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10+ developer-months saved by avoiding custom HubSpot API integration, allowing engineers to focus on core technology development
100% alignment with existing CI/CD and branching infrastructure by using familiar database patterns instead of CRM-specific workarounds
Zero HubSpot SDK in codebase - engineers work exclusively with standard MySQL databases, maintaining familiar development practices
Real-time synchronization between HubSpot CRM and internal platform, enabling complex manufacturing and billing workflows
"Stacksync makes my problem disappear... instead of struggling with the HubSpot API... we can focus on our core technology. This investment is pure ROI." - Yuval Hofshy, CTO at Eko
Company: Eko
Industry: Interactive E-commerce Technology
Founded: 10+ years ago
Product: Interactive video technology for e-commerce product visualization
Technical Environment: Custom in-house platform, HubSpot CRM, CI/CD infrastructure, MySQL
Visit website: https://eko.com
Eko is an AI-powered platform that helps e-commerce brands transform product discovery through interactive video experiences. By turning traditional browsing into engaging, hands-on exploration, Eko enhances customer understanding and drives higher conversion rates.
The platform offers three core products:
Eko is used by leading retailers such as Walmart to create immersive product demos that convert passive shoppers into active buyers.
Discover more about Eko on their website.
Eko's engineering team had invested significantly in infrastructure that supported their development practices.
This workflow allowed developers to branch code, access production-like data, test thoroughly, and deploy with confidence. However, HubSpot integration threatened this carefully constructed process.
"HubSpot is a pain because there's no easy way to get data into different environments," Yuval explains. "If you want a sandbox, it's expensive, but even putting that aside, there's no easy way to migrate production data from the CRM to a sandbox."
Their first attempt at HubSpot integration was disastrous. "This was a painful experience. All the developers working on that back then still have nightmares," Yuval recalls.
Even a basic integration consumed disproportionate resources: "In the first iteration of working with HubSpot, we had two developers spending over a month on something that was super basic. Most of it was not the development itself, but aligning to our infrastructure, hacking it, mocking it."
The fundamental disconnect between HubSpot's API and Eko's development infrastructure created cascading problems: "Developers had to hack all kinds of stuff and mock interfaces, then go live and just pray because they'd never seen the whole thing work in their test environment."
As Eko expanded their partnership with Walmart and grew its customer base, scaling operations became urgent. Their previous approach — manually transferring data between HubSpot and their product platforms — was breaking down.
"We had too many cases of things going out of sync, too many spreadsheets to manage the process," says Yuval. "It's not just the manual work, it's managing it—endless spreadsheets of what needs to be done, reviewing to ensure people did it. This created a lot of noise across Slack channels and Asana boards."
Their business model added further complexity. Eko operates physical factories with specialized robotics where products are scanned before being digitized for interactive e-commerce experiences. Each product requires specific billing workflows tied to manufacturing stages.
In our business model, "The factory won't start shooting products until you pay half the setup fee," explains Hofshy. "You pay half upfront and half when scanning is done, and start paying subscription only when you go live with real customer data." This multi-step process involves a tight coupling of CRM, ERP and physical production processes. It creates complexity and requires an 100% reliable data integration setup. Stacksync is their platform of choice.
After evaluating several options, Eko found their solution in Stacksync's database-focused approach to CRM integration.
"First, Stacksync worked, while many others either didn't work or were too complicated to set up," notes Yuval.
The solution synchronizes HubSpot directly to a standard MySQL database, allowing Eko's engineers to interact with familiar database interfaces rather than wrestling with the HubSpot API. Because developers now use a database that is already integrated with their home-grown development practices, they do not need to change their processes to integrate different systems.
"In our codebase, there is no HubSpot SDK or package—it just doesn't exist," says Hofshy.
He further mentions that "Stacksync allows us to work with HubSpot while applying normal development practices." This is a game changer to reduce costs and development time and friction.
Most importantly, Stacksync aligned with Eko's established engineering workflows rather than forcing them to adapt.
"We set up s sync only for production, then have a database with HubSpot information that we clone for dev environments, just like other databases," explains Hofshy. "We don't even need a HubSpot sandbox for ongoing development."
