Here’s the pitch deck that secured $1.5 million from Hubspot

Upsolve AI just won HubSpot’s Million Dollar Pitch competition in Boston. Well, $1.5 million in Aussie dollars. We have exclusive access to the company’s pitch deck — and we’re giving it to you.

This is the second year of the Million Dollar Pitch, which is run by HubSpot for Startups and HubSpot Ventures. Over 1000 startups entered this year, with six finalists being flown to Boston to pitch to the judges (and a massive crowd) for three minutes.

The winner gets US$1 million, as well as $25,000 in AWS credits. The finalists also get $5,000 in AWS credits.

Upsolve AI takes home the million

This year the winner was Upsolve AI, which utilises AI agents to provide customer-facing analytics as a service.

And because I’m not humble at all, I’m happy to admit I picked this winner. Not only was the pitch great, AI Agents are having a huge moment on both the east and west coasts of the US this week. I’ll have more on that in my Neural Notes column this week.

When asked what the win meant to Upsolve AI, the co-founder said it was validation for the business idea.

“Fun fact, my co-founder used to intern at HubSpot 10 years ago, and a lot of our product inspiration comes from the HubSpot reporting features… I think any kind of SaaS company should have the same features,” Ka Ling Wu, co-founder and CEO of Upsolve AI, said to SmartCompany.

“So really, this combination is a massive validation of our idea. So really thankful about the opportunity.”

When it comes to using the funds, the first plan is to hire talent to support the product itself.

“We’re a product-first company. We care a lot about our product, so we’ll probably be using the funds to get great engineers to help us build a first-class product,” Wu said.

Wu also had advice for other startups looking to get investment.

“Be bold. Be brave. Have confidence. It’s always about trying — even if rejection happens,” Wu said.

“When we were in NYC raising money, for example, we got many ‘nos’ as well. It’s always just about finding the yes.”

Brandon Greer, head of HubSpot Ventures and one of the competition judges, said Upsolve offers a great value proposition by making customer-facing analytics dashboards accessible.

“Their mission is focused on customer value, and their approach aligns closely with HubSpot’s own product philosophy: out-of-the-box, simple, yet powerful,” Greer said to SmartCompany.

“This is especially crucial for small and medium businesses that need tools tailored to their needs without requiring complex training or hired professionals.”

Can I have the million dollar pitch deck, pretty please?

Absolutely! This is a great opportunity for any startup that wants to improve their pitching, or maybe even enter SmartCompany’s own Pitch competition.

Enjoy!

The author travelled to Inbound in Boston as a guest of HubSpot.