Hobbes

"Get them into a demo." For years that's been the reflex of nearly every B2B go-to-market motion. But the data keeps arguing with us. This was the topic in my CMO group this morning. Ask buyers what they actually want during an evaluation and only 19% say "a guided demo." 40% just want their questions answered fast. 31% want to explore on their own. (Source: Heinz Marketing Inc) Honestly, I'm one of the 31% and the 40%. I want quick answers, and I'd rather find them on my own. Yet most of our sales motions are built entirely for that 19%. We spend a lot of energy drawing the perfect buying process. The full committee, the tidy stages, the long scripted demo. Then we mistake that map for control we never actually had, and the buyer feels every bit of the friction. I recently ran into an AI demo tool called Hobbes while I was reviewing a head of marketing role for the company. What impressed me wasn't that it was slick. It was that it was honest. It didn't pretend to be a human, it answered my questions well, and it was ready to hand me to a person the moment I wanted one. The smartest part? It wouldn't guess at answers it couldn't get right, which is exactly what made me comfortable stepping into a real conversation on my own terms. That's not automation replacing the seller. It's automation earning the seller a better conversation. It reminded me of Pardot's Open Office Hours years back. Dial in, join the line, ask your question, get real help from real experts. Low friction. Human when you wanted human. The tools change fast. The job doesn't. Meet buyers where they are, and be the trusted expert when they're ready, not before. Hand off the parts of the process you don't enjoy anyway, and keep the parts only a person can do well. So maybe the goal isn't getting buyers into our demo. It's giving them real options and letting them choose their own path, instead of pushing them down ours. What's working for you?

The best people to teach founders how to go 0 to 1 are the ones who just did it. That's why so many of the speakers at our FIR & FIR U programs come from the Afore portfolio. This summer we had portfolio founders back in the room sharing what worked and what didn't at this exact stage: Conor Brennan-Burke of Hyperspell, David Yue of Accordance, Chirag Kulkarni of Hobbes, Bill Liu of Seel, and Trevor West of Podqi. They keep coming back because of how it started. As Conor put it: "When Afore invested in me, Hyperspell didn't exist. They weren't betting on traction, they were betting on a person." Today he's serving Fortune 100 customers. That access doesn't stop with the speakers. Every founder in the cohort gets dedicated 1:1 office hours with our team, the same hands-on support that turned these speakers into the founders they are today. Want to join the next cohort? Link is in the comments.

Earlier today, I shared this news with the Hobbes team. I’m sharing a version here because this is an important moment for Hobbes, our customers, our investors and our community. Today, we made the difficult decision to expand the team. As a result, many people who do not currently work at Hobbes may be joining the company soon. I own this decision, and I want to explain why we’re making it, how we’re supporting people joining, and how this positions Hobbes for what comes next. We’re at an inflection point, both as a company and as an industry. Buyers no longer want to fill out a form, wait three days, and sit through a qualification call before they can understand what a product can do for them. They want to get to know the solution, now. That is what we’re building at Hobbes: self-improving agents that run complex products 24/7, answer questions, and help growth teams wake up to real conversations. We cannot achieve our vision with prioritization alone. To build a world-class agent-native experience, we have to change where we invest and change the size and shape of the team. That’s why I’m making this decision today. We’re hiring across the board. Engineering. Product. GTM. Marketing. If you are exceptional, intense, low-ego, and want to build the future of software experiences, we want to talk. To those joining Hobbes: thank you in advance. You will help shape this company. You will build core parts of the agent, serve our customers and grow their businesses, support each other, and make Hobbes better in every way. To those not joining Hobbes: I know today is heavy. But our commitment to you remains unchanged. DM me or email chirag@hihobbes.com if you want to build with us.