Welcome to FinTech TV.
I'm Remy Blair.
We're here at Money 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I am joined by none other than Elizabeth Gore, who's the co-founder of Hello Alice.
So great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Howdy, I'm so happy to be here.
Well, now that this conference is underway, it means that we only have 2 more months left until year end.
So I know it's so hard.
To believe, isn't it?
Yeah, I'm not ready, but at the same time, it's a good time to look in the rearview mirror and take a look at funding, especially of small businesses across the country.
So what are your takeaway so far this year?
You know, I have optimism with a little tale of worry.
Small businesses are going like crazy.
We have 5 times the amount launching right now in the history of our country.
The capital is still very expensive and tariffs are very expensive, so from a growth perspective, even though they're launching, they're really not getting enough capital to grow.
So we've got, that's why I'm here to talk to all these banks and FinTechs.
Let's really push the. for small businesses, yeah, and Elizabeth, this is an area that you pay close attention to.
So what do you think really needs to happen here moving forward when it comes to funding?
Well, you know, I got really excited.
We show up at Money 2020 and I see open banking stickers everywhere, and I'm a huge fan of open banking for small business because, you know, some of the most successful small business owners come in and maybe their FICO scores aren't great.
Um, small business, your 1st 24 months, you're really learning on your personal credit.
And if we can really look at the P&L of the business owner and see, oh my gosh, they have great contracts coming in, they pay their bills on time.
I think they could get better high quality loans to grow their business.
So I'm really excited about open banking, and I did want to ask you how does Hello Alice actually help navigate what goes on not only on a day to day basis, but also throughout the journey of a small business as they grow?
Well, our number one goal.
Access to capital, but right behind it is the financial fitness of a small business.
So we have the business health score and the score ranks the small businesses financial halls 0 to 100 consistently.
They can take that score as many times as they want.
It's a free underwriting tool and then we guide them every 90 days on how to improve their cash flow, their cyber, their growth projections, their taxes, and that's really important.
And now with AI that's getting faster and better.
Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up artificial intelligence because it does play a key role in the future of finance.
But what do you think needs to happen when it comes to the regulatory landscape and how can small businesses keep smart when it comes to artificial intelligence?
We were just in DC and you know they were shut down but we were open.
And small businesses are actually slower in adopting AI, which concerns us.
So you have enterprise and consumer, but small business, there's like an 8.8% to 10% adoption right now on utilizing AI specifically for their finances.
So we're talking to the banks, the big fintechs, and so on that we really need to ensure.
AI tools and their existing software, but I'm also here to shop around and see what software is out there specifically for small business to manage everything in their accounts with AI.
I think it's an exciting time.
Small business owners are so time core that AI can give them that time back, that efficiency, those data insights.
I'm so excited about it.
Yeah, and one other thing I do want to ask you when it comes to artificial intelligence is also budget, right?
Because when we're talking about enterprises, these large corporations or financial institutions have the budget to devote to AI, whether we're talking about development of agentic AI or Gen AI in general.
So what needs to happen when it comes to affordability?
Well, you know, you asked also about regulation, but both of that is pulling regulation back and ensuring affordability, um, and accessibility.
I do have to say that.
So if you look at small town America where the vast majority of jobs are created, we have to still look, look at things like broadband, look at it it's like, uh, do you have access to good AI tools are they affordable and then, you know, not over regulating them is really important and that's when they're going to filter all the way down to Main Street.
I mean we've got the vast majority of jobs in this country by small business owners.
We have to ensure they have access, adoption, portability of AI.
And with that leads to risk as well.
So what needs to happen when it comes to risk mitigation, especially when small business owners are so time poor.
Well, uh, they are, we're, we're gonna have to ensure the education comes with adoption.
We can't just assume we're going to download a new tech and a small business owner is gonna have the time to go do it.
So, you know, I, I, I give.
Small business owners' advice of you, you are gonna have to work around the business, not just in it, and carve out that time maybe Mondays and Friday mornings to really learn and adopt these new tools.
You just have to.
And the, and the other thing I'll just say is really us going to them.
I, I want to see Money220s in other cities like getting out to small business owners, making sure we're educating them and reaching out to.
Sure they are using these tools.
Well, Elizabeth, it does sound as though that could be a big opportunity.
I'm, absolutely, yeah.
And speaking of opportunity, I do want to get your take on female founders receiving so little VC funding.
You know, I, we, so personally, myself, my co-founder, we're we'reer C backed company and Um, you know, it's, it's dropped down again.
I think below 2% of ventures going to women, and it makes no sense as a capitalist.
We're some of the highest performing founders, and I think coming out of uh COVID, you know, a lot of women were in the care economy whether it's elder care, childcare, and we're catching back up again, but What that shows me is the system side still isn't there.
Like who are the decision makers?
What are we doing to really ensure that we are going to women where they are and asking them what do you need, pitch us your business and it's still got to be the best business to compete, but we've got to go to where they are to get that involvement.
Yeah, so finally, Elizabeth, my last question to you is, if it's not VC funding, are there better alternatives for women out there?
Oh, absolutely, um, excuse me, a huge fan of partnerships.
If I look around this room, there, you know, when we launched at LOLs, we launched with Dell Technologies.
Mastercard's a huge partner of ours.
You know, is there a way to think about investment and of time, energy, and marketing?
Maybe that's the best way to do this.
Well, thank you so much for making time for us, Elizabeth.
I appreciate you joining us and taking time out of your busy schedule because your insights.
Thank you.
