#leadership

HubSpot has announced a leadership transition. Co-Founder Brian Halligan returns as Chief Executive Officer to lead a refounding of the company and Karen Burgess is named the next Chief Financial Officer.

The company stated that Brian Halligan, identified as a co-founder, will resume the role of Chief Executive Officer. The purpose given is to lead a refounding of the company. In the same announcement Karen Burgess is named to the position of Chief Financial Officer.

Salesloft announced the appointment of Stephanie Manzelli as Chief People Officer. Manzelli will lead the company's global people strategy across talent, leadership development, organizational design, employee experience and culture.

The move comes after the 2025 merger of Clari and Salesloft. The combined organization now operates under one leadership team, one strategy and one brand.

Quantum Heaps appointed Roman Romancini as President, Latin America. He will lead the company commercial operations and expansion across the region and will report to Harsh Panwar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

The appointment comes weeks after Quantum Heaps named a global Chief Marketing Officer and Presidents for North America and EMEA.

Founders at B2B AI startups report hiring executives who worked at good companies once or twice yet never performed the core work of the roles. According to [SaaStr](https://www.saastr.com/beware-the-mediocre-recycled-the-zombie-executives-of-b2b-ai/), these hires possess the right LinkedIn logos and speak fluently about PLG, enterprise motions and AI-native go-to-market but have not built AI workflows themselves.

Chief Product & Technology Officer positions are appearing at B2B companies north of $100M ARR, particularly those shifting toward agentic and AI capabilities, according to SaaStr. The publication states that 95 times out of 100 the title signals a problematic structure rather than a solution.

SaaStr reports that individuals in CPTO positions typically stop coding and lose proximity to architecture decisions, production issues, and code reviews.

2X appointed Emily Atkinson as Chief Client Officer and Drew Murphy as Chief Financial and Operating Officer. The subscription-based go-to-market services partner for B2B organizations made the announcements to expand its executive team.

Atkinson will lead the global client organization and unify strategy, execution, technology and AI as one GTM engine.

Companies with four account executives may assign their Head of Sales a small quota on a short-term basis.

According to SaaStr, a Head of Sales can carry a small quota for one sales cycle or so when the team has four AEs. The arrangement remains reasonable only while the leader acts as a player-coach. The source states the quota should end once the initial period passes.

The Head of Sales must prioritize hiring, onboarding, and enabling the existing AEs rather than closing deals.

SaaStr states that after working with or investing in approximately 30 successful start-ups, the most common VP or CXO-level hire failure observed is the wrong VP of Sales or CRO. The second most frequent mistake, and often the top reason VPs lose their jobs, is priority dis-alignment between the new executive and the CEO.

A SaaStr article states that companies can determine whether a new VP Sales hire will work out within 30 days by applying two specific tests focused on recruiting and team management.

The article explains that the majority of first VP Sales hires in SaaS companies do not remain in the role for 12 months. It asserts that the determination can be made in 30 days rather than waiting for revenue outcomes.

SaaStr published guidance for B2B SaaS founders stating that companies between $1m and $20m ARR need great VPs across roles to move the needle, noting that many founders have not yet worked with one.

Founders at $1m-$1.5m ARR typically conclude they must hire a VP of Sales to scale from a handful of reps to ten or more to reach $5m-$10m ARR.