Inbound just reset the growth playbook. Today at #INBOUND25 HubSpot’s CEO Yamini Rangan and EVP of Product Karen Ng introduced a re-imagined approach to go-to-market in the AI era. The core ideas: the classic funnel is breaking, “humans lead and AI accelerates,” and the companies that win will run a continuous Loop powered by a Smart CRM, unified data, and a growing team of AI assistants and agents.
Here’s what it all means, and everything that’s new.
Why the Funnel is Failing (and Why That’s OK)
- Awareness has scattered. Buyers live on Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, podcasts, and newsletters, not just your website.
- Consideration has changed. AI overviews answer questions before the click; “zero-click” searches are the norm.
- Conversion is transforming. AI can now map intent to the exact info a buyer needs, making bottom-of-funnel faster and more personal.
So no, content isn’t dead. But the distribution and discovery model is different, and accelerating.
The Loop: HubSpot’s Growth Playbook for the AI Era
The Loop replaces the funnel with a dynamic, always-learning cycle where humans set the taste and strategy, and AI scales the execution.
Four stages:
Express – Define who you are before you generate anything: ICP, voice, tone, style. Give AI a real point of view to work with.
Tailor – Use data and AI to deliver one-to-one relevance at scale. Map intent signals (pricing page visits, support tickets, competitor views) to what each person should see next.
Amplify – Diversify channels to meet customers where they are (social, video, podcasts, newsletters) and optimize for AI answers, not just search rankings.
Evolve – Iterate quickly. Measure efficiency (Express), engagement (Tailor), conversion plus AI visibility/share of voice/citations (Amplify), and velocity (Evolve). You don’t win by launching; you win by learning.
Taste, clarity, and judgment are human. Speed, scale, and execution are AI. Run the Loop continuously.
New: Smart CRM - The Brain of the Hybrid Team
HubSpot’s CRM gets a major upgrade and is now available on its own.
Highlights:
- Self-Generating Data: The CRM “does the weekend work” by reviewing emails, call transcripts, support tickets, and auto-enriching records (new contacts, job changes, OOO notices, intent signals).
- Flexible Views: Flip data into boards, tables, reports—whatever helps you act faster.
- Smart Insights: An at-a-glance digest of what matters (heating deals, dropping health scores, recent interactions) with Smart Digest recommendations.
- Map View: See where momentum is happening geographically to plan action (e.g., local events).
- Project Object: Manage projects inside HubSpot with stages and snapshots, no more scattered PM tools.
Why it matters: Your CRM stops being a passive system of record and becomes an active intelligence layer that saves time and drives next best actions.
Related Article: The AI Advantage: How HubSpot Positions You for 2026 Success
New: Data Hub (formerly Operations Hub) + Data Studio + Data Quality
Unify every scrap of context so the Loop has fuel.
- Data Hub: Your home for connecting all data (revenue, product usage, campaigns, sequences, reporting) with no-code and AI assist.
- Data Studio: Bring in warehouse data (e.g., Snowflake) and Smart Columns (e.g., “show recent funding for these companies”) with always-up-to-date enrichment.
- Data Quality: AI-powered hygiene: dedupe, auto-format, enrich, and fill missing fields, before bad data tanks your campaign. No more “Dear First Name”.
Outcome: Complete, clean customer context you can trust across workflows, reports, and campaigns.
Marketing in the Loop: Marketing Studio, Segments, and AI-Powered Email
HubSpot’s marketing stack is rebuilt around the Loop.
- Marketing Studio: Start with a single campaign idea; HubSpot generates a full multi-channel plan (social, email, more) on a visual canvas. Collaborate live, assign tasks, and keep everything in one place.
- Segments: The evolution of Lists. Use prompts to discover high-intent audiences you didn’t know existed (e.g., U.S. education companies that spent X minutes on a launch page).
- AI-Powered Email: Creates a unique email per contact based on CRM context and schedules send time for likely engagement. In HubSpot’s own tests: +82% conversion.
