From Hustle to High Gear: How AI is Unlocking Scale for SMBs

Why and how Main Street is emerging as tech's next frontier.

Walking the streets of Auburn, Alabama last weekend, I was struck by the pulse of possibility. Even after a tough March Madness loss, the town had an inescapable energy. Yes, the blooms of Southern spring were in full force, but it was something else that caught my attention – a quiet confidence or perhaps even a tech-tinged optimism I hadn’t expected a thousand miles away from a major tech hub.

There was a marked momentum shift, as everyday operators – boutique owners, contractors, and CPAs alike – eagerly experimented with tech tools once accessible only to the enterprise elite. It reminded me that the AI-driven wave of innovation around us isn't just rolling through Silicon Valley. It's making its way through Main Streets across the country.

For decades, small and midsize businesses have been defined by grit. Yet what they often lacked wasn’t drive or determination; it was access to the best tools to run their businesses. This specialized expertise, often in the form of bespoke consultants, came at a premium, while the software required was fragmented, complicated, and expensive.

But all that has changed, quite suddenly. Today, AI is laying down a new kind of infrastructure offering these operators unprecedented autonomy. Across sectors, we’re seeing barriers that once required scale and capital start to crumble. Tools that were once out of reach are now accessible in a browser tab or app window. What was once a multi-person operation – brand strategist, content marketer, paid media buyer, and more – is now being distilled into a single intelligent workflow.

For these often overwhelmed operators, complexity is no longer a moat. Instead, execution is.

The beauty of AI isn’t just in its ability to automate. It is in its ability to hyper efficiently elevate. As AI tools learn, adapt, and increasingly perform like a tenured and trusted employee, they are being empowered to make decisions, anticipate needs, and respond in real time.

From Underdog to Overachiever

Nowhere will this shift be felt more deeply than among SMBs, or the true backbone of the everyday economy. These businesses that power our communities have always done more with less. Yet today, “less” increasingly comes with leverage, where we are seeing breakout opportunities across the following categories.

Marketing & Advertising

With AI, small and midsize businesses will no longer be drowned out in online discovery by larger, better-funded incumbents, nor will they need to rely on costly full-service agencies just to stay competitive. AI tools will generate ad copy, design creative, target audiences, and optimize performance all in real time. What once required a coordinated team of strategists, designers, and media buyers can now be managed from a single, intuitive dashboard, dramatically cutting costs while actually improving advertising ROI and conversion rates. As AI absorbs incremental roles and responsibilities across the marketing funnel, business owners will be able to refreshingly redirect their energy toward competing on product experience and carefully curating their craft.

Sales

As Marketing-driven awareness unlocks a broadening aperture of sales opportunities, AI will transform every stage of the sales funnel. Prospecting, outreach, lead scoring, and follow-up will be automated and personalized using tools that integrate directly with a business’ CRM. In the future, a founder or solo rep will be able to scale their outreach like a full sales team while also getting real-time insights from AI agents that automatically analyze buyer signals. Ultimately, this should lead to expanding pipelines and increasing close rates. While businesses will benefit from greater sales velocity, end customers will similarly benefit from higher levels of responsiveness, enhanced engagement, and carefully thought out customization through the end-to-end process.

Customer Success

Augmented by AI, customer support will no longer need to scale linearly with customer count. With AI, automated onboarding, intelligent ticket resolution, and proactive account monitoring to flag churn risks or upsell opportunities will emerge as the new normal. As teams large and small are increasingly empowered to deliver white-glove service around the clock, we’ll see greater customer satisfaction and ongoing engagement rates as Cost to Serve (CTS) calculations shift from margin movers to rounding errors.

Tax, Accounting & Financial Planning

Finally, managing the back office will no longer require a CPA (or that friendly neighbor down the street) on speed dial. AI-powered tools will categorize expenses, model cash flow, suggest tax strategies, and flag risks in real time giving smaller operators a higher degree of financial visibility than they’ve ever dreamed possible. While a lack of transparency has often led smaller business owners to operate defensibility, the tax and planning tools of tomorrow will put the ball in their court, empowering them to play offense when it comes to scaling their businesses.

A New Kind of Scale

The powerful shift underway isn't just about eliminating cost; it’s about unlocking capabilities. By removing the traditional bottlenecks like pricey consultants, rigid software, outdated playbooks, AI will offer SMBs a level of agency they’ve never had before. Tools will become teammates. Decisions will become data-driven. Expertise will become embedded.

And that changes the equation. No longer will growth be gated by headcount or fundraising rounds. It will be governed by curiosity and execution. The coffee shop will be able to launch a loyalty program that rivals a national chain. The local contractor will be able deploy AI for scheduling, quoting, and follow-up, all while winning more jobs with less administrative drag. And my hope is that we’ll all be better off for it!

At Redpoint, we’re excited about this new era where ambition isn’t stifled by infrastructure. And if you’re as excited about empowering the underdogs as we are, we’d love to hear from you. Subscribe to this Substack or find me on LinkedIn or Twitter for more.