99% of Businesses Are Small – and Nobody's Building Seriously for Them

01 /The Concept

The Mobile-First Company is building a suite of AI-powered applications for small businesses – a replacement for the aging software most of them still rely on.

"AI" here isn't the point in itself – no elaborate AI agents or assistants for their own sake. It's simply a useful layer of additional functionality that makes routine tasks easier to handle.

Multiple generations of small-business owners have run their operations on tools built long ago – Word, Excel, and their equivalents. The Mobile-First Company set out to build the next generation: software that is younger than the businesses using it.

The core emphasis is parity between mobile and desktop. Mobile versions of most business software remain stripped-down, frustrating approximations of the desktop experience. The Mobile-First Company wants to end that. Not by building mobile versions of desktop software, but by designing for mobile from the ground up – full functionality, purpose-built for phones. That's what "mobile-first" in the company name actually means.

And rather than building one monolithic platform that tries to do everything (and becomes expensive, slow, and unwieldy), the startup builds discrete apps for discrete tasks – apps that integrate seamlessly with each other, sharing data and connecting into unified workflows.

The flagship product today is Allo, a phone system for small teams. It records and transcribes calls, then drafts follow-up emails and updates CRM records automatically.

In beta is Due – an invoicing and payment-tracking app that uses a deposit model, requiring partial or full payment upfront before work begins. The goal is to reduce unpaid invoices, which average $17,500 outstanding per small business in the US.

On the roadmap: expense tracking, equipment maintenance, task management (with a "visual" interface that the company hasn't fully described yet), mobile contract signing, financial reporting, payroll, and online sales.

More than 5,000 businesses around the world are already using the apps, including Michelin-starred restaurants, auto repair shops, coworking spaces, and coding bootcamps. Many have reportedly replaced their previous tools entirely.

The Mobile-First Company was [covered previously](/review/strjomno-delat-stavku-tolko-na-odin-produkt) when it raised its first €5 million investment. At the time, the flagship product was different – the company has since pivoted, though the original product remains available. The company has now closed a new €10 million round.

02 /Why It Matters

What attracted investors isn't the novelty of any individual application – none are revolutionary. It's the concept and the market.

First, small businesses represent the overwhelming majority of all registered businesses in nearly every major economy. In the US, Germany, India, Brazil, and China, small businesses account for more than 99% of total registered companies. It's one of the largest underserved markets in enterprise software.

Second, internet usage has shifted decisively toward mobile. Mobile accounts for 62% of all internet traffic as of 2024, and that share continues to grow. Yet most business software on mobile remains a degraded experience compared to the desktop. Many readers have encountered this firsthand.

So mobile-first for small businesses is a strong claim on a massive market – exactly the kind of positioning that resonates with investors.

Interestingly, investor interest in small-business software has been picking up broadly. But selectively – specifically around startups that have recognized a fundamental constraint: small-business owners don't have time to learn or use IT platforms. They're busy serving customers. Barbers are cutting hair, technicians are fixing equipment, chefs are cooking. There's no slack in the day, and no budget to hire dedicated operations staff.

The opportunity this creates: AI platforms and services that handle necessary tasks autonomously, on autopilot.

WorkHero ([related review](/review/prodavaj-vot-takoj-servis-vmesto-it-platformy)) raised $5 million in October on an outsourced office-management service for HVAC companies – taking all administrative work off the owner's plate.

Zoca ([related review](/review/ne-nuzhno-pomogat-nuzhno-delat-jeto-vmesto-nih)) raised $6 million in May on an AI system that autonomously handles client acquisition and retention for salons, barbershops, and similar beauty-and-health businesses – leaving owners to focus on the actual work.

03 /Opportunities

The broad trend: small-business software is emerging as a distinct segment within the larger enterprise software market.

Small businesses share two defining constraints: not enough time, and not enough money. Not enough money to hire dedicated staff for the tasks the business requires. Not enough time to handle those tasks themselves, even with tools ostensibly built for them.

This problem has existed for decades. What's new is the ability to address it – through AI that can genuinely simplify, accelerate, and sometimes entirely automate the necessary work.

Three practical implications for building in this space:

- AI-native apps are easier to build from scratch than to retrofit onto legacy foundations. Starting clean allows you to design around AI capabilities rather than bolt them on.

- Vertical specificity matters. An app built for a particular type of business – a restaurant, a landscaping company, an auto shop – can handle the specific tasks, terminology, and workflows of that business far better than a generic tool.

- Mobile-first is non-negotiable. These tools need to be usable in the gaps between customer interactions – standing up, between jobs, with thirty seconds free. A desktop-first tool gets ignored.

So: for which small businesses, solving which of their specific operational headaches, could you build this right now?