Rechelle Balanzat, founder of JULIETTE.
Darling, when NBC News comes calling to talk about the future of business, you answer. Preferably in something freshly pressed.
Today, Goldman Sachs announced a $500 million commitment to launch the Small Business AI Institute, an expansion of its legendary 10,000 Small Businesses program. The partners? Only Anthropic, Google, Meta and OpenAI. You know, the usual suspects.
To mark the moment, NBC's Christine Romans sat down exclusively with Goldman CEO David Solomon for Business in America, and then went looking for the small business owners actually figuring this AI thing out in real life.
She found us.
As a proud 10KSB alumna, I was honored to share how JULIETTE is folding AI into a business built on silk, cashmere and trust. (Spoiler: carefully, and with impeccable taste.)
The Numbers, Because We Love a Good Stat
Goldman surveyed more than 2,400 program graduates. 86% now use AI in their business, up from 56% just two years ago.
But here's the plot twist: only 15% have it fully woven into how they operate. Everyone's flirting with AI. Very few have taken it home to meet the family.
What I Told NBC
"I really treat my AI as my consigliere. They are not there to replace your accountant and lawyer. They are not there to replace humans. However, it does help prep me to have much more meaningful questions when I am meeting with my accountant and with my lawyer."
So here they are: five rules for using AI like a New Yorker, straight from the JULIETTE playbook.
1. Every Empire Needs a Consigliere
The best advisor in the room isn't the one making decisions. It's the one making sure you do, brilliantly. That's my AI.
Lesson: Let it sharpen your thinking, never replace it.
2. Never Walk Into a Meeting Unprepared
Your accountant and lawyer bill by the hour. Arrive with better questions and every one of those hours works harder for you.
Lesson: Do the homework first. Then let the experts be experts.
3. The Human Touch Is the Luxury
You may have noticed we haven't handed our client conversations to a chatbot. That's on purpose. When you trust us with your favorite blazer, you deserve a person who knows your name, not an auto-reply.
Lesson: Automate the back office. Protect the front row.
4. Empower Your Team, Don't Replace It
Small businesses run on people. Our team is the reason your whites stay white. AI is there to make their days easier, not to make them disappear.
Lesson: Technology should give your people superpowers.
5. Using It Isn't the Same as Mastering It
Remember that 15%? That's the gap between dabbling and doing. We're not interested in trends. We're interested in getting it right.
Lesson: Stay curious, stay disciplined, and never stop learning.
The Half-Billion-Dollar Bet on Main Street
What I love most about this moment? Goldman isn't betting on Wall Street. It's betting on the dry cleaner, the tool shop, the corner café: the businesses that create jobs and keep this city running.
And as someone who's been in that classroom, I can tell you: that bet pays off.
Watch the full segment here and read the article here.
A heartfelt thank you to Christine Romans and NBC News, and to Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses for believing in Main Street, again.
Stay curious. Stay human. And always keep a consigliere close.
See you at the top.
—JULIETTE