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Florida Small Business Owner Testifies Before House Small Business Committee

Dan Grech, Founder and CEO of BizHack Academy, calls on policymakers in Washington, D.C. to address challenges including workforce training and artificial intelligence regulation & adoption.

WASHINGTON, December 12 – Dan Grech, the Founder and CEO of BizHack Academy in Miami, FL, and an alum of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, testified today before the House Committee on Small Business, shedding light on the critical role of training and education for small business owners and their employees. Grech also emphasized the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of small business.

In his address to the Committee, Grech underscored the pressing need for small businesses and federal regulators to adapt to the evolving landscape of the 21st-century economy. He highlighted the challenges faced by small businesses, discussing how conventional training methods are often outdated or disconnected from the realities of modern business operations, along with the role the Small Business Administration plays in helping small business owners face these challenges. Grech’s full testimony can be found HERE and video of his opening remarks can be found HERE.

“Like many other companies, BizHack Academy went through a near-death experience at the start of the pandemic. Before COVID, we only offered our training in person. After the lockdown, we had to cancel all of our courses. Overnight, we were essentially out of business,” said Dan Grech, Founder and CEO of BizHack. “On a personal level, the past few years have been trying on me and my family. The ups and downs have taken a toll on my health and made me less present for my wife and 2 kids.”

“The government has an essential role in ensuring that high-quality and affordable training is available to every small business and their employees,” Grech continued. “Unfortunately, much of the current training that uses federal funds is either out of date or out of touch. This committee should explore how the SBA and its educational arms can be modernized, to meet entrepreneurs’ evolving needs.”

“Congress must regulate generative AI to ensure that its negative impacts are minimized. This mandate was missed with social media, to disastrous consequences. When Congress is writing that legislation, however, it must give small businesses a seat at the table. Generative AI is the most powerful tool for small business growth in a generation. Small-business advocates must help build the guardrails for AI so we don’t inadvertently curtail its positive potential,” Grech concluded.

For many small businesses, recruiting skilled workers to grow and scale their business has never been more difficult. The proliferation of artificial intelligence tools, and learning how to effectively use them in their businesses, presents yet another challenge for small business owners nationwide.

In surveys of small business owners conducted by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices since 2020, small business owners have consistently stated that hiring and retaining skilled employees is one of their top challenges. The most recent survey of small business owners, conducted last month, found that:

  • 85% believe that challenges related to hiring and retaining employees have gotten worse or stayed the same in the last three months.
  • 79% of small business owners who are hiring found it difficult to recruit qualified employees.
    • 65% said competition with larger employers on pay and benefits was a significant challenge to them.
    • 59% said the difficulty was due to a lack of qualified workers.
    • 55% said labor costs were too high to recruit qualified candidates.

A majority of small business owners surveyed said that they are using AI tools to increase the productivity of their business. This points both to the powerful positive potential of the technology as well as to the need for additional training to accelerate wider adoption of AI-powered productivity tools:

  • 51% of small business owners currently use AI in their business. Of those,
    • 75% use AI for generating marketing content
    • 62% use AI to improve productivity
    • 44% don’t believe AI is currently relevant to their business
    • 40% lack the technical skill to implement AI programs

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About 10,000 Small Businesses Voices

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, which in April marked its three-year anniversary, builds on Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and organizes program participants to advocate for policies that matter to them. Learn more at www.gs.com/10ksb-voices

About Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is an investment to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing a comprehensive business education program and access to capital and business support services. To date, 10,000 Small Businesses has served over 14,000 small businesses across the United States. The program has reached businesses from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. Learn more at www.gs.com/10ksb.

About Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.

About BizHack Academy


BizHack Academy works with small-business support organizations to train small businesses to use modern marketing tools, such as artificial intelligence and digital advertising, to help them grow faster. BizHack’s free masterclasses, scholarship program, and courses have positively thousands of businesses nationwide. BizHack has won awards from the American Marketing Association, Ragan’s PR Daily, and PRNEWS, and it was recognized as a 2023 Business of the Year by the American Business Awards. For more information, visit www.bizhack.com, call (786) 664-7324, or email info@bizhack.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Contact: Jay Boyd, jboyd@bullpenstrategygroup.com