How Hootsuite Grew From Agency Tool to $350 Million Revenue: Irina Novoselsky's Gen Z Playbook for B2B SaaS Success

This article was written and sourced from Irina’s keynote presentation at Founderpath’s last event. The images embedded below are from her slide deck. Her keynote recording is here.

When Hootsuite CEO Irina Novoselsky took the helm in January 2023, she faced a monumental challenge: re-accelerate growth for a 15-year-old social media management platform that had stalled. Within 18 months, she transformed their enterprise core business from 8% growth to 22% growth, driving the company toward $350 million in annual revenue by September 2024. But the real story isn’t just about turnaround metrics – it’s about discovering a seismic shift in B2B buying behavior that every SaaS company needs to understand.

In her September 2024 keynote at SaaSOpen, Novoselsky revealed groundbreaking research from interviewing 519 Gen Z professionals that fundamentally challenges everything we know about B2B sales. Her findings? By 2025, 75% of all B2B buyers will be either Millennials or Gen Z, and they’re completely rewriting the rules of enterprise software purchasing. This new generation doesn’t answer cold calls, they consume 13 pieces of content before talking to sales, and 60% of their buying decision is made before they ever engage with a human.

The Playbook: 7 Lessons from Hootsuite’s Journey to $350 Million Revenue

1. The Agency-to-SaaS Model Works: Like many successful software companies, Hootsuite began developing in 2008 through Ryan Holmes’ agency, Invoke Media. This origin story provided immediate product-market fit – they built exactly what they needed for their own clients, then productized it for thousands of similar agencies.

2. Rapid Re-acceleration is Possible: Novoselsky proved that even mature SaaS companies can reignite growth. Her focused execution approach transformed enterprise growth from 8% to 22% in under 12 months – without massive headcount additions or budget increases.

3. Gen Z Buyers Demand Self-Service: Traditional demos are dead. 60% of the B2B buying process now happens before any sales interaction. Companies must provide self-guided product experiences, just like Monday.com’s revolutionary demo process that requires zero human interaction.

4. Social Selling Beats Cold Outreach: 77% of buyers are more likely to purchase from a company whose leadership team is active on social media. CEOs and executives must build personal brands on LinkedIn – it’s no longer optional.

5. Content Quantity Matters: Gen Z buyers consume an average of 13 pieces of content before engaging with sales. Companies need comprehensive content strategies across Reddit, peer review sites, and social platforms – not just their own website.

6. Ditch the Push Model: Stop the endless cold outreach cycles. Gen Z has 50% lower response rates to cold emails. Instead, focus on being discoverable when they’re ready to buy on their terms.

7. Inbound Dominates at Scale: 95% of Hootsuite’s business comes inbound – they have no outbound sales force despite approaching $400 million in revenue. This isn’t luck; it’s the result of understanding how modern buyers actually purchase software.

2008: Ryan Holmes Builds Dashboard at Digital Agency to Manage Multiple Social Accounts

The Hootsuite story began not in a garage or dorm room, but inside a bustling Vancouver digital agency. Ryan Holmes was the head of Invoke Media, a digital services agency. His firm maintained many different social media accounts, and desired a way to manage them all. He decided the best path forward would be to create a solution of his own.

Holmes, along with Dario Meli, David Tedman, and the Invoke team, chose to develop a platform that would be able to organize their many social media accounts and networks. The first version launched on November 28, 2008, as a Twitter dashboard called BrightKit. Within months, the tool had over 100,000 users – clear validation that thousands of other agencies and businesses faced the same problem.

The rapid adoption proved a critical lesson: the best SaaS products often emerge from solving your own painful problems first. By February 2009, Holmes ran a $500 contest to rename the platform, with the winning entry “Hootsuite” cleverly combining the French “tout de suite” (right now) with their owl mascot.

2009-2013: Hootsuite Raises $165 Million, Becomes Canada’s Largest Software Funding

In 2009, Holmes raised an initial round of Series A funding of $1.9 million for Hootsuite and spun it off as an independent company. The timing was perfect – Twitter was exploding, Facebook Pages were gaining traction, and businesses desperately needed tools to manage their social presence.

Growth came fast. By 2012, Holmes raised another round of funding for Hootsuite in the amount of $20 million from Canada-based VC Omers Ventures. But the real validation came in August 2013: Holmes announced Hootsuite had secured $165 million in a Series B round of funding, the largest ever for a Canadian software company.

The massive funding round valued Hootsuite at over $1 billion, making it Canada’s newest unicorn. The company used the capital to acquire competitors like Seesmic, expand internationally, and build enterprise features that would attract Fortune 500 clients.

2017-2022: Revenue Plateaus at $150 Million as Traditional Sales Model Stops Working

From 2017 to 2019, Hootsuite held its revenue stable at US$150 million, thus indicating a period of above-normal income without lackluster results. Despite having 16-18 million users and being the market leader, growth had stalled. The company went through multiple rounds of layoffs and leadership changes, including CEO transitions.

