Exclusive: HubSpot VP on why AI is a creative catalyst for every employee

During an exclusive interview at HubSpot GROW in Sydney, VP Scott Brinker shared exactly how AI is empowering marketers and non-technical staff to experiment, build and innovate.

TechDay with Scott Brinker, the company's VP of Platform Ecosystem, to talk about AI's impact on modern marketing teams and the increasingly blurred lines between software creators and software users.

His key message was simple but bold: AI is now a creative catalyst - and everyone in a company, not just the technical few, should feel empowered to build.

"There isn't a silver bullet," he explained, reflecting on how organisations can manage the tension between rapid tech advancement and slower human adaptability.

"But if you pick one or two things to prioritise and really lean into them, you'll see momentum. It's about being ruthlessly focused."

Brinker outlined two critical approaches that help teams stay grounded: strategic prioritisation and embracing agile ways of working.

"It's easy to say, harder to do. But when you commit to something - even if it ends up being the wrong thing - you gain more than you lose by dithering."

During his keynote earlier that day, Brinker emphasised that AI was enabling every employee, not just traditional creatives or coders, to become builders. When I asked what marketers should be leaning into more, he lit up.

"Classic creative production - writing, image generation, video editing - came naturally because it was familiar. But now there's this whole new set of capabilities," he said. "Like a marketer creating a lightweight app or agent. Five years ago, they'd say, 'I'm not a software developer.' But now? They don't need to be."

It's this "democratisation of software creation," as Brinker put it, that's starting to fundamentally reshape roles inside SaaS companies. He described a world where the person feeling the pain of a broken workflow is also empowered to fix it.

"The person who feels the pain is empowered to build the solution," he said. "They know the problem better than anyone. You don't need to translate it to a software engineer who's trying to understand your domain - you just do it."

Brinker credited early no-code tools like Airtable and Zapier with starting this shift, but AI has dramatically amplified it. Now, marketers can not only build calculators and prototypes with a few prompts - they can play, test, and explore freely.

One particularly transformative area is how HubSpot uses AI to enhance partnerships. Brinker shared how his own team now collaborates with partners on highly detailed proposals at unprecedented speed.

"Before, it might take weeks or months to go from a vague idea to a full plan. Now, a partner manager can put something together in days - with data analysis, sample assets, and even geographic targeting," he said. "It just makes everyone's job easier."

That mindset - of trial and learning - was something Brinker returned to often. When I asked what advice he had for people nervous about experimenting with AI at work, his response was clear: organisations need to remove the stigma of failure.

"It's not just about rewarding experimentation - it's about not punishing it," he explained. "Yes, outcomes matter. But if people feel like one failed test will be a black mark on their career, they just won't try. And that's a huge loss."

According to Brinker, this culture shift is essential as AI's potential explodes across marketing, sales and operations. And while many companies rush to capitalise on high-end applications, he encouraged people to start with simple, overlooked opportunities.

"That ROI calculator I demoed? Previously, you'd need a developer. But now? Two prompts and you've got a working version," he said. "It's a small thing - but incredibly valuable. These low-end use cases are where disruption always begins."

Even playful uses of AI, he argued, can lead to strategic value. One of his favourite examples was creating a custom AI-generated song as a waiting-room track for a webinar. "Yes, it was novelty - but it also made the experience memorable," he said.

That novelty-to-strategy pipeline is, in Brinker's view, a hallmark of AI's real potential: unlocking imagination, removing friction, and helping companies connect more authentically with their audiences.

On a broader scale, HubSpot is continuing to build towards what it calls the "connected customer" experience - ensuring that data and interactions across marketing, sales and support flow seamlessly. Brinker's team plays a key role in integrating third-party apps into that ecosystem, now with over 1,900 integrations available.

Since joining HubSpot in 2017, Brinker has witnessed dramatic growth - both in the company and in the industry.

"When I started, there were maybe 50 integrations. Now there are thousands," he said.

"But it's also been exhausting. AI is changing things so fast, it's like there's no pause."

That pace, however, is also what excites him most. He believes the next three years will see SaaS platforms become radically more customisable, with users creating their own AI agents, workflows and apps.

For all the change, one thing remains constant for Brinker: his belief in empowering people.

"There are so many people who've had incredible ideas, but never had the tools to bring them to life," he said. "Now they do - and I can't wait to see what they build."