In the article, Kieran Flanagan from HubSpot outlines how startups can use AI intelligently to scale their marketing, sales, and customer-journey work. He suggests that AI works best when it’s used as a “ghostwriter” for content like social media posts or outreach emails — especially if the startup uses consistent templates and a clear writing style. One of the biggest mistakes startups make is deploying a bunch of disconnected AI tools without tracking real results, which can actually disrupt the customer experience instead of improving it. Instead Flanagan encourages companies to do small, intentional experiments — even hackathons — so teams learn what works, build a culture of AI fluency, and use AI as a unified, “concierge”-style layer across marketing, sales, and support. The overall message: used carefully and thoughtfully, AI can help startups do more with less, but over-enthusiasm without clarity can backfire.
