Portal.ai CEO and Founder Vlad Panchenko on Empowering SMBs with Tools Once Exclusive to Corporations

By Jordan French from https://gritdaily.com/.

A few years ago, we spoke with Vlad Panchenko, a serial entrepreneur and avid gamer, about his venture into building a successful marketplace for trading in-game items. At that time, he foresaw many trends about to unfold in the gaming industry. Now, his latest startup is fully dedicated to AI, focusing on helping small and medium-sized businesses successfully compete with larger enterprises like never before.

Grit Daily: So Vlad, what’s happened in the four years since we last spoke?

Vlad Panchenko: Well, my previous venture, DMarket, was acquired by one of the biggest Web3 gaming studios called Mythical Games. We announced the acquisition in 2023. 

More recently, we also announced our new venture: Portal.ai. It’s an AI ecosystem designed to empower small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with the top level of operations in every vertical to compete successfully with any large corporation. From operations to marketing, finance, and logistics — we provide actionable insights based on the best methodologies. 

Grit Daily: What caused the switch from gaming to AI? Is there a story to the birth of Portal.ai?

Vlad Panchenko: I’m still in touch with gaming companies, just in a different way. Portal is designed for the 400 million SMBs out there, and that includes gaming companies. As for the idea, it comes from my experience building businesses like DMarket, Skins.Cash, and SunTechSoft, where I’ve learned that entrepreneurs spend an excessive amount of time and effort managing operations, marketing, logistics, and more. This is especially true for small business owners.

At Portal, we believe entrepreneurs should focus on what they do best — their passion, their vision, and building great products. The rest is on us — our platform uses world-class AI agents to handle and automate the complexities of business operations, managing businesses with top-notch discipline.  

Grit Daily: So, how exactly does it work? How do you make things easier for small business owners?

Vlad Panchenko: Imagine having an expert team working for you 24/7, focused solely on action. We’ve assembled an orchestra of AI agents, each a master in areas like operations, marketing, logistics, and other parts of your business. They dig through data from Shopify, Amazon, Google, Meta, Wix, Quickbooks, your owned media, and beyond. Then, each agent connects all the data into a holistic business picture with the help of conversational AI. They offer one-click actionable recommendations and execute tasks around the clock to ensure continuous business success. Portal.ai agents know how to use COGS, COGR, LTV, CAPEX, and OPEX so that talents can focus on their passion.

The ultimate aim is to automate decision-making for entrepreneurs and boost competitiveness for SMBs.

Grit Daily: Have you already raised funding for the company?

Vlad Panchenko: Yes. The company raised $5 million in pre-seed funding from multiple investors, including StratMinds VC, AGI House Ventures and Rocky Yu, BBQ Capital and Nemke Kostic, The Patel family office, Amanda Schloss family office, Broocknell Ventures, and others.

Grit Daily: So, one thing people always want to know when AI is involved is whether it will change the landscape and affect humans. What do you think? Will AI change the business approach as it is? Are there any risks for the human workforce?

Vlad Panchenko: AI has already changed business. And we are proving it with Portal.ai. It has become faster, smarter, and more innovative. 

Generally speaking, AI is bigger than the invention of electricity. Any technological revolution leads to changes. And if you ask if some professions or tasks will be replaced by AI, I would say yes, it’s already happening. But those people will find new roles in the new reality. I believe we all need to realize: instead of fighting progress, we need to leverage and lead it.

Grit Daily: Back to Portal for a moment. Was there any other reason to focus on SMBs outside of your own experiences? Who are your clients?

Vlad Panchenko: I firmly believe in equal chances and opportunities for everyone. That’s why I’m passionate about empowering the largest business category — SMBs — with tools and methodologies that were once exclusive to larger corporations. With approximately 400 million small and medium businesses worldwide, there’s a real need to strengthen and level up their competitive advantages.

In today’s business landscape, it is almost impossible for entrepreneurs to level up the information asymmetry without huge teams, millions of dollars, and years of work. Connecting all the data points from various service providers, including ad platforms, e-commerce platforms, logistics platforms, and financial platforms, and making decisions 24/7 for the average entrepreneur is a formidable challenge. As a result, seven out of ten SMBs in the US don’t survive beyond five years despite SMBs contributing $60 trillion to worldwide GDP annually. 

Portal.ai’s platform equips SMBs with an easy-to-use app where they will find one-click actionable advice for their business based on best methodologies, starting from operations, marketing, finance, and logistics, traditionally reserved for big corporations, leveling the competitive playing field. 

Grit Daily: Do you think AI can take your business “to the moon?”

Vlad Panchenko: I think AI can certainly help with that, but it would be a mistake to rely solely on AI. It’s about the smart combination and even smarter usage of new technologies. What I know for sure is that in a very short time, doing business without AI will be impossible. Companies that aren’t leveraging it won’t be able to thrive or even survive.

Grit Daily: Which industries are leveraging AI the most based on your observations?

Vlad Panchenko: It’s harder to say which industries are not leveraging AI. It has become beneficial across the board — from coding to manufacturing. 

Additionally, I believe that any marketing activities are already impossible without AI. At Portal, for example, it’s a core part of our product — we audit and improve your marketing campaigns, making it easier to manage your marketing agency if you work with one. While some of our competitors offer a dashboard that requires additional marketing knowledge, we provide actionable advice. The most important thing is that you can ask your AI to explain why it offers a specific solution to resolve a certain issue. Or do it automatically if you already trust it.