I went to the Main Street AI Summit in DC, hosted by Perplexity.
Here's a full summary my biggest takeaways, talk by talk:
The thesis of the whole day: AI is a business multiplier for SMBs. Size matters less than it ever has.
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๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด:
@dmitry140 (
@perplexity_ai)
The line between startup and small business is disappearing. A solo founder now gets the leverage that used to take a 50-person team.
My favorite line: "๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ... You used to have to give instructions... now you prompt OBJECTIVES."
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๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฒ:
@hartleycaldwell (
@SBAgov)
$25M in AI credits going to 100,000 vetted small businesses. $250 in Perplexity credits to each SMB.
My favorite line: "๐๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข."
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๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐น: ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ / ๐๐น๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ (
@perplexity_ai), ๐ง๐ถ๐บ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐, ๐๐ผ๐๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ
The proof that none of this is theoretical. A house flipper, a marketing agency, and a Napa logistics company, all running leaner and faster with AI than they ever did with headcount.
My favorite line from Alison: "๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ."
My favorite line from Tim Francis: "๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ 30 ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฌ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐บ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ. AI allows you to be a human being, not a Human do'er."
My favorite line from Josh Hart: "I saw a Perplexity Ad, created an account, then I stayed up until 3am and built my first website. That was the aha moment."
My favorite line from David Dodge: "๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ: ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต. I had two in my inbox this morning."
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๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ: ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ /
@StateDept_CIO, Jerry Ma (
@perplexity_ai)
The State Dept rolled AI out to 100,000 employees and got 3,050 users on day one (up from 3000 beta users.... The hard part was never the tech. It was the training and change management.
My favorite line from Kelly: "๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ."
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๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐น: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ / ๐๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐, ๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ฎ, ๐๐น๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ, ๐๐ผ๐ต๐ป ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Discoverability is going merit-based. There has never been a better time to start a company.
My favorite line from
@emily_jorgens (
@perplexity_ai): "๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ."
My favorite line from
@aerotrekker (
@intuit): "๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ."
My favorite line from
@Clark_al (
@shopify): "๐๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ."
My favorite line from
@johnpaulfarmer (
@stripe): "๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ."
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๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ /
@Kaelan (
@whitehouse),
@dmitry140 (
@perplexity_ai)
Speed, volume, bold creative risk. Meet your audience where they actually are.
My favorite line from Kaelan: "๐๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ป๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ป๐บ."
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final thought - candidly, the thing that fired me up most:
Every single session circled back to lowering the friction to start and run a company for SMBs.
That's the whole reason
@doolaHQ exists. You shouldn't need an SSN, a US address, a plane ticket or a massive team to own and run a real US company. and AI makes that more true.
PS: If you are a business reading this looking to enable SMBs on your platform, check out our Company Formation API:
doola.com/business-solutionsโฆ