Zebra Embassy · HubSpot Onboarding

Complete CRM setup and team workflow implementation for a venture capital firm managing portfolio companies, investor relationships, and deal pipelines.

What was built

HubSpot Project Setup: Configured the HubSpot Projects object (a semi-custom CRM feature) to track Zebra's portfolio companies with properties for:

• Company name, stage, funding status, team leads
• VC segments (focus area categorization)
• Viewing rights (which team members/investors see which projects)
• Key milestones and timeline tracking

VC Relationship Database: Created a contacts database for investors, VCs, and strategic partners with:

• Relationship tracking (when they met, deal interest, portfolio overlap)
• Segment assignment (which focus areas they specialize in)
• Communication history and engagement tracking
• Portfolio company relationships (which VCs are watching which companies)

Multi-View Dashboards: Built custom HubSpot views and saved filters:

• "Segment" view for the investment lead — filter by investment focus area, see pipeline by segment
• "Team Workload" view for the operations lead — dashboard showing projects assigned to each team member, workload balancing
• "VC tracking" view — investor engagement across portfolio, see which VCs are active this quarter

Task Automation: Set up HubSpot task workflows:

• Automatic task creation when projects reach key milestones (pitch prep, investor meeting, funding close)
• Manual "Action" trigger for team members to create reminders and follow-ups
• Task templates for standard project workflows (onboarding, first check-in, monthly review)
• Deadline automation tied to project stage transitions

Email-to-Project Linking: Implemented a sophisticated workaround for HubSpot's limitation (native email-to-project linking doesn't exist):

• Labels-to-properties workflow: emails tagged with project names trigger automation
• Make.com scenario converts labels into project associations in HubSpot
• Alternative HTTP API approach to attach emails to project records
• Email threading ensures conversation history stays with the project

Database Integration via Make.com: Built proof-of-concept (PoC) for pulling live data from external databases:

• PostgreSQL connection to pull current portfolio data (company metrics, funding round status)
• MySQL database for historical investor relationships and deal history
• Scheduled Make.com scenarios sync database updates into HubSpot custom fields
• Field mapping translates database schema to HubSpot property names
• Error handling and logging for sync failures

Data Migration from Attio: Transferred all portfolio companies and investor relationships from previous CRM (Attio) to HubSpot:

• Property mapping between systems (Attio fields → HubSpot properties)
• Data cleanup and deduplication
• Historical data preserved for reporting
• Investor list import with relationship history intact

Team Collaboration Features:

• Weekly status links for team check-ins
• Workload reports showing projects per team member
• Segment-based dashboards for portfolio review
• Integration with reminder and task management