Democratizing E-Commerce: How Launch Cart is revolutionizing small business management

Welcome to FinTech TV.

I'm Remy Blair.

It's no secret that small businesses can face big challenges from marketing to scheduling to sales.

Now Launchcar is an all in one e-commerce platform for entrepreneurs.

Its CRM platform combines text messaging, email marketing, sales funnels, landing pages, ifi management, and even WordPress hosting.

Well, joining me here at the York Stock Exchange to weigh in as CEO and founder of Launchart.

Bragreder.

Brag, great to have you here.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you so much.

What an exciting day for me to be here.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

Well, here you are at the New York Stock Exchange, the center of capitalism.

So when we're talking about the US economy, we know that small businesses are integral.

So tell me what Launchcard is doing.

You know, I come from this world.

I used to own an investment bank in the 80s, in the early 90s, so I'm big on capitalism and free enterprise.

And when I started looking at how do you really empower somebody to take control of their financial freedom, at least in one sector, e-commerce.

And I, and I actually bought the very first e-commerce mall in 1997.

So back when the internet had just started, so I had this vision for a long time, so I had this idea that we're democratizing distribution like the old days you have apparel line, where do you go?

Big box retail, Nordstrom's, Kmart, Target, you know, whatever.

And so now we're able to give people the ability to sell direct to consumer, but then you say, OK, every other small business they need to be able to have a CRM and Communicate with their customer, talk to their customer, communicate with the offer them deals, specials, coupons.

So we wanted to build a platform that was all encompassing, that did everything for the small business, so they didn't have to have 10 different platforms and try to integrate them and manage them all.

Yeah.

And when you think about the typical small business owner out there, they're grappling with so many challenges, right?

So streamlining the process of managing a business is important.

So what does the CRM platform actually do?

Well, it's a place for you to maintain your customer relationship.

You can tag them based on their customers or prospects or what they bought, all that kind of stuff.

Then you can set up automated workflows with a little bit of AI built in there so you can automatically communicate with them with monthly newsletters, weekly newsletters, or if they did this, send them this, if they did that, do this, text messaging, ringless voicemails, anything to remind them of things that are happening coming up.

And then the idea that maybe I need a calendar scheduling system, maybe I'm a hairdresser.

I need a calendar schedule.

We have all the calendar scheduling.

Maybe I need to send out some documents and contracts.

We have like a DocuSign type digital signature platform, just anything and everything.

Instead of having this thing for my calendar scheduling, this thing for my e-commerce, this thing for my text messaging, it's all under one roof and we also have AI ad spot, which is amazing.

So I know that when it comes to artificial intelligence, some people may be worried about it because as much as it helps us, there are also a lot of unknowns out there.

So moving forward, what would you say to the American business owner who is thinking about utilizing AI, but they're also concerned about potentially being replaced?

It's a great concern, but they have to embrace it because it's not going anywhere, right?

So like with my I was telling me earlier today in my company with all of my team, all of my employees, I'm allocating them to spend at least 90 minutes a day learning AI for their job or their job function, not because I don't want to replace them.

I want to be able to have them scale.

So a webmaster, for instance, a webmaster could maybe do one client a week.

I want to have them leverage AI to where they can do 2 clients a week and then 3 clients a week.

My email copywriter can maybe do 5 clients a month.

Now we should be able to do 50 clients a month, right?

So it's about leveraging that technology to accelerate a particular division of my business, and you have to embrace it and you have to spend the time to learn it, how it can save you money, how it could save you time, how it can make you more efficient.

And the combination of AI with automations, it's, it's, it's just, it's just a must for every small business.

It sounds as though you're saying that leveraging and efficiency are key here when it comes to artificial intelligence.

And I think another thing that we're all paying attention to, we've been reading these headlines about generational wealth and that transfer that's happening.

So when it comes to American businesses, especially small businesses, what's happening here?

And can you dispel some of the myths that are out there?

Well, there is a big transfer of wealth.

We were just talking about that.

There's so many baby boomers my age that don't want to retire and they have this, this low tech or no tech service oriented business that's in every single business or city in this country.

And they want to retire and maybe they don't have kids and maybe their kids don't want to take over the business, so they need to sell their business.

And I look at that going, and we were talking about this a little bit we didn't get to there, but if I can buy a business and then leverage some AI and some automations to make it more efficient and have it scale its numbers and bring more money to the bottom line, it's a great idea.

But we have to, we have to embrace this idea that There's going to be so much wealth that's going to be transferred through this to sale of existing businesses on Main Street America that investors and investor groups, they should be looking at this seriously for their portfolio buying cash flow.

I call it buying Evata.

Yeah, so some of the common business models that people might think of when we're talking about businesses such as these are, say, laundromats, HVAC businesses, or getting into vending machines, correct?

So what does it really mean to buy these businesses and continue with maintenance as well as upkeep?

What do people out there need to really know?

Well, I think if you're going to go into that business buying realm, you're going to look at how can you replace the owner.

Like, is that going to be from management within?

Like you're bringing somebody up who's been working there for 10 years, you're going to make them a part, a manager slash owner, give them an option to buy things out.

I love that mala because now you've got people that are familiar with the business and you're giving them their own ability to buy the business.

And as far as just the myth that they're not going away, right?

And this, this going back to the AI like it's going to replace a lot of jobs.

Like I just mentioned bookkeeping, like buying bookkeeping businesses.

AI is going to be all bookkeeping.

I don't know the bookkeeping is going to be a thing.

It's going to be a thing of the past because, you know, we have all these integrations with Chase and bank cards and merchant accounts.

What do we need a bookkeeper for if it's all talking AI and AI is doing everything more efficiently?

So I think there are going to be in industries that are seriously transformed.

But if you're a bookkeeper, you better learn how to use AI.

To grow your business, because if you're the one who knows how to use it and leverage it, you're never going to go out, you're never going to lose your job.

Yeah, and finally, before I let you go, there may be entrepreneurs watching this right now.

What does it take to be an entrepreneur's best friend?

Oh that's good.

So coming from Wall Street, I raised hundreds of millions of dollars for entrepreneurs.

Then I became an entrepreneur, so I understand both sides of the fence.

So I got that nickname of the entreeur's best friend because I could help somebody from a startup napkin on how to sequence their vision into a reality.

And obviously I'm a big tech guy, so it's like what tech platform do I need?

What's the foundation for my tech platform, whether you're launching a book or launching a new business or whatever that is, and then, OK, now I need to put Together an offering document I need to raise some seed capital and maybe a Series A or maybe I'm doing 1015, 20 million a year.

I want to scale the hunter man.

I have those.

I've done that too.

Like I've been involved with things like that.

So from A to Z, I want to help small business entrepreneurs control their destiny with their own tools, their own technology, and their own ability to basically take control of their financial wealth.

Well, Greg, thank you so much for joining me today here at the New York Stock Exchange, and thank you so much for sharing all of your insight.

I appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.