One year in, small business owners are returning to Velo again and again for everything from a first-time question about starting a business to complex compliance and growth decisions
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ZenBusiness®, the AI platform providing trusted guidance to nearly one million small businesses, marked the one-year anniversary of ZenBusiness Velo®, its AI guide for small business owners. Over the past year, it’s gone from a brand new product to a resource small business owners turn to at every stage of running their companies, now having handled over 2.5 million conversations.
That trust shows up clearly in how small business owners have actually used Velo since launch. Entrepreneurs have spent more than 25,000 hours, the equivalent of 1,000+ days, in conversation with Velo, coming back to it for everything from formation and compliance questions to business planning and growth decisions.
Conversation volume has also grown from around 14,000 monthly threads at launch to 590,000 today. And even as usage has exploded, the share of these interactions requiring a human handoff has fallen from 11.5% to roughly 3% over that same period. Velo is fielding a far larger volume of questions with greater effectiveness than it did a year ago.
The questions people are asking have changed too, and so has what Velo can handle. ZenBusiness steadily expanded Velo’s capabilities throughout the year, from business planning tools like idea generation, name generation, and entity advice, to the Blueprint feature in April, to a major consolidation in June that brought everything together into the experience it is today. Early on, people leaned on guided prompts and simple menus. Today, they write in their own words to explain their situation with real context and specifics, a meaningful sign that business owners trust Velo enough to be honest about where they are and what they need.
“Last July, Velo answered its very first question from a customer who was simply curious what it could do,” said Sameer Gulati, President and Chief Product Officer at ZenBusiness. “A year and 2.5 million conversations later, business owners are asking Velo to help them think through complicated business entity structuring, tax filings, and growth plans, which are the kind of questions that have real, make-or-break impacts on their livelihoods. The shift from curiosity to seeking guidance is exactly what we set out to build, and we’re thrilled to see the positive impact it’s having on our customers.”
Over the past year, Velo has shown up for entrepreneurs wherever they are and whenever they need it. Nearly half of conversations on the platform happen after hours or on weekends, because small business ownership doesn’t follow a 9-to-5 schedule. Those interactions have come from people in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and have covered everything from a first-time founder’s most basic question to a seasoned owner’s most pressing compliance concern.
To mark the anniversary, ZenBusiness is inviting the small business community to keep the conversation going. Business owners who haven’t yet tried Velo can visit zenbusiness.com/velo to ask their first question.
About ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness is a company that empowers entrepreneurs to start, run, grow, and stay compliant, all in one place. As a leader in business formations and compliance, ZenBusiness blends AI with award-winning human support to simplify and accelerate small business success. We help business owners protect their personal assets, meet compliance requirements, and grow confidently through one seamless, intuitive platform.
ZenBusiness believes that everyone should have the opportunity to pursue business ownership. With a mission to champion the dreams of entrepreneurs, we enable small business owners to achieve success on their own terms by doing what they love.
Nearly 1 million businesses have turned to ZenBusiness for their entrepreneurial journey. For more information, visit www.zenbusiness.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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SOURCE ZenBusiness
