I hope you had a nice, relaxing time over the holiday break and aren’t finding return to work overly challenging.
The first week of the year is always a weird one. There’s the need to hit the ground running and go full speed on new projects, but there’s the awkward catchup time that comes with being out of the office for an extended period.
I’m in that position right now! I’m eager to put my 2026 plans into place, but there are a handful of loose ends that need tying up before that can happen.
My short note on that is to give yourself grace! As relaxing as time off can be, it disrupts your flow and it’s not always easy to get it back on Day 1. Allow yourself the ramp up time so you’re putting your best foot forward for the year. We have the time, so let’s make the most of it.
-Sage Levene, VP of Marketing, Hypha HubSpot Development
Open Mic
Still Early
By Jed Morey, CEO, Hypha HubSpot Development
Across industries, AI remained the No. 1 topic of conversation in 2025. I suspect it will continue to occupy our headspace in the year ahead. It’s been three years since ChatGPT’s launch changed the narrative and AI entered the business and consumer lexicon. Although the Artificial Intelligence industry is decades old, we’re still in the early stages. As such, there is no consensus on what exactly the AI revolution portends or whether it’s a revolution at all.
The unanswered questions still surround the impact on the labor market, whether we’re in a bubble, and if it’s going to save or destroy civilization. The answers range from “yes to all,” “no to all” and “who the hell knows?”
Here’s what I have observed.
Hypha sits in a unique position in that we work in myriad industries and our clients are both domestic and international. What we have seen is that AI is just beginning to move from conversation to implementation, just not in the transformational way that many AI boosters suggest. And most of the AI work product falls under the adage “trust but verify.” Sure, it can write code, but you better test it. It can produce content, but you better edit it. It can perform soft tasks that fall under nebulous buckets like “streamline,” “automate,” “enhance” and “enrich,” but it stops short of superlatives like “transformational.”
The implication here is pretty well reflected by the current condition of the labor market. People are staying put in their jobs, employers are reluctant to add new positions and the average number of hours worked in 2025 dropped by one hour. This is the statistical version of dipping a toe in the water. Some of this has to do with softness in the broader economy, to be sure. But it’s also an indication that AI is being slow-rolled throughout multiple sectors with one consistent factor: the human element is required.
But I think there’s more to it than that. One of the things we have observed across our portfolio is that the underlying systems that AI is theoretically designed to enhance are not ready for primetime. Data quality remains an enormous challenge. Legacy systems are difficult to enhance. There are nuances within each sector that will require far more training than the current LLMs can contend with.
If anything, what I’ve seen thus far in the AI “revolution” is that it has organizations rethinking their current systems. A startup might go to market faster than ever before, but speed doesn’t always imply success. And the entrenched players are going to struggle to adopt AI tools until such time that their underlying systems have been streamlined, automated, enhanced and enriched.
The Consumer Technology Association’s annual CES tradeshow in Vegas ends today, and as always there is much to be gleaned from the announcements and presentations about trends for the upcoming year(s). The Verge breaks down top themes.
“CES is a land of bold announcements of amazing, innovative products and technologies that will revolutionize the world, often set for release in two years’ time. Twenty-four months seems to be about the right hype window: close enough to generate excitement and investment, but far enough that everyone forgets about your promises before that deadline quietly comes and goes.”
AI jobs are trending up, according to “Jobs on the Rise” report. The top growing jobs on the list include AI specific engineers, strategists + consultants. These roles feel at odds with the nature of the job market. Essentially, let’s hire AI “experts” to streamline our operations which, in corporate speak, often means cut headcount.
“This year’s list points to continued momentum in both technical and strategic AI roles, including AI engineers, AI consultants and data annotators. The rise in founders and independent consultants also points to a shift toward self-employment and gig work as professionals adapt to uncertainty.”
Hypha Highlights
Portfolio companies need CRM infrastructure that matches PE timelines and operating realities. With about five years to prove scalable, predictable revenue, leadership requires a system that drives rapid adoption, standardizes processes, boosts efficiencies, and delivers board-ready visibility without months of custom work.
