Inbound content

Owned content and search bring in the demand, rather than paid ads or outbound.

Counts as evidence: The company names content, search, or inbound as a primary demand source.

Who ran it

HubSpot · Naming inbound, then selling it by phone · 2006 to 2014
Inbound content Primary
The blog, free tools, and search brought in over 40,000 new leads a month. Inbound sources generated about 93% of new customers in the second quarter of 2014. Website Grader, an early free tool, was built to bring in traffic, links, and leads.
HubSpot · Free CRM and the first freemium products · 2014 to 2018
Inbound content Primary
Inbound sources still produced over 90% of new customers in 2016, with an average of over 100,000 new leads a month.
HubSpot · Beyond search: owned media and answer engines · 2022 to now
Inbound content Supporting
The CEO said in 2025 that blog traffic is 10% of leads and that SEO is no longer working as well, after a shift that began in 2022. Leads now come from 10 YouTube channels, acquired newsletters, social, and presence in AI answer engines.
Cursor · Build for ourselves, launch in public · 2022 to 2023
Inbound content Tried, then dropped
A co-founder built a following by posting about AI and used it, with a demo and a waitlist, to bring in the first users. The team then stepped away from it and, in the CEO's words, lived like monks through 2023.

How to run this channel yourself, step by step, is covered on the blog: read the guide.