How to Create a Business Requirements Document the HubSpot Way

A well-structured business requirements document can keep your marketing and sales projects on track, and the popular template shared by HubSpot is a great model to follow. In this guide, you will learn how to build a clear, usable BRD that aligns stakeholders, reduces scope creep, and sets realistic expectations for any project.

This article adapts the structure and best practices outlined in the original HubSpot business requirements document guide and turns them into a step-by-step process you can reuse for your own initiatives.

What Is a Business Requirements Document?

A business requirements document (BRD) is a formal description of what a project must achieve from the business point of view. It explains the problem, the goals, and the requirements that must be met before the work can be considered successful.

The BRD is usually written before technical or functional specifications. It gives leadership, stakeholders, and contributors a single source of truth they can review and approve.

Why Follow the HubSpot-Style BRD Structure?

The structure popularized by HubSpot is widely used because it is simple, repeatable, and friendly for non-technical stakeholders. It brings together strategy, scope, and success metrics in a way that anyone can understand.

Key benefits of this structure include:

• Clear alignment on business goals and value
• Documented scope, assumptions, and constraints
• Shared understanding of stakeholders and approvals
• Simple way to track progress against requirements

Using a repeatable BRD format also helps teams standardize how they prepare for new projects, whether they manage them in spreadsheets, documents, or tools inspired by HubSpot and other project platforms.

HubSpot BRD Template: Core Sections

The original guide from HubSpot on business requirements documents walks through a complete template. Below is a simplified breakdown of the main sections and what to include in each.

1. Project Overview

Start with a brief summary that answers four basic questions:

• What problem are you solving?
• Why does it matter now?
• Who is affected by the problem?
• What will success look like at a high level?

Keep this section short and non-technical. It should help any reader quickly understand what the project is about and why it exists.

2. Business Objectives

The next section explains how the project supports company or team goals. The HubSpot-style approach focuses on measurable outcomes, not just activities.

Examples of strong objectives include:

• Increase qualified leads from the website by 20% in the next 12 months
• Reduce average response time to inbound tickets by 30%
• Improve onboarding completion rate from 60% to 85%

Whenever possible, tie each objective to a company KPI or strategic initiative.

3. Project Scope

Scope defines what the project will and will not do. This is where many teams struggle, so clarity matters.

Use two short lists:

• In scope: Specific features, teams, regions, or channels that are part of the work
• Out of scope: Items that are explicitly excluded from this project

Following the HubSpot template idea, make scope easy to scan so stakeholders can quickly confirm whether their expectations match what is planned.

4. Stakeholders and Roles

Next, list the people and groups who are involved in or impacted by the project. For each, clarify their role.

A common structure is:

• Project sponsor: Executive or director accountable for outcomes
• Project owner: Person responsible for day-to-day management
• Contributors: People doing the work (design, marketing, sales, ops, etc.)
• Reviewers/approvers: Stakeholders who must sign off at key stages

This section helps avoid confusion later about who can make which decisions.

5. Detailed Business Requirements

This is the heart of the BRD. Here you describe what the solution must do from a business standpoint. The HubSpot-inspired model recommends keeping each requirement clear, testable, and mapped to objectives.

For each requirement, capture:

• ID: Unique number or code (BR-01, BR-02, etc.)
• Description: Simple statement of what must be true
• Priority: Must-have, should-have, or nice-to-have
• Owner: Person or team responsible
• Success criteria: How you know it is done and working

Example requirement statements:

• BR-01: The marketing team can attribute new leads to campaigns across paid, email, and social channels.
• BR-02: Sales reps can view a unified timeline of customer interactions before a call.

Keep the language focused on business needs rather than technical implementation details.

6. Assumptions, Constraints, and Dependencies

Every project has conditions that could affect delivery. The HubSpot BRD structure calls them out explicitly so they are not forgotten.

• Assumptions: Things you believe to be true (for example, budget will be approved by Q3).
• Constraints: Limitations you must respect (for example, fixed launch date, regulatory rules, systems that cannot be changed).
• Dependencies: Work or decisions that must happen first or in parallel (for example, another system must be integrated before go-live).

Listing these items early gives leadership a realistic view of risk.

7. Timeline and Milestones

Summarize the key phases of the project, approximate dates, and what must be delivered at each milestone.

A simple structure could be:

1. Discovery and requirements validation
2. Design and solution definition
3. Build and configuration
4. Testing and user acceptance
5. Launch and post-launch review

You do not need a full project plan inside the BRD, but you should show the big moments and when sign-off is expected.

8. Success Metrics and Reporting

The final section explains how you will measure success. In the HubSpot example, the BRD encourages connecting each requirement to one or more metrics.

Define:

• Primary KPIs: Main metrics that show business impact
• Secondary KPIs: Supporting indicators (engagement, usage, satisfaction)
• Measurement cadence: How often you will report results
• Data sources: Where metrics will come from (analytics tools, CRM, surveys, etc.)

This keeps everyone focused on outcomes instead of just deliverables.

Step-by-Step: Building Your Own HubSpot-Style BRD

Use these steps to assemble your document using the structure above.

1. Interview stakeholders. Gather input from leadership, end users, and operations teams to understand the problem and goals.
2. Draft the project overview. Write a short, clear summary first to build alignment.
3. Define objectives and metrics. Tie each objective to measurable outcomes and company KPIs.
4. Outline scope. Collaborate with stakeholders to list what is in and out of scope.
5. List stakeholders and roles. Assign ownership and approval rights early.
6. Write detailed requirements. Use IDs, priorities, and success criteria for each requirement.
7. Document assumptions and constraints. Validate these with leadership or sponsors.
8. Map milestones. Add high-level dates and decision points.
9. Review and refine. Circulate the draft BRD, capture feedback, and update before final approval.

Tips for Managing and Improving Your BRD

Once your BRD is approved, treat it as a living document. Update it when priorities change, and ensure that any revision is clearly versioned and shared with the team.

Additional tips inspired by the HubSpot approach include:

• Keep language simple and free of jargon.
• Use bullet points, tables, and short sections for readability.
• Add links to supporting data, research, and user feedback.
• Summarize changes at the top when you update the document.

If you want help organizing BRDs, workflows, or CRM projects, you can also work with a consulting partner such as Consultevo to standardize your documentation and governance processes.

Putting the HubSpot BRD Model into Practice

A consistent BRD format gives your team a reliable starting point every time a new initiative is proposed. By following the structure popularized by HubSpot, you make it easier for non-technical stakeholders to participate, reduce misunderstandings, and focus your team on measurable outcomes.

Use the sections in this guide as a checklist. Each time you start a new project, copy the structure, fill in the key details, and confirm that everyone has reviewed and agreed to the requirements before work begins.

Over time, your organization can adapt this template to match your processes and tools, but the core idea will remain the same: a clear business requirements document that connects strategy, scope, and success metrics in one accessible place.

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