The core issue isn’t just speed, it’s inconsistency. Operating partners end up reconciling mismatched stages and reports across the portfolio, turning performance management into manual work and making forecasts harder to trust.
HubSpot is well-suited to this environment because it supports repeatable deployment and governance, with strong usability, flexible integrations, and standardized reporting that rolls up cleanly.
2026 is here, so why not start the year with some learning! It’s the perfect time to renew a certification or get some new ones in HubSpot Academy.
AI in Action
News, updates and tools from the AI industry.
AI never sleeps and it seems neither do the companies shepherding it. Let’s check into the industry:
Gmail is getting a major AI upgrade. Google announced it’s bringing Gmail into the “Gemini era” with new features including AI Overviews that synthesize email threads and answer natural language questions about your inbox, updated Help Me Write and Suggested Replies for drafting and polishing emails, and a new AI Inbox that filters clutter to surface high-priority items.
Anthropic released Claude Code v2.1.0 with major updates. According to VentureBeat, the release comes as developers increasingly praise the autonomous coding environment on social media, with some switching from competitors like Cursor and calling it a “game-changer.”
Speaking of Anthropic, the company is raising $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation, nearly doubling its value from a $183 billion valuation just three months ago, according to The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by TechCrunch. The round, which is expected to close in the coming weeks, is separate from the $15 billion Nvidia and Microsoft recently committed to invest; it comes as Anthropic gains developer momentum with Claude Code and prepares for a potential IPO alongside rival OpenAI, which is also pursuing up to $100 billion at an $830 billion valuation.
xAI raised $20 billion in its Series E round, exceeding its $15 billion target. This comes amid a time of heavy controversy for its AI assistant Grok, which is being widely criticized for its inappropriate deepfakes of women and children.
Microsoft launched Copilot Checkout and Brand Agents, new AI shopping features that let users buy products directly within Copilot’s chat interface without leaving for external sites. According to Search Engine Land, Copilot Checkout is rolling out in the U.S. with partners including PayPal, Shopify, Stripe, and Etsy, while Brand Agents—available now for Shopify merchants—create AI shopping assistants trained on a brand’s product catalog that can answer questions and guide customers in the brand’s voice, joining similar offerings from Google and OpenAI as the industry moves toward agentic checkout experiences.
AI minted more than 50 new billionaires in 2025 as investors poured over $200 billion into the sector, according to Forbes. Notable new billionaires include Surge AI founder Edwin Chen ($18 billion), Sierra cofounders Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor ($2.5 billion each), Mercor’s three 22-year-old cofounders who became the youngest self-made billionaires ever ($2.2 billion each), and Lovable’s Anton Osika and Fabian Hedin ($1.6 billion each).
“Being early to SEO helped Dharmesh Shah build HubSpot into a $30B company. Now he’s obsessed with something new: AI ranking. It’s how to show up when people ask ChatGPT for recommendations instead of Googling. In this conversation, we unpack the entire playbook:
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): SEO for the AI era
How to structure content to get cited in AI answers
The hidden risk of low-quality AI content
Effectively using AI agents as teammates
The coming ‘AI App Store’ for agents”
How can we help you?
Case Study: B2B Lead Qualification in HubSpot
A medical aesthetics company selling professional equipment to clinics and skincare to consumers had every inquiry hit the same sales queue. Patient questions, consumers asking about $20,000 devices, and real provider leads all required manual sorting. Sales reps spent hours triaging instead of working wholesale deals.
We fixed it with a single question on the contact form: Are you a patient or a provider? That answer drives everything.
Patients are routed into automated education with no sales involvement. Providers go straight to sales with territory assignment and priority follow-up. Spam is filtered out before it ever reaches the CRM.
Sales now only sees qualified provider leads. Response time dropped from hours to minutes. And the system handles higher volume without adding manual work.
If lead sorting is slowing your team down, it’s usually a sign qualification is happening too late. That’s the kind of problem Hypha helps teams fix upstream.
