The Boston tech community has been up in arms since Wednesday night, when HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) announced it had terminated longtime CMO Mike Volpe for violating its code of business conduct and ethics by way of his attempts to obtain a draft manuscript of a book involving the inbound software company. The book in question? Dan Lyons’ forthcoming memoir—“Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Startup Bubble”—which is about his experience working at the orange sprocket, and which the author himself has described as "scathing." (Joe Chernov, HubSpot's VP of Content for two and a half years, resigned before the company could determine whether to fire him for similar violations.)
"He's one of the best people I've ever worked with. This incident doesn't diminish his accomplishments in my eyes."
Over his tenure, Volpe has been not only a key player at Cambridge-based HubSpot—but also within the Boston tech community at large. An MBA graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, Volpe also co-founded a nonprofit called the Boston Scholars Program. Having joined HubSpot in 2007 as its fifth employee, he was promoted from VP of Marketing to CMO in 2011. During his time there, he helped grow the revenue from $0 to more than $100 million in 2014, saw the firm through an IPO, contributed to the creation of the INBOUND conference and grew it to 10,000 attendees. Under Volpe’s leadership, HubSpot has won more than 30 marketing awards.
"Mike has built a scalable, inbound lead generation machine for HubSpot," said Halligan in 2011 at the time Volpe was promoted to CMO. "He's played a critical role in growing our customer base from a dozen beta customers to over 4,500 in four years.”
It goes without saying that the HubSpot Mafia is a true force in the local tech realm, and in our conversations with ex-Hubspotters and other entrepreneurs who’ve dealt with Volpe, one thing has become clear: Many are still behind him—regardless of how little information we have on the investigation or reasons for his termination.
Adam Blake
Founder of ThriveHive
"The HubSpot board just ejected an incredibly talented person and it really is a loss for the company. Having worked for Mike back when HubSpot was only 80 people, and now having him as both an investor and advisor to ThriveHive I can tell you that Mike is nothing but a standup guy - and an amazing marketer. We don't know what happened, but based on all of our previous experience working with Mike, whatever he does next will be great."
Jay Acunzo
VP of Platform at NextView Ventures, former HubSpot employee
"I think Mike and Joe are two of the best."
Jonathan Kim
Appcues founder, former HubSpot employee
"This definitely came as a huge surprise to me and the other HubSpot alumni that I stay connected with. This couldn't have been more out of character for Mike and Joe who were both widely respected at HubSpot and the Boston community. Heck, some people (including alums) had left their jobs and joined HubSpot solely for the chance to work with them."
Matt Fradette
Founder of Dockwa
"I have always admired Mike for the work he has done at HubSpot and he is an asset to the Boston tech community."
Jonah Lopin
Founder of Crayon, former HubSpot employee
"I don't know anything about this incident other than what I read in the press release yesterday. What I can say is that I worked closely with Mike for the better part of a decade building HubSpot, and he's one of the best people I've ever worked with. This incident doesn't diminish his accomplishments in my eyes. I’m #teamvolpe."
Featured photo by Kyle James, CC BY 2.0. All headshots provided by subjects.