The traditional B2B SaaS playbook – hire more SDRs, increase marketing spend, push harder on outbound – wasn’t delivering results. Sales cycles were lengthening, CAC was rising, and productivity per rep was declining. Something fundamental had shifted in the market, but nobody could pinpoint exactly what.

This stagnation period would ultimately set the stage for Novoselsky’s arrival and her revolutionary discoveries about how B2B buying had fundamentally changed.

January 2023: Irina Novoselsky Arrives as CEO with Turnaround Mandate

Irina Novoselsky was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in January 2023, bringing nearly two decades of experience in business, financial services, and technology. Before joining Hootsuite, Irina held the role of Chief Executive Officer at global talent acquisition and SaaS company CareerBuilder, where she successfully led the company through significant transformation.

Novoselsky brought a unique perspective shaped by her background as a Ukrainian refugee who arrived in America as a child. Her self-described “part spy, part anthropologist” approach would prove instrumental in uncovering the hidden dynamics killing traditional B2B sales.

She started with her standard turnaround playbook: focused execution, operational excellence, and customer-first thinking. But as she dug deeper into why sales productivity was declining industry-wide, she discovered something much bigger than a Hootsuite-specific problem.

2024: Hootsuite Hits $350 Million Revenue After Cracking the Gen Z Buying Code

Hootsuite’s revenue reached $350 million in 2024 – more than doubling compared to earlier revenue levels. This transformation didn’t come from hiring more salespeople or increasing ad spend. Instead, it came from completely reimagining how B2B software is sold to a new generation.

Novoselsky’s research with 519 Gen Z professionals revealed stunning insights:

• 62% of Gen Z employees are already involved in B2B buying decisions
• 65% of B2B searches now start on social media, not Google
• 60% of the buying process is complete before any sales interaction
• 50% consume at least 13 pieces of content before talking to sales
• Gen Z is 50% less likely to respond to any cold outreach

Armed with these insights, Hootsuite rebuilt their entire go-to-market strategy. They eliminated their outbound sales force, invested heavily in self-service demos, and focused on organic SEO and social presence. The results speak for themselves: 95% of their nearly $400 million business now comes inbound.

The Death of Demos: How Monday.com’s Self-Service Model Became the New Standard

One of Novoselsky’s most provocative insights centers on the “death of the demo” as we know it. Traditional product demos – where prospects fill out a form, wait for a rep to call, then sit through a scripted pitch – are antithetical to how Gen Z wants to buy software.

She points to Monday.com as the gold standard: their entire demo experience requires zero human interaction. Prospects can explore the product, test features, and make purchasing decisions entirely on their own timeline. This isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s becoming table stakes for selling to younger buyers.

Hootsuite is now “massively transforming” their entire customer journey to eliminate friction. Instead of forcing prospects to “request a demo,” they’re building self-guided experiences that let buyers maintain control throughout the process.

Social Selling Revolution: Why 78% of Social Sellers Outperform Their Peers

Perhaps no insight from Novoselsky’s research is more actionable than the power of executive social presence. She discovered that 78% of salespeople who leverage social media outsell their peers, and 77% of buyers are more likely to purchase from a company whose leadership team is active on social media.

This isn’t about posting motivational quotes on LinkedIn. It’s about executives building authentic personal brands that buyers can research and evaluate. Gen Z buyers are expert investigators – they’re checking out your leadership team’s social presence as part of their 13-piece content journey.

Novoselsky herself exemplifies this approach. Since joining Hootsuite, she’s built a significant LinkedIn following by sharing insights about B2B transformation and the future of work. This executive visibility directly contributes to Hootsuite’s 95% inbound pipeline.

The Bottom Line: Adapt to Gen Z or Watch Your SaaS Business Die

Irina Novoselsky’s transformation of Hootsuite from a stagnant $150 million business to a $350 million growth story offers a masterclass in SaaS evolution. By recognizing that traditional B2B sales tactics were failing with younger buyers, she completely reimagined Hootsuite’s go-to-market strategy.

The implications for every SaaS company are clear: the old playbook of aggressive outbound, forced demos, and push-based selling is dead. Companies that cling to these tactics will see declining productivity, rising CAC, and lengthening sales cycles. Those that embrace self-service, content-driven, social-first strategies will capture the next generation of B2B buyers.

For founders and CEOs, Novoselsky’s message is urgent: you have a brief window to adapt before Gen Z becomes the dominant buying force. Start by auditing your current sales process – are you showing up in their research phase? Can buyers experience your product without talking to sales? Is your leadership team building credibility on social media?

The companies that answer these questions and adapt quickly will thrive. Those that don’t will join the growing graveyard of SaaS companies that failed to evolve. As Novoselsky warns: “Adapt or get ghosted – and they won’t even tell you why.”

To learn more about transforming your SaaS go-to-market strategy, watch Irina Novoselsky’s complete keynote presentation and discover how modern CEOs are building companies that resonate with the next generation of buyers.

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