Inbound 2025 Recap: Insights, Inspiration, and the Human Side of AI

What happens when you put some of the sharpest minds in the HubSpot ecosystem in one room, throw them into a new city, and ask them to unpack the future of marketing, sales, and technology? You get stories that make you laugh, lessons that make you think, and insights that might just change the way you work.

At Inbound 2025 in San Francisco, I sat down with a powerhouse panel of women leaders from across the HubSpot partner community. Together, we dug into the differences between Boston and San Francisco, the new HubSpot product updates that have everyone buzzing, the real role of AI in business, and why fun and humanity might just be the most important tools in your toolbox.

This wasn’t your typical “conference recap.” This was about honesty, curiosity, and a little bit of nerding out.

Boston vs. San Francisco: Which City Wins for Inbound?

Inbound veterans know the Boston vibes: lobster rolls, Mike’s Pastries, and a familiar, well-worn conference groove. San Francisco, on the other hand, brought fresh energy. Clean streets, walkable neighborhoods, new venues, and yes, even driverless cars.

Some loved the change of scenery, while others missed the comfort and traditions of Boston. The consensus? Both cities bring something unique. But if you’re up for adventure (and the occasional grilled cheese with sautéed onions that blows your mind), San Francisco delivered.

HubSpot Product Announcements: The Dopest and the Dicey

When it came to HubSpot updates, there were clear winners and a few moments that made hearts race for less-than-pleasant reasons.

• The Star of the Show: Data Hub
  For anyone wrangling siloed systems, Data Hub was a dream come true. Enrichment, smart properties, and smoother reporting got people genuinely excited.

• The Heart-Stopping Surprise: Commerce Hub & CPQ
  The move from custom quotes into Commerce Hub? Game-changing for the long run, but anxiety-inducing for anyone in the middle of client projects. Imagine building a house and someone swaps out your blueprints halfway through. That was the vibe.

• Nerdy but Beautiful: Object Property Snapshots
  Tracking contact activities at the company level, even when people move jobs, is a big win for attribution and reporting clarity.

• The Frustration: Incomplete Features
  Not everything landed perfectly. Case studies, for example, weren’t theme-supported. If you’ve ever been stuck with mismatched design elements, you know why this raised eyebrows.

The takeaway? HubSpot is moving fast, and the new features are powerful, but implementation is still a bumpy ride in spots.

The One Thing: Lessons Worth Taking Home

Every great conference leaves you with at least one big idea that sticks. For this group, a few powerful themes emerged:

• AI is About Experience, Not Features
  Don’t just sell AI as technology. Sell the customer experience it enables. That shift in perspective changes everything.

• We Are More Than Our Jobs
  A powerful session challenged attendees to stop defining themselves by job titles. As AI changes work, our value as humans comes from what makes us uniquely human, not just the tasks we complete.

• Fun is Not Optional
  One session took attendees back to childhood memories of pure fun, then tied that energy to workplace values. The idea? Unlock joy in your team and watch everything else get better.

For me, the thread through all of this was simple: being human still matters most.

AEO vs. SEO: What’s the Real Deal?

The rise of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) has the industry buzzing. Is it hype? Is it here to stay? Or is it just SEO in new clothes?

The panel’s take:

• It’s early days. The metrics aren’t transparent yet, so skepticism is healthy.

• The principle is real. People aren’t just searching anymore. They’re problem-solving with AI. Queries sound more like conversations than keywords.

• Helpful, human content will always win. Whether Google or ChatGPT delivers the answer, the brands that focus on actually helping people will flourish.

This moment feels a lot like the early days of SEO. The landscape is shifting, but the fundamentals haven’t changed: answer the questions your audience is asking, and do it in a way that proves you’re a trusted guide.

The Big Takeaway: Reimagining What Helpful Means

Inbound 2025 made one thing clear: the future isn’t about chasing every shiny tool. It’s about reimagining what it means to be helpful in a world where AI is rewriting the rules of content, sales, and customer experience.

Being helpful used to mean writing blog posts packed with keywords. Today, it might mean structuring your data for AI engines, creating content that fuels smarter assistants, or simply making space for fun and humanity in your work.

But the heart of it hasn’t changed. If you show up as a happy, helpful, humble human—if you put people first—you’re going to flourish, no matter how the tools evolve.

So, here’s the challenge I’ll leave you with: How are you going to reimagine being helpful in your business? Not just for algorithms or AI, but for the actual humans you serve?

Because at the end of the day, the brands that answer that question will be the real heroes.