Six years ago, we moved our website from WordPress to HubSpot. Today, we've got four themes in the marketplace and hundreds of happy customers. Here's what we figured out along the way.
When we first moved ATAK's website to HubSpot Content Hub back in 2018, I thought it would be straightforward. We were already using Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, so why not keep everything in one ecosystem?
Turns out, building a professional B2B website on HubSpot wasn't as simple as I expected. The themes available were either too generic, too slow, or required a developer every time we wanted to change something basic.
Sound familiar?
After dealing with these frustrations ourselves and watching our clients struggle with the same issues, we decided to build our own HubSpot themes. Fast-forward to today: We've launched four themes (Agile, Tenacious, Kind, and Accountable) and six standalone modules in the HubSpot Marketplace, and they're consistently getting great reviews.
But this isn't really about our success story. It's about what we learned building HubSpot themes that B2B companies actually want to use.
Why Most HubSpot Themes Miss the Mark
Before we built our first theme, I spent weeks researching what was already in the HubSpot marketplace. What I found wasn't great:
The beautiful themes were slow. They looked amazing in the demo but failed Core Web Vitals testing. Good luck ranking on Google with a theme that takes 4 seconds to load.
The fast themes were basic. Sure, they loaded quickly, but they looked like they were built in 2015. Not exactly the impression most B2B companies want to make.
Everything required a developer. Want to change your homepage layout? Call your developer. Need to adjust a form? Call the developer again. This was a nightmare for companies running lean marketing teams.
WordPress and Shopify had figured this out years ago—tons of flexible, industry-specific themes that marketers could actually use. But HubSpot's marketplace was still pretty sparse, especially for specific industries.
That's when it clicked. There was a real opportunity here.
Our First Theme: Agile (And What It Taught Us)
We started with Agile because most of our clients are professional services companies. We knew their pain points, understood what they needed, and figured we'd have the best shot at getting it right.
I'll be honest—the learning curve was steep. We'd built plenty of HubSpot websites for clients, but going through the marketplace submission process was different. HubSpot's quality assurance team doesn't mess around. They caught things we'd looked at ten times and missed.
But that's actually a good thing. It meant our theme would meet HubSpot's standards, not just ours.
Here's how we approached the development:
Research first. We bought and tested every theme that looked remotely professional. Made lists of what worked, what didn't, and what was missing entirely.
Design in sprints. Instead of designing everything upfront, we'd design a few page templates, build them out, test them, then move to the next batch. Way more efficient than the traditional waterfall approach.
Variations everywhere. This was our secret weapon. Instead of one hero section design, we built 25-30 variations. Same module, completely different looks. Clients could get exactly what they wanted without custom development.
The result? A theme that gave users unprecedented flexibility while still being fast and SEO-friendly.
The Technical Challenge: Speed vs. Features
Here's something most people don't realize about HubSpot: it loads more scripts than WordPress or Shopify. That's because you get all these built-in features—forms, CTAs, analytics, chatbots—but it also means your Core Web Vitals can take a hit.
"There's always that balance of wanting to provide as much as you can while also coding lean enough that sites pass Core Web Vitals," I explained to someone recently. "Without that, you're starting off in a losing battle from an SEO perspective."
This became our core philosophy. Every feature we added had to justify its impact on page speed. We built themes that were modular—you could turn off what you didn't need—and we obsessively tested performance.
It's not easy, but it's necessary. A beautiful website that loads slowly helps nobody.
Why We Built Four Different HubSpot Themes
After Agile launched and started getting good reviews, we faced a choice: build more generic themes or explore industry-specific solutions more deeply.
We went industry-specific. Here's why:
- Agile: Professional services (lawyers, consultants, agencies)
- Tenacious: Financial services and fintech
- Kind: Nonprofits and healthcare organizations
- Accountable: Medical spas and wellness brands
The smart part? They all share the same core technology. "The nice thing is it's very easy to make changes and release updates across the marketplace without having to do that on a custom one-by-one basis," I noted. "We have our core designs, but the technology is very similar."
So we get industry-specific aesthetics that clients love, but we don't have to maintain four completely different codebases.
What Makes a HubSpot Theme Successful
After launching four themes and watching hundreds of installations, we've figured out what separates themes that succeed from themes that collect dust:
1. No-Code Flexibility is Everything
Most HubSpot customers don't have a full-time developer. "A good chunk of companies using Content Hub run lean internally—they don't often have a developer," I've observed. "So there's always that balance between providing the features someone might want while making them as user-friendly as possible."
Our themes let marketing teams:
- Drag and drop components without breaking anything
- Toggle features on and off with simple switches
- Pick from dozens of module variations
- Build new pages using proven templates
- Change colors, fonts, and branding globally
2. Performance Can't Be an Afterthought
We test every theme extensively for Core Web Vitals compliance. "We care about this immensely internally," I always tell our team. "Without passing Core Web Vitals, you're starting off in a losing battle for SEO."
