LEO’s Takeaways from HubSpot Unbound
We went to HubSpot Unbound 2026 to talk about AI, but we came back thinking a lot more about people – because the biggest takeaway wasn’t another shiny, new AI tool. It was a reminder that technology is only as powerful as the data, context, and people behind it.
“The most ‘LEO’ thing I saw at HubSpot was the focus on protecting the human touch,” LEO’s Director of Solutions and Innovation, Justin Maddox, said. “In an age where everyone is over-automating outreach, high-value strategy, empathy, and genuine client relationships remain our uniquely human differentiators.”
Another truth we’re ruminating on is that AI doesn’t fix a broken CRM. Bad data doesn’t become smarter with AI. It just gets amplified. Neither does bad outreach. As buyers move beyond traditional funnels and into chat, communities, and harder-to-track channels, the journey is becoming less linear – and more human. People are researching differently, making decisions differently, and expecting brands to meet them with relevance, not just more noise.
That has a pretty direct implication for how we work at LEO. Technology should take friction out of the work so people can put more into the work that matters. Automate the repetitive. Augment the tasks that benefit from a copilot. And protect the moments that depend on judgment, empathy, creativity, and trust. Those are the things no algorithm is able to manufacture.
At the conference, we saw plenty of examples of where AI is heading – from autonomous agents to interactive, data-powered experiences that turn information into action, and we left energized by the possibilities. The path forward is relatively simple, and something we’ve really known all along. Get the foundation right, then make the technology work harder for the humans.
Clean data. Connected context. Smarter systems. More time for strategy, creativity, relationships, and the ideas that make an experience worth showing up for. That feels very LEO to us.
We’ve always believed the best work happens when technology, strategy, creativity, and human connection work together. Our experience at HubSpot Unbound solidified our belief that AI isn’t changing that. It’s giving us new ways and more time to do what people do best.
