Velo AI Automates Startup Formation and Compliance for Small Businesses

Small business owners facing the hurdles of jump-starting a new business can “hire” a unique artificial intelligence (AI) agent that does more than spit out steps to follow. It does the work for them.

ZenBusiness recently unveiled Velo, a personalized AI business guide that aims to alleviate the anxieties of startup founders. It also helps accelerate the growth of small and medium-sized businesses by simplifying the complex tasks involved in launching and managing a business.

Instead of spending weeks navigating required state filings, regulatory forms, and setup tasks, entrepreneurs can hand the process off to Velo, which handles it in minutes. It can also generate a functional website, removing one of the most common early barriers.

Velo completes administrative tasks, including pulling and preparing compliance documents. It determines the required licenses, making it much more like a real team member than just another AI chatbot.

Starting and growing a business comes with countless unknowns and non-optional requirements, noted Ross Buhrdorf, CEO and co-founder of ZenBusiness.

“The biggest hurdle is the sheer amount of administrative work required just to get a business off the ground. It’s complex enough to make many would-be entrepreneurs pause or hire expensive consultants just to navigate the maze,” he told CRM Buyer.

Even seasoned owners find themselves spending more time on paperwork, compliance, and accounting than on the work they actually love, he added.

The Platform Behind Velo

ZenBusiness, a $1.5B platform backed by SoftBank and Greycroft, consolidates the tools, services, and expert support needed to start, run, and grow a business. It lets SMB owners manage services, track documents and orders, run a website, and handle income and expenses — all in one place.

According to the company, since the Velo component launched in mid-July, customers have used Velo more than 30,000 times, generating more than 25,000 chats that shed light on how entrepreneurs are embracing artificial intelligence. It is the first AI explicitly built to start and run a small business.

Mark Cuban, a longtime advisor and investor in the company, noted that Velo helps SMBs level the playing field.

“Too many entrepreneurs are left to figure things out on their own and simply don’t have the resources or guidance to get it right,” Cuban said. “That’s why Velo is a big deal.”

Buhrdorf contrasted Velo with standard chatbots, saying most are reactive. They wait for questions and give generic answers. Velo differs in its ensemble of specialized AI agents, built on ZenBusiness’s compliance knowledge base and proprietary data from more than 800,000 businesses that use its platform.

“That foundation means Velo doesn’t just tell you what to do. It can actually execute the task,” he said.

Designing Velo for Trust

Buhrdorf shared that the most formidable challenge was building trust in the existing system from day one. The complexity and sensitivity of the tasks involved required rigorous accuracy and safeguards. Velo had to process legal filings, compliance documents, and personal data that determine whether a business gets off the ground.

“That meant we had to design Velo to meet the same standards of accuracy and security that a human expert would provide, while still delivering the speed and convenience entrepreneurs expect from AI,” he explained.

Striking that balance was critical and shaped every decision developers made about architecture, safeguards, and testing. They also had to ensure it fit seamlessly into the workflows entrepreneurs already use on the ZenBusiness platform.

“People don’t want to bounce between separate tools or wonder which system is responsible for which task. By tightly integrating Velo into formation, compliance, and growth processes, we ensured that entrepreneurs get a single, reliable partner that feels like an extension of the platform they already trust, not just another AI experiment layered on top,” Buhrdorf said.

Integrated Workflows

Entrepreneurs do not need another place to ask questions; they need something that takes work off their plate, Buhrdorf said. Velo’s agentic design — meaning it can take actions, not just provide answers — was intentional from the start.

He detailed how embedding Velo directly into the platform made it proactive, context-aware, and capable of delivering tangible results. It anticipates needs, acts on behalf of the customer, and adapts as the business evolves.

“That’s how Velo moves beyond being a chatbot to becoming a true partner in running and growing a company,” Buhrdorf offered.

He cited forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) as an example of that design in operation. An entrepreneur inputs a few details, and Velo takes over: filing the formation paperwork, applying for an EIN, surfacing license requirements, and tracking ongoing compliance deadlines.

“Once the business is set up, Velo can also generate a branded, functional website so the entrepreneur can begin marketing or selling right away. What used to take weeks of research, paperwork, and back-and-forth is now streamlined into a single, guided workflow,” he summarized.

Reducing Founder Workload

Instead of bouncing between government portals, accountants, and website builders, business owners interact with a single AI assistant that handles the process end-to-end, saving time, reducing mistakes, and building confidence in their new company’s launch.

Velo takes those burdens off the startup owner’s plate through automation. That simplicity lowers the barrier to entry, reduces costs, and helps entrepreneurs feel confident their business is correctly established, Buhrdorf emphasized.

“Most importantly, it lets them get back to what matters, growing their business and serving customers,” he said.

The ZenBusiness platform’s combination of specialized data, integrated tools, and compliance knowledge base creates a moat. A generic AI may be able to draft a contract, but Velo knows which contracts matter most at each stage of the journey, Buhrdorf noted.

“We’ve even codified all state compliance and filing requirements into a structured, machine-readable system. That depth of understanding is hard to replicate, and it’s what allows Velo to guide entrepreneurs with accuracy and confidence,” he concluded.