HubSpot has brought its co-founder back to the top job. The customer software company said on Thursday that Brian Halligan will return as chief executive officer, effective immediately, replacing Yamini Rangan, who stepped down as CEO and left the board the same day.
Halligan co-founded HubSpot in 2005 with chief technology officer Dharmesh Shah and ran the company for 16 years, leading it from a startup through its initial public offering. Rangan, who took over in September 2021, will remain with the company through December 1 to support the transition. Neither the company's announcement nor its regulatory filing gave a reason for her departure.
A founder returns to rebuild around AI
The board is framing the change as a fresh start rather than a simple succession. Halligan announced his return on X, writing that he and Shah are "completely re-founding the company" and that "its day 1," adding that HubSpot is now "the Customer Harness Company." He said he will post in the coming days about why he came back and what his plans are.
The reset comes as HubSpot races to reposition its platform around AI agents. Rangan herself said in the company's third-quarter report this month that AI is moving software "from tools that help people do work to agents that do the work and deliver outcomes." Investors welcomed the shake-up: HubSpot shares rose about 7 percent on Thursday, though the stock is still down roughly 47 percent over the past year.
Under Rangan's tenure, HubSpot grew from about 135,000 customers to more than 311,000, and from $1.3 billion in annual revenue to an expected $3.7 billion in 2026. The company's third-quarter results, reported on November 4, showed revenue of $947.6 million, up 17 percent year over year, with 311,704 customers, up 12 percent.
A new chief financial officer, too
HubSpot announced a second leadership change alongside the CEO switch. Chief Financial Officer Kate Bueker will retire on February 11, 2027, after eight years in the role. Karen Burgess, currently senior vice president and CFO of Adobe's Creativity & Productivity business unit, will join HubSpot on November 30 as executive vice president of finance and take over as CFO when Bueker departs.
HubSpot also reaffirmed the fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 financial guidance it issued with its third-quarter results.
What the 'refounding' has to prove
Halligan inherits a company far larger than the one he handed over in 2021 — but one whose shares have been under pressure as investors question how quickly traditional software businesses can adapt to an agent-first world. His answer, at least for now, is to rebuild the product, the go-to-market strategy and the culture around AI, with the founder back in charge to do it.
Whether the refounding restores the growth investors once took for granted will depend on how quickly the AI-first rebuild shows up in the numbers. The first real test comes with the details Halligan has promised to share in the days ahead — and with the next earnings report after that.
