Every Small Business Spends 6 Hours a Week on Social Media and Arrow is Giving Those Hours Back

Behind every technological revolution lies a deeply human story. For Rolan Reichel, founder and CEO of Arrow AI, that story begins in the back room of a quaint handmade crafts store in Austin, Texas, where tie-dye dreams met entrepreneurial reality. As a child, Reichel lived with his family behind their shop “Under the Sun,” where his “OG” hippie parents crafted leather goods and jewelry, their creativity flowing as freely as their long hair and their VW bus parked outside symbolizing their free spirit.

“I lived in that shop,” Reichel recalls with fondness, his early years spent not just observing but actively participating in the family business, manning the front desk and managing books on weekends. These formative experiences would later become the cornerstone of his mission to democratize marketing for small businesses across America.

The path from that humble shop to founding one of the most innovative AI-powered marketing platforms wasn’t linear. Reichel’s journey took him through the sophisticated world of brand management, where he cut his teeth working with Corona beer brands in California. The tech world beckoned, and Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem became his next playground, eventually leading him to a position at iClick, a publicly traded company where he managed critical US partnerships and business relationships.

A pivotal chapter in Reichel’s professional development came under the mentorship of Justin, a CEO at AlphaBird, known for his demanding 6 AM standing meetings three days a week. While these dawn gatherings might have tested the resolve of any sales professional, they proved instrumental in exposing Reichel to the technical intricacies of digital advertising. He witnessed firsthand the industry’s transformation from manual processes to sophisticated real-time media buying systems, an evolution that would later inform Arrow AI’s innovative approach.

The genesis of Arrow wasn’t just about building another tech company; it was about solving a crisis Reichel observed in the marketing landscape. “Millions of businesses were getting ‘locked out’ of marketing as it became 100% technology driven,” he explains. This observation led to a methodical, ground-up approach to understanding the problem. Over 15 months, Reichel and his team embarked on an ambitious research project, interviewing thousands of small businesses across hundreds of categories. They launched a free browser extension to gather feedback, meticulously documenting the pain points and requirements of their target market.

Today, Arrow stands as a testament to the power of understanding your audience before building a solution. The platform’s unique value proposition lies in its hybrid approach: 80% AI and automation, complemented by 20% human expertise. “We don’t see Arrow ‘taking over’ anything,” Reichel emphasizes, “other than taking off 6 hours a week of time-consuming work.” This balanced methodology ensures that while artificial intelligence drives efficiency, human oversight maintains the quality and authenticity that businesses need to stand out in a crowded digital landscape.

The platform’s sophisticated yet accessible structure offers three distinct tiers to accommodate businesses at different stages of growth. The “Hello Plan” at $49 monthly provides unlimited posting and ready-to-use industry content, making professional content marketing accessible to even the smallest businesses. The “Custom Plan” at $79 monthly adds branded posts and a custom curated content channel, while the comprehensive “Growth Plan” at $129 monthly includes unlimited boosting, providing everything a growing business needs to maintain a strong online presence.

Arrow AI’s impact on its clients has been nothing short of transformative. Businesses report time savings of up to 15 hours per week, allowing them to focus on what they do best – running their operations. The platform seamlessly integrates with major social networks including META (Facebook, Instagram), LinkedIn, and Google Business Profile, automating everything from sales promotions to educational content and customer reviews.

Our target market is micro businesses and solopreneurs – companies of five or less where the founders are often working in the business (or sometimes, they are the business),” Rolan says. “Email marketing has worked well, and our big win is partnerships. We are partnered with companies these solopreneurs know and trust. A recommendation is gold!”

The company’s commitment to quality is evident in its process. “Arrow will post sales and promotion, informative and educational, inspirational type posts plus automate your reviews and blogs into social media posts as well, all for the cost of a few large pizzas every month,” Reichel explains. But what sets Arrow apart is its unwavering commitment to perfection. Every piece of content, despite being AI-generated, passes through the expert eyes of their content team before publication.

A watershed moment in Arrow’s journey came with their partnership with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), opening doors to approximately 450,000 accredited businesses across the United States. This strategic alliance not only validates Arrow’s approach but also provides BBB-accredited businesses with exclusive discounts, making professional marketing even more accessible to verified, trustworthy enterprises.

Operating as a fully distributed company with a team of 14 passionate individuals, Arrow AI embodies the future of work while solving traditional business challenges. The company secured initial funding through a seed round from a fund and angel investors, but more importantly, they’ve built strategic partnerships with companies their target market knows and trusts, driving organic growth through reputation and results.

Looking toward the future, Reichel’s vision continues to expand. “Our focus at Arrow is rolling out a conversational interface,” he shares excitedly. “In the next 6 months, we will deliver on the promise of not having to log into anything, but rather direct Arrow through chat, text, or even talk.” This development promises to make content marketing even more accessible to the 41 million individuals employed by small businesses in America.

The company’s core mission remains unwavering: “to enable people who hate marketing to be great at marketing, by providing them with a simple and effective solution that generates new leads and frees up their time to grow their business.” The setup process reflects this commitment to simplicity – a two-minute onboarding form or call, and within 24 hours, Arrow begins posting business content.

What makes Arrow AI’s story particularly compelling is how it brings together the past and future of American business. From the traditional craftsmanship of Reichel’s parents’ shop to the AI technology powering their platform, Arrow AI bridges the gap between small business values and modern marketing requirements. Their pending patent for AI-driven content creation technology represents not just innovation, but a democratization of digital marketing that puts sophisticated tools in the hands of everyday entrepreneurs.

As Arrow AI continues to evolve and expand its capabilities, it remains grounded in the lessons learned from that small shop in Austin – that at the heart of every business is a human story waiting to be told. Through the power of AI and human expertise, Arrow is helping tell those stories, one perfectly crafted post at a time, proving that sometimes the most revolutionary solutions come from remembering exactly where you started.