Bonus surfaces: AI-personalized CTAs and landing pages that adapt to segment/audience context.
From SEO to AEO (AI Engine Optimization) + AI Referrals
AI is changing discovery. HubSpot is leaning in.
- AEO Tool: Share what you sell and who you serve. Get topics your prospects query in LLMs and concrete recommendations to increase your presence in AI answers. Score your brand’s visibility vs. competitors right inside the blog editor.
- AI Referrals in Traffic Sources: See when LLMs send you leads, then measure and iterate.
Mindset shift: SEO was about ranking; AEO is about being cited in trusted answers, and converting that moment of high intent.
Related Article: The New SEO Playbook: How AEO, GEO, and HubSpot Help You Show Up in Google AI and ChatGPT
Sales Acceleration: AI-Powered CPQ in Commerce Hub
Close at AI speed.
- Contextual Quoting: Breeze (HubSpot’s AI) drafts quotes from Smart CRM context (meetings, calls, line items).
- Personalized Cover Letters: Auto-generated from deal history.
- Built-in eSignature & Smart Sharing: Review → approve → sign in one flow; everything syncs back to the CRM automatically.
Result: Fewer stalled deals, faster revenue recognition.
Your AI Team: Breeze Assistant + Breeze Agents
Breeze Assistant (for Everyone)
- Lives wherever you work; knows your calendar, deals, files.
- One-click meeting prep: objectives, talking points, risks, and references.
- Memory: Learns your preferences.
- Connectors: Deep integrations with ChatGPT and Claude, plus a new HubSpot connector for Gemini so your HubSpot context shows up wherever you prompt.
Breeze Agents (Digital Teammates that Finish Work)
Shipped for all HubSpot customers, with three essential agents:
Customer Agent: Evolves from support deflection to an always-on concierge. Greets visitors, qualifies, books meetings, and resolves issues across web, email, and WhatsApp.
Data Agent: A 24/7 ops teammate. Create “smart properties” via prompt (e.g., top 3 competitors for every company), pulling from the web, files, tickets, calls, emails—then write it into the CRM.
Prospecting Agent: Mixes CRM + web intel to research, pattern-match, and run adaptive outreach with your guardrails (tone, # of follow-ups, approvals).
Breeze Marketplace + Breeze Studio
- Marketplace: Browse plug-and-play agents for every GTM motion (e.g., a Customer Health agent that alerts on low onboarding or logins).
- Studio: Customize agents with your instructions, context, tools, and rules, then deploy. Minutes from “we have a problem” to “we have a digital teammate.”
The Blueprint to Build Your Hybrid Team
Unite Your Data: Smart CRM + Data Hub + Data Studio + Data Quality.
Enable Your People: Marketing Studio, Segments, AI-Powered Email, AEO, AI Referrals, and AI-powered CPQ, so marketers, sales people, and service pros do what they do best.
Build Your AI Team: Breeze Assistant everywhere; Breeze Agents for customer, data, and prospecting; extend with Marketplace; tailor with Studio.
What to Track (The Loop Scorecard)
- Express: Efficiency → content speed up, content cost down.
- Tailor: Engagement up (meaningful interactions, not vanity opens).
- Amplify: Conversion up and new metrics: AI visibility, AI share of voice, citations.
- Evolve: Velocity—shorter ideation-to-impact cycles.
The Future of Growth is Hybrid: Humans + AI
The next era won’t be won by the teams with the most AI or the most humans, it’ll be won by teams that work hybrid on purpose: humans set the taste, strategy, and judgment; AI handles the speed, scale, and execution. HubSpot’s Loop gives you the operating system; the Smart CRM and Data Hub supply the context; Breeze assistants and agents supply the lift.
Pick one process this week, run it through the Loop, and put a hybrid team (of people + agents) on it. Then iterate. That’s the compounding advantage. That’s how you grow in the AI era, and stay firmly in the Loop.