If your team has added three new AI tools this year and you still can't say what any of them actually moved forward, you're not alone. That's most businesses right now.
HubSpot's CEO, Yamini Rangan opened this year's Unbound conference with a number worth sitting with: only 6% of companies have moved past the maxxing phase and are considered transformational. The other 94% are still AI maxxing (myself included with my very own HubSpot portal). More tools, more assistants, more automations, with no clear line back to a business outcome.
I work inside HubSpot accounts every workday, and I'd put the number even higher for the small and mid-size businesses I see. Not because they're doing anything wrong. Because nobody ever showed them what the other side of maxxing looks like (focusing on outcomes), or how to get there.
Maxxing is what happens when a business adopts AI tools based on what's trending instead of what's needed for their business. A new assistant launches, so it gets added. A competitor mentions a tool, so it gets tried. Nobody's asking what problem it solves. Everyone's asking what they might be missing if they don't use it too.
The result looks like activity. It doesn't feel like progress.
Here's how I know a client is in the maxxing phase before we've even opened HubSpot together. They tell me some version of the same three things:
None of those are tool problems. They're direction problems. And you can't fix a direction problem by adding another tool.
Moving out of the maxxing phase doesn't mean using less AI. It means using it on purpose, in service of something specific.
I think about this the same way I think about a mountain climb. Maxxing is showing up with every piece of gear the outfitter sells, just in case. The outcomes era is knowing which summit you're headed for, and packing for that climb specifically.
Rangan framed this at Unbound as three moves: focus on outcomes, build the right foundation, invest in AI and people together, not one instead of the other. I'd add that most businesses need help translating those three moves into something they can actually do inside their own systems. In practice, that shift comes down to three things I work through with every client, whether we call it that or not:
1. Naming the outcome before touching a tool. Not "we should use AI more." Something specific. Fewer unqualified leads reaching sales. Faster response time on service tickets. A shorter path from first touch to booked call. If a tool doesn't move that number, it doesn't get added, no matter how good the demo looked.
2. Connecting what you already have before buying anything new. Most of the businesses I work with don't have a tools problem. They have a connection problem. Yamini Rangan had a name for the fix at Unbound this week: Growth Context. It's really three things working together. What makes your business yours. What your customers are actually telling you across every channel. How your own team works and makes decisions. Right now, those three usually live in different places, your CRM knows one, your inbox knows another, your team knows a third, and none of them are talking.
Her point that stuck with me most: bad context is worse than no AI at all. A tool running on scattered, outdated information doesn't just underperform. It hands you confident-looking answers that quietly point you the wrong way. That's a harder problem to catch than a tool that obviously doesn't work.
This is where HubSpot earns its keep. Not as a tool you use, but as the one place where business, customer, and team context can finally sit together and inform each other.
3. Putting the right person on the decision, not just the task. Rangan made a point in her keynote worth repeating to every team debating whether to hire or upskill: the internet democratized access to information, and AI is now democratizing access to building. Anyone on your team can spin up a workflow or a marketing email draft in minutes. That was never the hard part.
The hard part, her words, is mistaking activity for progress. Knowing if what got built is actually good, and whether it's the right thing for your business at all, still takes a person who understands your business, not just the software. It's a big part of why clients bring me in. Not to build faster. To make sure what gets built is worth building.
When a client comes to me maxxing, the fix usually isn't "add more AI." It's slower and less exciting than that, and it works.
We start by getting clear on the one or two outcomes that actually matter right now. Then we look at what's already living in HubSpot, and what isn't connected yet, before anything new gets introduced. Only after that foundation is solid do we talk about where AI actually earns its place, and where it's just noise.
That order matters. Skip it, and you get a business with impressive tools and the same "all over the place" feeling as before. Follow it, and even one well-placed automation starts pulling weight, because it's finally attached to a system that knows what it's for.
Rangan closed her keynote with three questions she says separate the outcomes era from the maxxing phase. I'd put them in front of any client before they sign up for another AI tool:
If any answer is no, the fix isn't a new tool. It's the conversation before the tool.
I'm not going to tell you that maxxing means you did something wrong. It means you were moving fast, without a guide, in a space that changes every few months. That's most businesses I meet.
The shift into the outcomes era isn't about slowing down. It's about knowing which direction you're actually headed before you decide what to pack for the trip. That's the part I own with clients.
What does it mean for a business to be "maxxing" AI tools? It means adopting AI tools based on trends or fear of missing out rather than a specific business outcome, which usually results in more activity without a clear return.
How do I know if my business is in the maxxing phase? Common signs include feeling like your tools don't talk to each other, not being able to say clearly what's working, and adding new AI tools without a defined problem they're meant to solve.
Do I need to use less AI to move into the outcomes era? No. The shift isn't about using less AI, it's about connecting what you already have to a clear outcome before adding anything new.
Why does HubSpot matter in this shift? HubSpot can function as the connective layer between your marketing, sales, and customer data, which is what allows AI tools layered on top to work from accurate, unified context instead of guessing.