Lesson 1 of 6 • 8 min read • Beginner

Companies & Accounts

The foundation of your Salesforce data. Learn why companies migrate first and what makes them so important.

The Foundation Story

Imagine building a house. You wouldn't start with the roof, right? You'd start with the foundation. In Salesforce, Accounts are your foundation. Everything else—contacts, deals, activities—connects to accounts.

That's why when you migrate from HubSpot to Salesforce, companies must come first. Without accounts in place, we'd have nowhere to put your contacts, deals, and activities.

What Are Companies & Accounts?

In HubSpot: Companies

Organizations in your database. Could be customers, prospects, partners, or competitors. Each company has properties like name, industry, size, and website.

In Salesforce: Accounts

The exact same concept! Accounts represent organizations. The name changes, but the purpose is identical. Your HubSpot companies become Salesforce accounts.

What Data Transfers?

When we transfer company data from HubSpot to Salesforce, everything comes along for the ride:

Company Name & Basic Info
Name, industry, company size, type, and description
Contact Information
Website URL, phone numbers, email addresses
Address Details
Street address, city, state, zip code, country
Custom Properties
Every custom field you created in HubSpot
Company Owner
Who owns this account in your sales team
Historical Data
Created date, last modified date, and all notes
Company Domain
Used for email tracking and website identification

Why Do Companies Migrate First?

The Parent-Child Relationship

Think of it like a family tree. Accounts are the parents. Everything else is a child:

  • Contacts work at accounts (people work at companies)
  • Opportunities are with accounts (deals are with companies)
  • Activities happen with accounts (calls and meetings are with companies)
  • Files attach to accounts (documents belong to companies)

You can't have children without parents first. If we tried to migrate a contact before their company, Salesforce wouldn't know where to put them. It's like trying to assign someone to a department that doesn't exist yet.

A Real Example

Let's say you have this company in HubSpot:

Company Name: Acme Corporation
Industry: Technology
Website: acme.com
Employees: 500
Owner: Sarah Johnson

After migration to Salesforce, you'll have:

Account Name: Acme Corporation
Industry: Technology
Website: acme.com
Number of Employees: 500
Account Owner: Sarah Johnson

Identical data, just in Salesforce now. And now all of Acme's contacts, deals, and activities can link to this account.

Key Takeaways

  • Companies are the foundation—they must migrate first
  • All company data transfers: name, industry, custom fields, owner, everything
  • HubSpot companies become Salesforce accounts (same concept, different name)
  • Everything else (contacts, deals, activities) links to accounts