Lakshy Yadav@lakshy42

Across Europe, SMBs are losing enormous economic potential—not because of competition, but because founders are trapped in daily operations. In Italy alone, SMEs represent 95% of companies and employ nearly 80% of the workforce, yet most founders spend 70–80% of their time handling repetitive operational tasks instead of focusing on growth and strategy. The consequences are severe: businesses leave 15–35% of potential revenue unrealized, lose €50K–€300K annually due to delayed decisions, and suffer valuation discounts because companies depend too heavily on a single founder. Cortex solves this problem by giving every SMB access to an autonomous AI-powered executive board. The platform includes five specialized AI executives: • CEO — strategy and market analysis • CFO — forecasting and cash-flow management • CSO — sales optimization and conversion strategy • CMO — customer acquisition and growth campaigns • CTO — infrastructure audits and software scaling Through an immersive dark-mode interface, founders can text or speak directly to executives, assign workflows, compare recommendations, and receive real-time, boardroom-ready insights. Unlike generic AI chatbots, Cortex operates as a decentralized multi-agent ecosystem where executives collaborate independently, validate strategies together, and execute workflows asynchronously before presenting solutions. Cortex is powered by cutting-edge infrastructure: • Speechmatics enables real-time voice onboarding and hands-free interaction • Google Gemini 2.0 Flash powers rapid, high-context reasoning • Featherless AI routes advanced tasks across 27,000+ open-source models including DeepSeek • Vultr Cloud delivers enterprise-grade speed, scalability, and security Built for SMB founders, startups, and lean teams spending heavily on consultants—or operating without strategic guidance entirely—Cortex delivers a scalable AI workforce and executive-level decision making at a fraction of traditional costs.

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