Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble
In July 2015, Hubspot’s CMO, Mike Volpe, was dismissed for violating HubSpot’s code of business conduct. It was found that he tried to obtain a draft copy of the book Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start Up Bubble, written by his former employee Daniel Lyons. According to an article in the Boston Globe, records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act indicated that HubSpot executives considered the book “a financial threat to HubSpot” and Volpe used “tactics such as email hacking and extortion” in the attempt to prevent the book from being published.
In April 2016, after his book was published, Lyons wrote in the New York Times that HubSpot had a “frat house” atmosphere. He also called the company a “digital sweatshop” in which workers had little job security. Later that month, HubSpot’s founders gave an official response to the book, in which they addressed several, but not all, of Lyons’ claims.