This approach eliminated the need to modify their testing and deployment processes. Developers could continue working with familiar database technologies rather than adapting to CRM-specific idiosyncrasies.
Eko valued Stacksync's straightforward implementation process.
"The setup was super straightforward," says Hofshy
This was critical for their fast-moving team and a critical selection criteria.
The architecture promised minimal ongoing maintenance, freeing engineering resources for innovation rather than integration babysitting. "It's really easy to set up. The learning curve is super straightforward and it works out of the box."
By implementing Stacksync, Eko avoided an estimated 10+ developer-months that would have been required for a custom HubSpot integration solution.
"Instead of struggling with the HubSpot API, we can focus on our core technology," says Hofshy.
"Stacksync makes my problem disappear. This investment is pure ROI".
Engineers who would have been kept busy with integration maintenance were able to focus on core innovation—crucial as Eko expanded their partnership with Walmart and hundreds of clients at fast pace.
Stacksync's database-centric approach allowed Eko to preserve their established engineering practices.
"It's just a standard development process that is fully aligned with all the infrastructure we set up throughout the years," explains Hofshy. "It's easy. You don't need to master the CRM, and you don't need to hack the development processes."
Developers could continue using their preferred tools, testing processes, and deployment procedures without accommodating HubSpot's limitations.
With manual data transfer eliminated and systems properly integrated, Eko could support their expanding operations, particularly the increased manufacturing volume required by their Walmart partnership.
The solution enabled Eko's CRM-centric strategy where HubSpot serves as the single source of truth. "All core entities and their IDs are taken from the CRM and shared between systems," explains Hofshy. "It's the same product ID that we analyze using LLMs in the cloud, that will be scanned in the warehouse, and that the integration to the Shopify store will use."
This consistency was crucial for workflows spanning physical factory operations, billing systems, and digital platforms.
Beyond technology, Eko valued Stacksync's responsive technical support. "We were looking for a company we can trust, and the Stacksync team is really nice and responsive," Hofshy notes.
More than the product superiority of Stacksync for their use case, the technical platform fit and responsive service convinced them to move forward. "The solution works. People are nice and eager to succeed, providing excellent service."
As Eko's implementation of Stacksync matures, teams at Eko identified key opportunities to enhance their integration. They're actively planning technological advancements that address specific business challenges.
"What really excites me about this partnership is how responsive the Stacksync team has been to our evolving needs," notes Eko's CTO. "We're not just customers; we're innovation partners."
The first priority focuses on event-driven architecture. Eko's technical team wants to create more responsive workflows triggered by system events. "We want to leverage triggers to start workflows when certain events happen, and want to verify that traffic actually comes from the right source," explains their lead developer. This capability would transform how quickly their systems respond to business events. Stacksync is ideal to make data flow and systems react in real-time.
Second, DevOps integration represents another critical focus area. By connecting with existing observability tools, both teams aim to improve system reliability. As one engineer puts it: "We want to integrate with our DevOps and observability workflows. We use New Relic with centralized logging and notifications for all services.” Stacksync can send all the sync issues and notifications to their team’s existing on-call systems so that all monitoring, logging and telemetry is centralized following the company’s current processes.
Third, the work on association handling between related data entities is very impactful. "We use associations heavily," shares a senior Eko developer. Solving this challenge will eliminate significant workflow bottlenecks even further.
These collaborative initiatives demonstrate how the partnership continues to evolve beyond the initial implementation, addressing increasingly sophisticated integration challenges that deliver tangible business value.
"We really care about the people we work with," says Hofshy, highlighting the relationship aspect of the partnership that will drive these future improvements.
When asked what makes Stacksync valuable from an engineering leadership perspective, Hofshy emphasized:
"Three things come to mind:
First, you make my problem disappear, which is money well spent. Instead of struggling with HubSpot and making that a big deal, we can focus on our core technology.
Second, it's really easy to set up. The setup is super straightforward and works out of the box.
Third, the people behind the company, their service and responsiveness—that's also important. We really care about the people we work with."
For engineering teams struggling with CRM integration challenges that disrupt development workflows, Eko's experience demonstrates how a database-centric approach preserves existing infrastructure investments while enabling business growth. Eko delivered projects faster, with a simpler architecture and much less development effort than with any other alternative.
