Business
How HubSpot Aims To Win In AI With Supercharged…
Marketing software maker HubSpot at its annual Inbound customer conference on Wednesday will launch new artificial intelligence tools and agents. As with many software companies, the revenue impact from generative AI remains to be seen for HubSpot as its platform strategy evolves. Meanwhile, HubSpot stock has been struggling.
Adding customer data management capabilities to its platform has been a focus of HubSpot. At Inbound, the company will unveil a new data hub and more goal-oriented AI agents directed at marketing, sales and customer service.
HubSpot’s AI strategy focuses in part on “context,” helping customers use proprietary business data in a controlled way to build AI agent apps. At Inbound, HubSpot also will highlight hybrid AI workforces. According to the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm, a hybrid human-AI team is only as good as the data that powers it.
Meanwhile, HubSpot’s AI pricing strategy has been evolving. Like many software makers, HubSpot includes AI tools and agents for free in per-seat licenses. In June, though, HubSpot began charging users of Customer Agent consumption-based fees based on credit usage.
Also, HubSpot recently released a “deep research” connector for OpenAI’s ChatGPT — a natural language tool that lets ChatGPT analyze customer data.
In an interview, Head of Product Karen Ng talked about the software maker’s strategy.
HubSpot Stock: Inbound AI News
IBD: What’s HubSpot’s AI message to customers at Inbound this year?
Ng: What we want to do is help our customers through the AI era and we believe in hybrid teams — humans and (AI) agents. And so we think of our product strategy that way: To create the best hybrid team requires (data) context. That’s why we’re investing so much in creating context. It requires giving people tools to help them unlock creativity and personal reach and it requires giving them a set of tools that help humans be supercharged with AI and agents.
IBD: On Wall Street there seems to be concern about per-seat business models if productivity gains lead to fewer employees.
Ng: Our philosophy stays really the same as it always has been, which is we’ll focus first on value before monetizing. So we focus on value in our agents before we move to monetizing it. Customer Agent is one of our flagship agents. It resolves over 50% of support tickets today. In June, we moved to monetizing that through (consumption) credits and work that is done. The more you use (Customer Agent), the more it helps resolve support tickets, the more value it adds.
So you can think of our pricing model right now as hybrid. We still have a seats model and those seats have different tiers, and then we have a credit consumption model on top of each of the seats.
IBD: Do you expect HubSpot to stick with a hybrid model or at some point lean more consumption-based?
Ng: We recognize that from a seats model perspective, you may change the number of seats you have as AI causes more productivity with teams. Our monetization is tied directly to the value we deliver, and so there’s really no ceiling there. One other thing I’ll add is that especially in the world of AI, the concept of user permissions and what an agent is allowed to see is incredibly important. Trust is kind of at the heart of our AI strategy.
We believe in a hybrid approach. There is something we call personal AI, and that is the ability to supercharge human work. It is an assistant that kind of helps and supercharges humans today. That Breeze assistant is included in every one of our seats. That assistant can do a lot of different kinds of work. So, for example, being able to create a workflow in a natural language. We are still exploring how we translate that as value when AI augments humans.
Connecting To ChatGPT
IBD: HubSpot recently announced “connectors” into ChatGPT as well as Claude. What does that accomplish?
Ng: ChatGPT itself has over 700 million users. That is nearly 10% of global humanity, and now HubSpot is kind of a default connector in ChatGPT for everyone available to use. However, it requires a seat, because we want to respect user permissions (to access data). As long as you have permissions to access (data), which is done through a seat (license), you can use the connectors. We’ve seen over 20,000 users connect to ChatGPT.
IBD: On Wall Street there also seems to be a feeling that OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies are going to emerge as competitors in the enterprise market against software incumbents. Do you see that happening?
Ng: I do not see them as direct competitors. I believe that as in every tech disruption, it’s possible that they will come into different spaces, and we see that even with the verticals that they do. But it is a platform and operating system shift more so than a direct competitor.
HubSpot Stock Analysis
Meanwhile, HubSpot stock has retreated 32% in 2025.
HubSpot’s IBD Composite Rating is 53 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. The best stocks tend to have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
In addition, HubSpot stock has an Accumulation/Distribution Rating of E. The rating analyzes price and volume changes in a stock over the past 13 weeks of trading. On an A+ to E scale, the rating measures institutional buying and selling in a stock. E means heavy selling.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on X, formerly Twitter, @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — On this episode of SCORE Connect, host Anna-Vija McCloud is joined by Jennifer Renshaw, Founder & CEO of Brand Mark Digital to discuss AI for small businesses.
Visit https://brandmarkdigital.com/ for more information.
How Can SCORE Nashville Help You on Your Business Journey?
Visit https://www.score.org/nashville to learn more.
