Clara Shih, who’s now head of business AI at Meta., speaks during the 2024 Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
HubSpot announced on Wednesday that Clara Shih, Meta’s head of business AI, has been added to the software company’s Board of Directors.
Shih joined Meta last year to lead its artificial intelligence product team, which develops AI tools for businesses, like its digital assistant dubbed Business AI, which debuted last month. She was previously CEO of Salesforce AI.
While parts of the tech universe are seeing a big bump from the AI boom, HubSpot is in a corner of the market that’s getting hit as investors worry about the impact of AI on future business. The company’s stock is down 34% this year, compared to the Nasdaq’s 22% gain, and analysts expect revenue growth to slow this year and again in 2026, according to LSEG.
Like other cloud software companies, HubSpot is trying to infuse AI into the business, and convince Wall Street that the technology is poised to be a catalyst for efficiency and expansion.
“Clara is a remarkable leader who deeply understands both the transformative potential of AI and the realities of how go-to-market teams operate,” HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan said in Wednesday’s release. “Her experience building and scaling AI products, from foundational model platforms to customer-facing applications, will be invaluable as HubSpot continues to embed AI across our customer platform.”
Prior to serving as CEO of Salesforce AI starting in 2023, Shih ran the the company’s Service Cloud unit. There she expanded generative AI capabilities with the launch of Einstein GPT and Agentforce, an AI agent developer platform.
Before that, Shih co-founded Hearsay Social in 2009, serving as CEO until transitioning to the role of executive chairperson in 2020.
“HubSpot has a unique opportunity to help millions of scaling businesses harness the power of AI to drive growth,” Shih said in the release.
In February, HubSpot rolled out its own AI tool designed to help companies analyze brand awareness across AI search engines. The company said last week that it’s acquiring XFunnel, a platform that helps businesses optimize their presence on AI search engines.
