Core Relationship Objects
The foundation: People and Organizations
Everything in HubSpot starts with relationships. The two core objects—Contact and Company—represent every person and every organization in your world. Master these, and you have the foundation for everything else.
Objects: The Foundation
An object in HubSpot is a type of record that stores information. Each object has:
Properties
Fields that hold data (name, email, amount, etc.)
Records
Individual instances (a specific contact, company, etc.)
Associations
Relationships to other objects
Activities
Interactions logged to the record's timeline
HubSpot has two core relationship objects that form the foundation: Contacts (people) and Companies (organizations). Every other object in HubSpot connects back to these.
Contacts: The People
A Contact represents an individual person in your database. This is someone you have a relationship with — or want to.
Key Properties:
- • First Name, Last Name, Email
- • Phone, Job Title
- • Lifecycle Stage
- • Contact Owner
Common Associations:
- • Company they work for
- • Deals they're involved in
- • Tickets they've submitted
In a Customer Value Platform, Contacts aren't just "leads" — they're people at various stages of the Value Path. The Contact record should tell you who they are, where they are in their journey, and how you can help them.
Companies: The Organizations
A Company represents an organization. For B2B, this is typically the business entity you're selling to or working with.
Key Properties:
- • Company Name, Domain
- • Industry, Size
- • Annual Revenue
- • Company Owner
Common Associations:
- • Contacts who work there
- • Deals in progress
- • Tickets from employees
Companies provide account-level context. When multiple people from the same organization interact with you, the Company record aggregates that picture — total revenue, all stakeholders, complete history.
Beyond Core: The Full Object Library
Contact and Company are the foundation, but HubSpot provides many more native objects to track the full customer journey. In the next lessons, you'll explore:
Engagement Objects
Calls, Emails, Meetings, Notes, Tasks
Revenue Objects
Deals, Quotes, Products, Subscriptions
Delivery Objects
Services, Projects, Tickets
The Power of Associations
Objects become powerful when connected. HubSpot's association system lets you link:
Contacts to Companies
Who works where
Contacts to Deals
Who's involved in opportunities
Contacts to Tickets
Who needs help
Companies to Deals
Account-level pipeline
Companies to Tickets
Account support history
Properties: Customizing What You Track
Each object comes with default properties, but you can add custom properties to track what matters to your business:
Value Path Stage
On Contacts to track journey position
Customer Health Score
On Companies to track relationship status
Deal Type
New vs. renewal vs. expansion for revenue clarity
Ticket Sentiment
To track customer satisfaction trends
Properties are how you extend HubSpot to capture the relationship context that matters.
How Objects Serve Unified Views
Customer View
Contacts + Companies
Revenue View
Deals + Line Items
Business Context
All objects + Activities
Team Enablement
Tickets + Owners + Tasks
The unified views are built on these foundational objects. Understanding objects is step one; configuring them for unified intelligence is where the real value emerges.
Quick Audit: Your Objects
If you have access to HubSpot, take a quick look at your current setup:
Your Object Audit
Check these key questions about your HubSpot configuration
Contacts
- ☐ Do you track Value Path stage?
- ☐ Can you see stakeholder roles?
- ☐ Are contacts linked to companies?
- ☐ Do you capture communication preferences?
Companies
- ☐ Can you see total account value?
- ☐ Are all deals associated to companies?
- ☐ Do you track multiple stakeholders per company?
- ☐ Can you see account health/status?
Deals
- ☐ Do you separate new vs. expansion?
- ☐ Are contacts associated to deals?
- ☐ Do you track decision criteria?
- ☐ Can you see timeline of deal activity?
Tickets
- ☐ Are tickets linked to contacts & companies?
- ☐ Do you categorize by type/priority?
- ☐ Can you measure response times?
- ☐ Do you track patterns across customers?
If you checked fewer than 3 boxes per object...
You have objects, but they're not yet configured for unified intelligence. That's okay! The next lesson will show you how to build properties that enable the four unified views.
What's Next
You now understand the foundation: Contacts (people) and Companies (organizations). In the upcoming lessons, you'll explore all the other native HubSpot objects across four categories—Engagement, Revenue, Delivery, and Content—and see how they work together to create unified customer intelligence.