When we think of AI, we often picture Silicon Valley giants or futuristic sci-fi movies. But in the arena of global trade and e-commerce, AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s rewriting the rules of global trade and reshaping competition. Across Alibaba.com’s findings from over 20,000 submissions to its CoCreate Pitch entrepreneurship competition, over 60% of U.S. small businesses plan to adopt AI tools in 2025.
Why? Because AI isn’t a trend—it’s a tsunami, and ignoring it could be the end for many.
New globalization runs light
Globalization no longer requires armies of specialists or decades of supply chain buildup. Today, a lean team with AI-powered tools can tap into global markets faster than ever.
These tools, like real-time translation APIs and predictive analytics, enable a two-person startup to sell across continents overnight, dismantling persistent barriers such as language differences, gaps in foreign market knowledge, and the difficulty of establishing cross-border trust.
This heralds the era of “micro-multinationals”: A two-person design studio startup could sell products across 20 countries by leveraging AI-generated market insights. Tasks that once required entire departments can now be done with the push of a button — and this is just the beginning.
Meet your co-founder: the autonomous AI agent
The rise of autonomous AI agents is further taking the game to the next level. Imagine a 24/7 co-founder who never sleeps, tirelessly sorting suppliers, negotiating deals, handling orders, and managing logistics.
For global trade, AI agents do not just find products but also evaluate suppliers, facilitate communication, process orders and even manage logistics. Think of it as having a powerful search engine like Chat GPT but for B2B trade, capable of sourcing across the entire digital landscape, combined with the talents of a team of professionals to handle the end-to-end process of sourcing and delivery. And it’s not a fantasy, Alibaba’s own Accio agent is already automating 70% of traditionally manual workflows for B2B buyers across the world, compressing fragmented processes including product ideation, prototyping, compliance checks and supplier sourcing into a seamless, AI-powered cycle.
AI is real. It’s here.
Why the $30 trillion B2B industry is leading the AI charge
While consumers are still warming up to AI, B2B decision makers are already racing ahead for three reasons:
1. Scale: Large scales of production and consumption invoke economies of scale, especially in a $30 trillion B2B industry. For instance, a mid-sized manufacturer can use AI to reduce supply chain costs by 15% through predictive maintenance, which is revolutionary to a business when millions of dollars are at stake.
2. Speed: For many small businesses, AI can drastically shrink a request for proposal process from weeks to hours by automating vendor comparisons and contract drafting.
3. Search transformation: B2B buyers will expect platforms in the future to understand extremely specific queries like “show me 3-D printed parts for aerospace that meet FAA specs,” and produce results that take them directly to a right supplier’s page. The future of B2B search is no longer about search engine optimization (SEO), but about generative AI engine optimization.
Small businesses: start small but start now
Yes, it can be daunting for a small business owner to embrace AI, but you don’t have a choice, you either adapt or risk vanishing in the dust of competitors who do.
Good news is, you don’t need a full AI incorporation overnight. Start small – perhaps implementing a customer service chatbot or AI data analysis tool – and scale up from there.
The future belongs to those who treat AI not as a luxury, but as essential infrastructure.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
AI is now a central pillar of business transformation, driving competitiveness, efficiency, and innovation, says CII-Protiviti report.
The “Vision AI: Trends and Strategic Insights 2025” report, released on Thursday, highlighted AI’s pervasive impact across various sectors.
“The question of whether AI will change our world is no longer hypothetical — we are seeing the impact everyday. From transforming industries to reshaping how we work, AI has moved from opportunity to impact. AI literacy and fluency are no longer optional; they are mission-critical for every industry, every leader, and every enterprise. The opportunity to build with AI is immense,” Microsoft India & South Asia President Puneet Chandok said.
In the financial services industry, AI is redefining trust, regulation, and fraud detection.
By incorporating intelligence into risk assessment, compliance functions, fraud detection, and customer engagement, financial institutions are achieving precision and flexibility in a sector where reliability is paramount, the report said.
Manufacturing and industrial domains, which are primarily driven by volume and scale, are optimising production and supply chains through predictive intelligence.
Retail and e-commerce are witnessing unprecedented changes with AI-driven personalisation and demand forecasting.
“Through transaction data, businesses now personalise customer journeys, enabling enterprises to forecast demand, optimise pricing and deliver seamless, unified commerce experiences,” the report noted.
Healthcare is seeing breakthroughs in diagnostics, treatments, and accessibility with AI.
Enterprise technologies and IT services are leveraging AI for digital transformation, cybersecurity, and cloud cost optimisation.
Real estate and hospitality are adopting intelligent automation for efficiency and enhanced guest experiences.
The automobile sector is incorporating AI-powered safety features and autonomous engineering, while energy, chemicals, and utilities are utilising AI to manage demand, optimise production, and reduce environmental impact.
For India, AI is not merely a technology shift but a national priority to enhance competitiveness, inclusive growth, and long-term resilience, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.
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