47-year-old grew up thinking she’d work on a cattle farm—now her company raises millions for small businesses

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She says, "I've always had a passion for entrepreneurs. I really had a fever, which I still do, about small business."

She notes that it was there that she "got really obsessed with how crucial small business owners are to the world," she says, working with them in various roles.

A technology platform that assists entrepreneurs in obtaining "access to capital, such as grants, loans, and credit," she says, as well as providing business planning tools and mentorship.

To this point, Hello Alice has assisted one and a half million small business owners and provided fifty-two million dollars in grants, according to Gore. Here's how she built her career.

Understanding the vital role that small business owners play in our nation's economy

At the UN Foundation, Gore began to recognize the potential of supporting small business owners through small loan financing.

I was looking at the developing world and focusing on women in particular," she says. "The idea was that if they could earn their own income, they would be able to afford healthcare for their families and their kids could attend school.

As an entrepreneur in residence at Dell, she assisted new companies through the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network, which made sure "that our female customers had the technology they needed to scale," she says.

In the United States, but it also taught her about some of the challenges they face.

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Entrepreneurs saw 'this big opportunity'

Gore kept running into her future Hello Alice co-founder, Carolyn Rodz, at various events and conferences. Rodz, who had a background in finance and entrepreneurship, was also passionate about helping small businesses.

Rodz viewed the community's challenges as "less of a problem and more of a big opportunity," Gore says. Around 2014, while attending a conference, the two began outlining their new tech platform, which could tackle some of the challenges faced by small businesses in the United States. They ultimately launched Hello Alice in 2017 as a self-sustaining business that could "fuel and fund itself," Gore notes.

The company has since raised $28 million in multiple rounds of funding, according to Gore. Their main source of income comes from a business health score tool that they license to banks, fintech companies, and other organizations, Gore says, which they launched in April 2023.

To use the platform, entrepreneurs sign up for free and get a personalized dashboard with grant information, educational content, and networking opportunities. Hello Alice also sends email updates about new grants, funding programs, and relevant resources based on the user's business profile.

In the future, Hello Alice plans to incorporate AI technology to manage their platform, using real-time business data analysis to give personalized suggestions and anticipate upcoming challenges through predictive analytics.

In addition to providing entrepreneurs with tools to expand their businesses, Hello Alice "advocates on behalf of our small business owners" to ensure that policymakers create legislation that supports them, she says. "We are genuinely passionate about demonstrating that they are literally the lifeblood of this country."

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