Adapta HubSpot-style SMB playbook
Max Peters, CEO of Adapta, on building AI agents for Brazilian SMBs
The real point is that Adapta is not trying to win by being one more AI app, it is trying to become the teacher, channel, and default operating layer for Brazilian SMBs. HubSpot won SMBs by packaging software with education, events, certifications, and service partners, so customers learned a new way to work and then bought the tool that made that workflow easiest. Adapta is applying that same formula to AI adoption in Brazil.
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In practice, this means demand generation is not just ads or product led signup. Adapta runs Brazil's largest AI event for businesses, sells courses, and uses consultants to help owners roll AI out to their teams. That mirrors HubSpot's mix of Academy training, community events, and partner led implementation.
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The fit is strongest because Adapta's buyer looks like HubSpot's early buyer, an owner or operator at an SMB who knows AI matters but needs help turning a model into daily workflow. Adapta says the owner usually buys first, then expands to the team, especially in service businesses like agencies, law firms, clinics, and real estate.
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The strategic payoff is a harder moat than model access alone. HubSpot still had 288,706 customers at the end of 2025 and has moved upmarket over time. Adapta is following the same path, first owning SMB adoption and training habits, then layering in internal tools, agents, and eventually more enterprise features.
If this playbook keeps working, the next step is for Adapta to turn AI education into a full ecosystem. The event creates attention, training creates habits, consultants create successful deployments, and software becomes the system of record. That is how an AI workspace becomes an SMB operating system, and then grows into the broader mid market over time.