From Buenos Aires to Main Street: How Dragonchat Is Reimagining AI for U.S. Small Businesses

In the United States, the artificial intelligence boom has reached a pivotal crossroads. While nearly 9 in 10 small businesses are using or exploring AI tools in 2025, a significant portion remains hesitant. According to data from Verizon and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over 25% of SMBs have slowed or reversed their AI adoption, citing complexity, high costs, and a lack of personalization as core concerns.

This hesitation has created a rare opening—one that Argentine entrepreneur Teo Tinivelli is ready to fill. His platform, Dragonchat, offers something distinctly different: AI that doesn’t try to sound smart—it tries to sound like you.

Dragonchat’s standout feature, dubbed “Audio Magic,” allows business owners to record a single voice note that is then automatically personalized for every contact on their list. Imagine recording: “Hey Kevin, just a quick note to tell you about our new lunch special,” and Dragonchat sends a version of that same message to hundreds of clients—each one called by name, each one in your actual voice.

No synthetic tone. No robotic scripts. Just tech doing the legwork while you keep the relationship intact.

This nuance is critical. Research from Salesforce and Statista confirms that trust and tone remain top barriers to chatbot adoption—even as 75% of SMBs plan to increase their AI spending.

WhatsApp has traditionally been underutilized by U.S. businesses, but that’s beginning to change. With over 100 million users in the U.S. and daily usage among younger and Latino demographics skyrocketing, the platform is increasingly seen as an untapped channel for customer engagement.

Globally, over 200 million businesses already use WhatsApp Business, and AI-powered chat tools on the app are forecast to save companies 2.6 billion work hours annually by 2026.

Dragonchat leverages this infrastructure by layering personalization on top of scale. And it does so without requiring coding, CRMs, or enterprise software suites. It’s AI made for the average user—not just for the tech elite.

Teo Tinivelli’s background isn’t in software engineering. He comes from the world of sales, having built a successful career teaching online closing and building digital sales teams. His shift from education to software wasn’t accidental—it was driven by observing the exact bottlenecks his students faced: following up, staying top-of-mind, and doing it all without burning out.

“Dragonchat was born because I needed it,” says Tinivelli. “I saw thousands of people who could sell, but who didn’t have time to scale. They needed help—not a robot, but an ally.”

With over 25,000 users to date, the platform is rapidly gaining traction in Latin America and quietly entering the U.S. market, especially among Latino-owned businesses and immigrant-led service companies that rely heavily on WhatsApp and personalized outreach.

Absolutely. In fact, Dragonchat might be hitting the U.S. at exactly the right time.

• Latino-owned businesses are the fastest-growing segment of U.S. entrepreneurs.
• Many rely on WhatsApp, especially in industries like food service, real estate, beauty, and logistics.
• These businesses often don’t have marketing departments—but they do have loyal customer bases and a need to stay connected.

By offering a bilingual, intuitive, no-friction platform, Dragonchat allows these entrepreneurs to compete with larger operations without losing the intimacy their clients value.

Where It’s Going

The company aims to hit 1 million users globally, with U.S. penetration as a strategic milestone. Tinivelli sees growth not just in tech hubs, but in places like Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, and New Jersey—regions with high concentrations of WhatsApp-native users and small business density.

He’s not pitching to the Fortune 500. He’s pitching to the local pizzeria, the barbershop, the mobile mechanic. To the everyday business owner who wants to stay personal at scale.