This means rejecting features that look cool but slow down the site. It also means optimizing images, minimizing scripts, and testing on real devices.
3. Support and Documentation Matter More Than Features
Unlike many marketplace themes that leave you guessing, we provide detailed setup guides, module-by-module documentation, and actual human support. We reach out to every customer—even if they don't need help—just to make sure they're getting value.
Because here's the thing: marketplace reviews are a ranking factor in HubSpot's algorithm. Good support leads to good reviews, which leads to more visibility.
4. Integration with HubSpot's Branding Kit
This one bit us early. We built some beautiful page templates, but when users tried to change fonts or colors globally through HubSpot's branding kit, nothing happened. They had to go page by page, updating everything manually.
All our themes tie fonts, colors, and design elements back to HubSpot's global branding kit. Change your brand colors once, and everything updates automatically.
Common Mistakes We See (And Made Ourselves)
Building for the HubSpot marketplace taught us a lot about what doesn't work:
Complex form integration. Some themes require you to copy form IDs and paste them into modules. That's not user-friendly. Our themes let you select forms by name from a dropdown.
Ignoring mobile performance. A theme might look great on desktop but completely break on mobile. We test on actual devices, not just browser developer tools.
Overcomplicating navigation. Making it hard for users to add pages to their menu or modify their site structure is a fast way to frustrate customers.
Forgetting about HubSpot's evolution. HubSpot releases hundreds of product updates every year. Themes that don't stay current get left behind.
How HubSpot Content Hub Changed Everything
What excites me most isn't just our theme success—it's watching HubSpot Content Hub evolve. "It's just night and day different from the product that was available a year ago," I recently told a client. "When a company asks us 'Can Content Hub do this?' 99 out of 100 times, we're going to say yes."
Recent improvements that make our themes even more valuable:
AI integration everywhere. Content Remix can generate entire landing pages that work perfectly with our themes.
HubDB functionality. You can now build searchable product databases right in HubSpot. We're incorporating this into our newer modules.
Better membership features. Gated content and member portals are moving down to Pro level, opening up new possibilities.
Multi-step forms. These were a game-changer for lead generation, and our themes support them natively.
The Business Impact: Beyond Pretty Websites
Building HubSpot themes didn't just create a new revenue stream for ATAK—it transformed our entire business model. Today, 75% of our marketing clients use HubSpot, and we build more websites on Content Hub than any other platform.
But the real value for our clients isn't aesthetic. It's strategic:
Faster launches. Instead of starting from scratch, clients can launch professional websites in weeks, not months.
Team independence. Marketing teams can update content, add pages, and modify layouts without waiting for developer availability.
Better SEO results. Our themes are built for performance, so clients start with a solid technical SEO foundation.
Ecosystem integration. Everything connects—website forms feed the CRM, blog posts support email campaigns, landing pages integrate with ad campaigns.
What's Next for HubSpot Themes
We're working on lighter, more affordable versions of our themes for smaller companies. The full Agile theme is $895, which makes sense for established B2B companies but might be too much for startups.
We're also building more standalone modules. Sometimes companies already have a theme they like—they just need one specific functionality that doesn't exist yet.
However, the bigger picture is about HubSpot's ecosystem. HubSpot's flexibility is honestly what excites me most when people ask about the future. We can do so much now that we couldn't in the past—membership portals, product catalogs, custom API integrations, and AI-powered content generation.
Key Takeaways for B2B Companies Choosing HubSpot Themes
If you're evaluating HubSpot themes right now, here's what our experience taught us:
Performance matters more than pretty. A beautiful site that loads slowly won't help your business. Look for themes that prioritize Core Web Vitals.
Plan for team independence. Choose a theme your marketing team can use without constant developer support.
Consider the total cost of ownership. A more expensive theme that reduces ongoing development costs often saves money in the long term.
Support and documentation are crucial. You want a theme provider who's there when you need help, not just during the sales process.
Think ecosystem-wide. The best themes integrate seamlessly with your broader HubSpot strategy—forms, workflows, email campaigns, everything.
Building Themes That Solve Problems
Today, our four HubSpot themes—Agile, Tenacious, Kind, and Accountable—represent something bigger than design templates. They represent our belief that B2B websites should be powerful enough for enterprise needs, flexible enough for marketing teams to manage, and fast enough to support serious SEO goals.
HubSpot keeps evolving Content Hub with AI features, better database functionality, and improved performance tools. That makes themes like ours more valuable over time, not less. We're not just selling templates—we're providing growth platforms that scale with ambitious companies.
For businesses ready to move beyond generic themes and WordPress limitations, the HubSpot marketplace now offers real solutions built by teams who understand both the technical requirements and the business challenges.
The question isn't whether you need a better theme. The question is whether you're ready to see what's possible when your website actually supports your growth goals instead of limiting them.
