Business Development Strategies: Lessons from Airbnb, HubSpot, Duolingo

HubSpot could’ve scaled the traditional way: bigger sales team, bigger budget. But they thought smarter. They asked a critical question: who already has the trust of our ideal customers?

The answer: marketing agencies.

Instead of viewing them as competitors, HubSpot turned them into collaborators. Through the HubSpot Partner Program, they offered training, certifications, co-marketing resources, and ongoing support. Agencies became high-performing resellers of Hubspot’s product.

What started as an alternative sales channel, turned into a thriving growth ecosystem. Thousands of agencies began implementing and evangelizing HubSpot, unlocking massive distribution without adding proportional overhead costs.

This was genius business development in action, comprising:

• Identifying the agency channel
  
  
• Creating value for both sides
  
  
• Building long-term relationships
  
  
• Supporting partners as if they were internal teams
  
  

The result? A community that not only sold HubSpot, but shaped its evolution. That’s the impact of business development done right.

The takeaway:
Think beyond direct selling. Who already works with your audience? How can you empower them to help you grow instead?

Duolingo could’ve stuck with language learning. But they saw a much bigger opportunity: the high-stakes, outdated world of English language certification.

Traditional tests like TOEFL were expensive, time-consuming, and designed for a pre-digital era. Duolingo created a more accessible, online-first alternative: the Duolingo English Test (DET).

But innovation alone wasn’t enough. They needed recognition and adoption - especially from universities, immigration systems, and employers. And this is where business development stepped in

The Duolingo team built relationships with admissions departments, education boards, and academic advisors. They didn’t just pitch a product , they presented a better experience for both schools and students. They offered seamless onboarding, compelling data, demos, and a powerful  brand narrative around access and inclusion.

The result? The DET is now accepted by thousands of universities worldwide. Duolingo turned a product innovation into a movement by securing recognition from gatekeepers.

👉 Takeaway: Innovation needs distribution. Ask yourself: who must believe in our product for it to succeed?

In the early days, Airbnb faced a huge problem: nobody knew who they were. They didn’t have a strong brand or paid traffic. But they knew where people were looking for accommodation: Craigslist.

So they built a tool to automatically cross-post Airbnb listings to Craigslist. This brought in traffic, visibility, and — most importantly — users. It gave Airbnb a stream of early adopters without any formal partnership or media budget spend.

This wasn’t just a growth hack. It was a Business Development decision that revolved around:

• Identifying a high-intent audience
  
  
• Engineering a path into an existing ecosystem
  
  
• Prioritizing distribution long before having an established brand

The result? This scrappy move gave Airbnb its first wave of adopters—fueling growth long before mainstream awareness. It was a bold, resourceful, and highly strategic move —a perfect example of how Business Development helps companies create leverage when they have none.

The takeaway: Sometimes Business Development means building sideways. What platforms already hosts your future users? Can you meet them exactly where they’re at? 

Looking across HubSpot, Duolingo, and Airbnb, a few patterns emerge:

• Leverage ecosystems: Whether agencies, universities, or existing platforms, growth often comes from plugging into what already exists.

• Build mutual value: Sustainable business development isn’t extraction—it’s collaboration. Every stakeholder needs to benefit.

• Prioritize distribution early: The best products fail without adoption. Strategy connects product innovation to market recognition.

In all these cases, these companies  went beyond conventional tactics. They challenged assumptions, spotted untapped opportunities, and made strategic moves that redefined how they grew and competed. Their success wasn’t about flawless execution, but about playing the game differently and building systems no other thought of.

Business development isn’t just for founders or execs. Whether you’re a marketer, strategist, or product manager, thinking like a business developer makes you more effective.

• Ask different questions: Who already influences my audience? What overlooked channels exist?

• Spot leverage, not just effort: Where can one partnership replace months of cold outreach?

• Think long-term: Great BD strategies scale because they build systems, not just campaigns.