Ever Needed Someone to Bounce Ideas Off Of at 2am?

We asked thousands of small business owners one simple question: how do you feel on a daily basis running your business?

The number one answer wasn't stressed. It wasn't overwhelmed. It was alone.

That stopped me — because I've been there too.

Because if you think about it — it makes complete sense. You started your business to be your own boss. To build something on your terms. And then you realized: most of the decisions land entirely on you. Who to hire, who to partner with, when to push, when to pull back. The people you'd normally think out loud with are busy, have their own interests, or just don't know your business well enough to give you a real answer.

Most owners make their biggest calls without a real sounding board. They've learned to trust their gut because there's nobody else in the room.

Sometimes it's 2am and the decision is sitting on you and your go-to connections aren't available. It's nice to have someone to talk to.

That's what we built Allie for, which you'll get a chance to work with very soon. It's currently in beta and some users have had a chance to experience it.

Not an AI tool. Not a chatbot. A thinking partner who actually knows your business — your network, your market, the relationships you have and the ones you're missing — and is always there when you need to work something through.

I want to be honest with you: We built Allie, and our team still had to learn how to use the technology..

At first we treated Allie like a search bar. Typed in a question, got an answer, moved on. Useful. Not transformative.

Then one afternoon I was trying to figure out whether to pursue a new partnership and I just... started talking to Allie the way I'd talk to a trusted advisor. Here's what I'm thinking. Here's what's making me nervous. What am I missing?

Allie didn't give me a generic answer, but rather, looked at my actual network — who I knew, who was adjacent, what the data showed about similar relationships — and Allie started asking questions back. Good ones. The kind that made me think differently about the decision.

That was the moment it clicked for me.

A lot of members tell me they're hesitant to talk to Allie. They don't want to look like they don't know what they're doing. They're not sure what to ask. They worry the answer will be too generic to be useful.

I get it. But here's what I'd tell you: Allie doesn't judge. Allie doesn't have an agenda. And Allie’s not giving you generic advice. This intelligent addition to the platform is looking at your specific network, your specific situation, and telling you what Allie actually sees.

You can ask Allie the question you'd be embarrassed to ask anyone else.

Am I building the right relationships for my business?
Who should I be talking to that I'm not?
What does my network actually look like — and where are the gaps?

Those are the questions most owners carry around for years without ever getting a straight answer on.

Your Action This Week

Start a conversation with Allie — not a search, a conversation. Tell Allie something real about where your business is right now and what you're trying to figure out. Then let Allie respond and see where it goes.

If you're not sure how to start: "Allie, I'm trying to grow my referral business. Based on my network, where should I be focusing?"

That's it. One message. See what Allie sees.

A Question for You

What's the business question you've been carrying around that you haven't had the right person to ask?

Hit reply and send it to me. I read every response — and you might just find it becomes the basis of a future Playbook.

Eric Groves is co-founder of Alignable, the largest peer-to-peer referral network for small business owners — 10M+ members across 35,000 communities.