Interview with Stefany Ludena, Head of Iberia, Italy, Benelux & Nordics (HubSpot for Startups): “Valencia is becoming a mature, internationally minded startup ecosystem.”

In a context where startups are under increasing pressure to grow efficiently, align teams, and build scalable go to market strategies from very early stages, Stefany Ludena, Head of Iberia, Italy, Benelux & Nordics at HubSpot for Startups, works closely with founders navigating those challenges across multiple European ecosystems.

In this interview, she shares her perspective on how founders’ needs are evolving, the importance of connected systems in scaling businesses, and why ecosystems like Valencia, together with initiatives such as Startup Valencia and VDS, are playing an increasingly relevant role in Europe’s startup landscape.

 

For those who may not yet be familiar with the program, what is HubSpot for Startups and what is its core value proposition?

According to Stefany Ludena, HubSpot for Startups is our program designed to help founders build a scalable go to market engine earlier, without over investing in tools or fragmented systems. The core value proposition is simple, give startups an easier path to unify marketing, sales, and customer service on one platform, backed by practical education and playbooks built for the realities of early growth. Practically, that includes exclusive HubSpot product discounts for qualified startups, up to 90% off, plus startup focused resources that help teams move from “doing everything manually” to building repeatable, measurable growth.

 

What motivated HubSpot to create a dedicated program specifically for startups?

Startups face a unique constraint, you have to grow fast with limited time, limited headcount, and constant iteration. We created HubSpot for Startups because we saw a consistent pattern, founders were either trying to scale with spreadsheets and disconnected tools, or adopting enterprise stacks too early and slowing themselves down. A dedicated program lets us meet startups where they are, lower the barrier to getting the right infrastructure, and pair it with education that’s tailored to early stage realities, how to define ICP, build pipeline, prove repeatability, and set up a system that won’t collapse at the next growth milestone.

 

From your experience, what are the main challenges startups currently face in marketing, sales, and customer service?

Across Europe and especially in fast moving ecosystems like Valencia, the challenges tend to cluster into a few themes:

– Signal vs. noise in acquisition, channels are crowded and costs fluctuate. Startups need clarity on positioning, ICP, and a handful of channels that can be made repeatable.

– Misalignment between marketing and sales, leads get generated without shared definitions (MQL/SQL), attribution is unclear, and pipeline becomes a debate instead of a dashboard.

– Lack of a single source of truth, data is scattered across tools, making forecasting and prioritization hard, especially as the team grows.

– Scaling “human” service, as volume rises, founders want to preserve high touch support while adding structure (ticketing, knowledge base, automation) so service doesn’t become the bottleneck.

– Efficiency pressure, many startups are being pushed to prove sustainable growth earlier, more disciplined pipeline, better conversion, tighter retention loops, without adding lots of headcount.

HubSpot for Startups is designed around these realities, one connected CRM foundation plus resources to standardize processes early so scaling is smoother.

 

How do you see the needs of startups evolving over the next few years?

I see three shifts happening:

From “growth at all costs” to “efficient growth”, startups will be expected to show healthier unit economics earlier. That increases the importance of lifecycle reporting, conversion visibility, and retention and expansion motions, not just top of funnel.

More complex go to market sooner, even early stage companies are going multi product, multi persona, and multi market faster. They’ll need systems that support segmentation, multiple pipelines, and structured handoffs without becoming heavy.

Automation becomes table stakes, not to replace teams, but to protect focus. Startups will increasingly automate routing, nurturing, and service triage so small teams can behave like bigger teams.

 

What advice would you give to a startup that is just beginning to scale its business?

Three practical recommendations:

Build your “revenue operating system” early. Define ICP, your funnel stages, your lifecycle definitions, and your core metrics (CAC, conversion rates, payback, retention). What you don’t define now becomes chaos later.

Unify your data before you “add more tools.” Most scaling pain is not a lack of software, it’s disconnected software. A single source of truth for contacts, pipeline, and customer history makes every team faster.

Make repeatability the goal. Don’t chase every channel, pick the one or two motions that show promise, instrument them, and iterate until they’re predictable. Once repeatable, then you scale.

 

How important is this partnership with Startup Valencia for HubSpot?

It’s strategically important, because Startup Valencia is not just a community, it’s an ecosystem builder and a connector across founders, corporates, and investors. The partnership is a way for us to be present where scaling happens, in the day to day challenges, the peer learning, and the network effects that help startups reach their next stage. And it’s especially relevant because Startup Valencia is also the organizer of VDS, which is one of the highest leverage convening points in Europe for founders and scale enablers.

 

What can you contribute to our tech ecosystem, and what do you hope to gain from this collaboration?

We contribute with practical go to market enablement, frameworks, playbooks, templates, and education designed for investment backed scaling, especially around pipeline, lifecycle marketing, and customer experience. As well as the infrastructure that scales with the company, a connected platform plus integrations, HubSpot connects with 1,700+ tools, so startups can keep velocity while becoming more data driven. Global pattern recognition, we work with startups across markets, so we can help teams benchmark what “good” looks like at different stages.

We hope to gain deeper proximity to Valencia’s founder community, your priorities, your strengths, and the specific scaling constraints in this market, so we can keep tailoring support that’s locally relevant and globally competitive.

 

How do you view the startup ecosystem in Valencia?

For Stefany Ludena, this combination is what makes Valencia an increasingly relevant ecosystem for founders looking to scale internationally. Valencia’s startup scene is moving from “promising” to “proven.” You can see a community that’s confident enough to think internationally, but still close knit enough that introductions and knowledge sharing happen quickly. That combination matters, it shortens the time it takes a founder to find talent, validate a go to market approach, or meet the right partner.

 

How would you assess VDS, one of Europe’s leading technological events, held in Valencia each October?

VDS is a standout European tech event because it’s not only large, it’s purpose built for high quality collisions between startups, investors, and corporates. From HubSpot for Startups’ perspective, VDS is also valuable because it reflects where Europe is headed, more cross border ambition, more emphasis on collaboration, and a stronger bridge between innovation and real commercialization.

We were delighted to be a part of it in 2025 and look forward to be there in 2026 again.

Startup Valencia members who would like to explore HubSpot for Startups in more detail or have specific questions can reach out directly to Stefany at sludena@hubspot.com