By Maha Khan-Ahmad
Small businesses power nearly half of America’s private workforce, yet many entrepreneurs argue the financial system still isn’t built around how modern businesses actually operate. As artificial intelligence reshapes finance, some founders believe banking’s next evolution won’t be faster transactions, it will be smarter guidance.
America’s small businesses have never been more important, or more complex, to run.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, more than 36.2 million small businesses operate across the United States. Together, they account for 99.9% of all businesses, employ 62.3 million Americans (45.9% of the private sector workforce), and contribute roughly 43.5% of U.S. GDP. Yet despite their economic significance, many entrepreneurs argue the financial system supporting them hasn’t evolved alongside the realities of modern business ownership.
Today’s founders aren’t simply managing invoices and checking balances. They’re juggling payroll, hiring, inventory, taxes, marketing, fundraising, supply chains and cash flow, often all before lunch. Yet when they turn to their financial institutions, many say they still encounter a system designed to sell products rather than solve problems.
For entrepreneur, investor and fintech founder Neema Mahdavian, that disconnect became impossible to ignore.
“Banks have become very good at managing money, but they’ve stopped helping entrepreneurs build businesses.”
Mahdavian didn’t arrive at that conclusion through theory. He arrived there through experience.
Searching for a more modern banking experience, he moved to a fintech bank expecting innovation. Instead, he found an ecosystem built almost entirely around self-service.
“When I needed real guidance, I was left talking to an AI that couldn’t understand the context of my business or help me make decisions,” Mahdavian says. “The technology was efficient, but it wasn’t intelligent.”
Hoping for something different, he visited several traditional banks.
What he found wasn’t relationship banking. It was a sales process.
“Every conversation centered around opening another account, applying for another product, or meeting internal quotas,” he says. “No one asked how my business was doing, what challenges I was facing, or how they could help me grow.”
That experience ultimately inspired Mahdavian to launch QBiz, an AI-powered business banking platform that aims to combine artificial intelligence with personalized financial guidance. But he believes the issue extends well beyond any single institution.
“I don’t think banks don’t care about entrepreneurs,” he says. “I think the system they’re built around doesn’t allow them to truly understand them.”
Banking is still optimized for products, not businesses
Traditional banks excel at what they were designed to do: safeguard deposits, manage risk, facilitate payments and provide financial products.
The challenge, Mahdavian argues, is that entrepreneurs aren’t looking for products. They’re looking for partners.
“Business owners don’t wake up thinking about checking accounts or credit cards,” he says. “They’re trying to make payroll, improve cash flow, hire employees, negotiate with vendors, manage marketing and figure out how to grow. Banking is only one piece of that puzzle.”
Through his work investing in startups at Poseidon Ventures and guiding companies through PGL Management, his business management and tax firm, Mahdavian says he’s watched founders make costly financial decisions despite receiving well-intentioned advice.
“I’ve seen companies lose thousands of dollars through avoidable taxes, unnecessary financing costs or inefficient capital decisions,” he says. “Not because anyone had bad intentions, but because the advice was based around a banking product rather than the business as a whole.”
It’s a structural challenge, he believes, rather than an individual one. Relationship managers are often measured by lending volume, deposits and product adoption instead of the long-term success of the businesses they serve.
The relationship banking entrepreneurs actually want
If Mahdavian could redesign business banking from scratch, he says three changes would come first.
The first is restoring genuine relationship banking.
“There was a time when your banker knew your business, understood your goals and was genuinely invested in your success,” he says. “Today, many businesses only hear from their bank when something goes wrong or when they’re being sold another product.”
Second, he believes banks need to move beyond a sales-first culture.
“The best bankers can completely change the trajectory of a company,” he explains. “They can introduce entrepreneurs to investors, connect them with capital, help them avoid costly financial mistakes or simply ask the right questions at the right time. That’s difficult when success is measured by quarterly quotas instead of businesses helped.”
Finally, Mahdavian argues every entrepreneur, not only large corporate clients, should have access to intelligent financial guidance.
“A business bank should do far more than hold deposits and process payments,” he says. “It should help owners understand cash flow, anticipate challenges, identify opportunities and make smarter decisions every day.”
Why better business banking is an economic issue
The consequences extend far beyond individual companies.
Small businesses collectively employ nearly half of America’s private workforce. When founders spend valuable time navigating disconnected financial tools, waiting weeks for lending decisions or searching for fragmented advice, those inefficiencies compound across the broader economy.
“I’ve worked with founders who had great products, talented teams and strong demand,” Mahdavian says. “What slowed them down wasn’t a lack of ambition. It was making avoidable financial decisions because they didn’t have proactive guidance.”
He believes the ripple effects are significant.
“When millions of entrepreneurs are underserved, innovation slows. Hiring slows. Local economies suffer. Businesses that could have become tomorrow’s industry leaders never reach their full potential.”
The next AI battle won’t be about chatbots
Artificial intelligence has become banking’s latest competitive battleground, but Mahdavian believes the industry is asking the wrong question.
“My unpopular opinion is that most banks are using AI to protect themselves, not to empower their customers.”
Today’s AI investments, he notes, are largely concentrated around fraud detection, compliance monitoring, operational efficiency and customer-service automation. Those applications improve banking operations, but they don’t necessarily improve entrepreneurial outcomes.
“Many banks market AI, but what they’re really offering is a chatbot,” he says. “A chatbot can answer questions or reset a password. That’s useful, but it doesn’t fundamentally help a business owner improve cash flow, identify growth opportunities or make better financial decisions.”
Instead, he envisions AI functioning more like a financial companion, learning about a business over time, recognizing patterns across financial and operational data and proactively surfacing recommendations before challenges become crises.
Just as importantly, he doesn’t believe AI should replace human relationships.
“We’re combining AI with real relationship banking,” Mahdavian says. “Technology should make it easier, not harder, to connect with experienced people when you’re making an important financial decision.”
Banking’s next chapter
For decades, innovation in banking has largely been measured through convenience. Faster payments, better mobile apps and digital account opening transformed how businesses access financial services.
The next phase may demand something different.
As artificial intelligence matures and entrepreneurs increasingly expect personalized insights rather than transactional services, competitive advantage may no longer come from offering another banking product. It may come from becoming a trusted advisor.
Whether traditional financial institutions evolve to meet those expectations, or whether a new generation of AI-first companies reshapes business banking altogether, remains to be seen.
But one thing is becoming increasingly clear: America’s 36 million small businesses aren’t simply looking for a place to store their money anymore.
They’re looking for a financial partner that helps them build what’s next.
