Pat Walls

Founder of Starter Story, the entrepreneur case-study publication acquired by HubSpot Media in 2026^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}

Building in publicMediaSEOBootstrappingSoftware engineering

Unclaimed profileLast verified Oct 2, 2026

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About

Pat Walls is an American software engineer turned entrepreneur who founded Starter Story in 2017, a publication that interviews founders about how they started and grew their businesses, usually including revenue figures.^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [5]}

Before Starter Story he worked corporate and tech jobs, including roles connected to Deloitte and Anaplan, and was a software engineer in New York City. In October 2016 he and two friends built Delite, a B2B wholesale ordering tool, which they shut down after it failed to find a market.^{Source [6]}^{Source [7]}

He built Starter Story as a side project while employed full time, launching the site in late October 2017 and publishing monthly progress reports on its traffic and revenue. By his own account it reached about $3,000 a month by October 2018, and he later left his job to run it full time; in 2020 he shut down his other projects to focus on it.^{Source [8]}^{Source [9]}^{Source [10]}^{Source [5]}

Starter Story grew through Reddit, then SEO, then a YouTube channel, and added a paid membership and AI app-building programs. In February 2026 HubSpot Media acquired it for undisclosed terms; Adweek reported it had more than 800,000 YouTube subscribers, 275,000 newsletter subscribers and profitable seven-figure annual revenue, and that Walls continues to lead it with a three-person team.^{Source [5]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [11]}^{Source [12]}

Career

Delite

2016

Starter Story

2017 to now

Company	Years	Role	Status
Starter Story Founded Starter Story in 2017 as a side project and has run it since, including after its February 2026 acquisition by HubSpot Media.^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [13]} Launched the site in late October 2017 and published monthly public progress reports on sessions, subscribers and interviews.^{Source [8]}^{Source [5]} Reported $74,000 in revenue for September 2022, split roughly 57% advertising, 38% premium memberships and 5% affiliates (self-reported).^{Source [5]} Wrote the site's own software as its developer, building tools and automations so a small team could run it.^{Source [5]} Made his first key hire in 2020; by 2026 the team was Walls, COO Sam Walls and producer Gus Tiffer, who all joined HubSpot's in-house media team in the sale.^{Source [5]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [14]} Sold the business to HubSpot Media, announced February 23, 2026, for undisclosed terms.^{Source [4]}^{Source [13]} Suggest a correction to Starter Story	2017 to now	Founder^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}	Acquired
Delite Co-founded Delite with two friends in October 2016, a SaaS tool for B2B wholesale orders, and shut it down after about six months of building and selling.^{Source [7]} Built the MVP in about two months while working a full-time job, then spent about four months on sales and features.^{Source [7]} Signed about 5 to 10 trial customers, mostly in pet products, through cold outreach and a trade show.^{Source [7]} Reached the video interview stage at Y Combinator but was not accepted; the founders decided to shut the company down around that time.^{Source [7]} Suggest a correction to Delite	2016	Co-founder^{Source [7]}	Shut down

Company

Years

Role

Status

Starter Story

Founded Starter Story in 2017 as a side project and has run it since, including after its February 2026 acquisition by HubSpot Media.^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [13]}

Launched the site in late October 2017 and published monthly public progress reports on sessions, subscribers and interviews.^{Source [8]}^{Source [5]}
Reported $74,000 in revenue for September 2022, split roughly 57% advertising, 38% premium memberships and 5% affiliates (self-reported).^{Source [5]}
Wrote the site's own software as its developer, building tools and automations so a small team could run it.^{Source [5]}
Made his first key hire in 2020; by 2026 the team was Walls, COO Sam Walls and producer Gus Tiffer, who all joined HubSpot's in-house media team in the sale.^{Source [5]}^{Source [4]}^{Source [14]}
Sold the business to HubSpot Media, announced February 23, 2026, for undisclosed terms.^{Source [4]}^{Source [13]}

Suggest a correction to Starter Story

2017 to now

Founder^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}

Acquired

Delite

Co-founded Delite with two friends in October 2016, a SaaS tool for B2B wholesale orders, and shut it down after about six months of building and selling.^{Source [7]}

Built the MVP in about two months while working a full-time job, then spent about four months on sales and features.^{Source [7]}
Signed about 5 to 10 trial customers, mostly in pet products, through cold outreach and a trade show.^{Source [7]}
Reached the video interview stage at Y Combinator but was not accepted; the founders decided to shut the company down around that time.^{Source [7]}

Suggest a correction to Delite

2016

Co-founder^{Source [7]}

Shut down

Milestones

2026-02Announced that HubSpot Media was acquiring Starter Story.^{Source [4]}^{Source [13]}
2024-12Starter Story published a breakdown of its own business, estimating revenue of about $1.1 million a year.^{Source [2]}
2023-08Wrote that Starter Story was making $1 million a year (self-reported).^{Source [9]}
2022-09Reported $74,000 in monthly revenue and more than 1.5 million monthly site visitors (self-reported).^{Source [5]}
2020-05Shut down his other projects after a cross-country drive to focus solely on Starter Story.^{Source [10]}
2020Shifted Starter Story's growth toward SEO and made the company's first full-time hire.^{Source [5]}
2018-10Starter Story reached about $3,000 a month, and he planned to quit his full-time job (self-reported).^{Source [9]}
2017-10Launched starterstory.com as a side project.^{Source [8]}^{Source [9]}
2016-10Co-founded Delite, a B2B wholesale ordering startup that later shut down.^{Source [7]}

Boards, investments and other roles

Organization	Role	Years
DeloitteOther	Employee (role not stated)^{Source [6]}
AnaplanOther	Employee (role not stated)^{Source [6]}

Education

University of California, Santa Barbara^{Source [2]}

Links

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Sources

Pat Walls (@thepatwalls) profile, X. 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.
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.
Turning a Side Hustle into a $9k/mo Business, with Pat Walls, Failory Podcast, 2020-05-18. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Delite: How and Why a B2B SaaS Platform Failed, Failory, 2018-03-17. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Starter Story's 1 Month Anniversary!, Starter Story, 2017-12-01. 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.
Think Week, patwalls.com (Pat Walls), 2023-12-06. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
What We're Building with Starter Story, HubSpot, 2026-02-24. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Starter Story Build: With AI, you can build anything, Starter Story. 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.
HubSpot acquires Starter Story to expand creator-led media, ContentGrip, 2026-02-25. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

History

Oct 2, 2026: Profile created from public sources (Founded editors)

Compiled by Founded editors from the cited public sources. Editorial policy / Request removal