journey from discovery to delivery of Tally

1. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
The Birth of Tally
Or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love autonomous teams

2. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
It All Started With a Button

3. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
It All Started With a Button

4. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
What if…
We gave customers the ability to provide support-like interactions for their users via their websites?

5. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
We already had existing use cases

6. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
We already had existing use cases
I

7. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
“Just like we have built tools that allow small/medium sized businesses to compete with the enterprises of the world in Marketing, let’s give them the tools to do the same in Customer Service”
And insightful advice from execs

8. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
What’s the MVP?

9. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
An embeddable button

10. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
That triggers a widget/form

11. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
That collects information on a request

12. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
And how should we go to market?
Use the same playbook that has been wildly successful with

13. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
If we provide value to individual support reps we can get support management to adopt software and eventually pay.
Hypothesis

14. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
Experiment
Loads of Customer interviews across different company sizes

15. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
•Most companies don’t provide support reps with budget for software
•Most companies don't empower customer support reps to make decisions or even influence decisions about software
Results

16. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
It will be very difficult to create a sustainable growth business in the Customer Support space.
Conclusion

17. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

18. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

19. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
Act II: Pivot Time

20. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
“Nope”
“Do you know how many of
your customers are your evangelists?”

21. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
“Do you know how many of your customers are at risk of canceling/returning your product?”
“Nope”

22. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
“YES!!! SIGN ME UP NOW!!!!”
“Would you like to get a list of these two groups so that you could email and nurture them?”

23. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
Act III: Introducing Tally

24. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

25. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

26. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

27. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

28. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
David Hunt
Knowledge Base Admin
HubSpot
Using Tally over the past few months does not feel like using software to respond to customer feedback…
It feels like having a balanced and non-disruptive conversation, where the software gets out of your way and let's you focus on the person in front of you.

29. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
Angela DeFranco
Content Product Manager
HubSpot
Tally gives me instant access to the pulse of what people are feeing about our products in general, but also the details of why they're feeling that way.
I not only love Tally, but I feel like Tally loves me right back.

30. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
With Tally I’ve heard from beta group testers in the first few days that I normally don’t hear from in weeks.
Molly Wolfberg
UX Researcher
HubSpot

31. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
Conclusion
This is why we believe in highly autonomous teams who are free to iterate on their own to discover market fit.

32. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
Conclusion
“What happens when the leader is wrong in a top-down culture? Everyone goes off a cliff.”
“Great leaders give control, they don’t take control.”
-Capt. David Marquet

33. Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot
To talk more about HubSpot’sculture:
erichard@hubspot.com
@ericrrichard
Oh, and BTW, we are hiring:
www.hubspot.com/jobs