Starter Story

Media business that publishes founder interviews and revenue case studies through its website, newsletter and YouTube channel.

MediaEntrepreneurshipNewsletterYouTubeBuilding in public

Acquired^{Source [2]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [1]}Last verified Oct 2, 2026

About Starter Story

Starter Story interviews entrepreneurs about how they started, grew and run their businesses, typically including revenue, costs and tools used. It publishes the interviews as written case studies, a newsletter and videos on its YouTube channel.^{Source [1]}^{Source [3]}^{Source [2]}

Its audience is early-stage and bootstrapped founders. HubSpot described the audience as people deciding which tools to build their businesses on, and reported more than 4,500 case studies and 100 million content views a year at the time of the acquisition.^{Source [4]}^{Source [5]}

The business has earned money from newsletter and website sponsorships, a paid premium membership, affiliate links and, more recently, higher-priced programs such as its AI app-building accelerator, Starter Story Build.^{Source [3]}^{Source [6]}^{Source [7]}

HubSpot Media, which also owns The Hustle and Mindstream, bought Starter Story in February 2026. Founder Pat Walls, COO Sam Walls and producer Gus Tiffer joined HubSpot's in-house media team with the business.^{Source [2]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [8]}

What happened

Pat Walls launched Starter Story in October 2017 as a side project interviewing founders about how they built their businesses. It grew through Reddit, SEO and YouTube into a profitable media business with paid memberships and courses. HubSpot Media acquired it in February 2026 for undisclosed terms, and it continues to operate under HubSpot.^{Source [9]}^{Source [3]}^{Source [2]}^{Source [1]}

Timeline

2026-02HubSpot Media announced its acquisition of Starter Story; terms were not disclosed.^{Source [2]}^{Source [10]}^{Source [4]}
2022-09Reported $74,000 in monthly revenue and over 1.5 million website visitors in the month (self-reported).^{Source [3]}
2022-05Signed three large advertisers totaling $23,000 a month in recurring ad revenue (self-reported).^{Source [11]}
2020Founder went full time on Starter Story, shut down other projects and shifted growth to SEO.^{Source [12]}^{Source [3]}
2020-05Revenue about $9,000 a month, per Failory podcast.^{Source [13]}
2018-10Reached about $3,000 a month in revenue (self-reported).^{Source [14]}
2017-12Narrowed its focus to e-commerce founders after its first month, with 1,200 sessions and 27 subscribers.^{Source [9]}
2017-10Website launched as a side project.^{Source [9]}^{Source [14]}

Products and brands

Founder case studies: Written interviews and breakdowns of how businesses were started and grown, with revenue figures.^{Source [1]}^{Source [4]}
Starter Story newsletter: Email newsletter of business ideas and case studies; 275,000 subscribers per Adweek (Feb 2026).^{Source [2]}
Starter Story YouTube channel: Video interviews with founders; more than 800,000 subscribers per Adweek (Feb 2026).^{Source [2]}
Starter Story Premium: Paid membership with unlimited case studies and databases such as business ideas.^{Source [3]}
Starter Story Build: Accelerator sprints teaching members to build and launch apps with AI tools.^{Source [7]}

How it makes money: As of September 2022 the founder reported revenue of about 57% advertising and sponsorships, 38% premium memberships and 5% affiliate commissions. By 2026 it had shifted toward higher-priced products and boot camps.^{Source [3]}^{Source [6]}

Leadership

Pat Walls	Founder^{Source [2]}^{Source [1]}	Since 2017
Sam Walls	COO^{Source [2]}^{Source [8]}

Funding and financials

Annual revenue: Seven figures and profitable, per founder to Adweek (February 2026)^{Source [2]}
Annual revenue (estimate): About $1.1 million, Starter Story's own estimate from public sources (December 2024)^{Source [5]}
Annual revenue: $1 million a year, self-reported on founder's blog (August 2023)^{Source [14]}
Monthly revenue: $74,000 for September 2022, self-reported on founder's blog^{Source [3]}
Monthly revenue: About $9,000 a month, per Failory podcast (May 2020)^{Source [13]}

People on Founded, and where they went next

1 person on record, connected to 1 other company.

Person	Here	Also built
Pat Walls	Founder2017 to now	Delite2016Shut down

Sources

About Us, Starter Story. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
HubSpot Acquires YouTube-Based Media Brand Starter Story, Adweek, 2026-02-23. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Half A Decade, patwalls.com (Pat Walls), 2022-10-05. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
What We're Building with Starter Story, HubSpot, 2026-02-24. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
How Pat Walls Built Starter Story to $1.1M/Year and 1.6M Monthly Visitors, Starter Story, 2024-12-13. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
How Starter Story grew from a side project into a multi-million dollar media business (and why HubSpot bought it), Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, 2026-03-10. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Starter Story Build: With AI, you can build anything, Starter Story. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
HubSpot acquires Starter Story to expand creator-led media, ContentGrip, 2026-02-25. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Starter Story's 1 Month Anniversary!, Starter Story, 2017-12-01. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Pat Walls on X: Starter Story is being acquired by HubSpot, X (Pat Walls), 2026-02-23. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Pat Walls blog (Updates, May 4, 2022 and other posts), patwalls.com (Pat Walls). Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Think Week, patwalls.com (Pat Walls), 2023-12-06. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Turning a Side Hustle into a $9k/mo Business, with Pat Walls, Failory Podcast, 2020-05-18. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
How I built a $1M business on 2 hours a day, patwalls.com (Pat Walls), 2023-08-04. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

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