Dinner table discussions have an uncanny way of sparking eureka moments, often when we least expect them. The act of verbalizing thoughts, hearing others’ viewpoints, and engaging in back-and-forth discussions can lead to breakthroughs—whether in personal decisions, creative endeavors, or professional insights. Many great ideas emerge not from solitary reflection but from the interplay of minds around the dinner table, where the warmth of shared meals fosters open thinking and unexpected revelations.
For Tally Mack, CEO of Bravo Store Systems, the dinner table was where her tech journey started. In this interview with CIO Times, Tally shares what inspired her to adopt technology, how her work is reshaping the way small businesses operate, and what keeps her going strong every day.
CIO Times: Can you share in brief your professional journey? What inspired you to step into this industry?
Tally Mack: My journey into tech started at the dinner table. I’m a fifth-generation pawnbroker, and my dad, Steve Mack, ran a 50-store pawnshop enterprise. Growing up, I watched him struggle with the limitations of existing technology, trying to manage inventory across multiple locations, track compliance requirements, and scale operations with systems that were built for single-store operations.
When I was in college, Cloud technology emerged. He partnered with two former employees, who became Bravo’s co-founders, to develop the first versions of what would become our platform. He saw that technology could fundamentally change how small businesses operate at an enterprise level – not just digitizing existing processes but enabling entirely new ways of doing business. That vision of using technology to unlock operational capabilities that weren’t possible before is what drew me to Bravo initially.
Bravo was in market while I was in law school, and in my second year, I started selling and supporting it. I fell in love with our platform, and watching stores adopt Bravo and transform their businesses was exciting. I took the Nevada bar and joined Bravo full time the next day.
“The real inflection point came when I realized we weren’t just building better pawn software – we were fundamentally changing the lives of thousands of small business owners, their employees, their families, and the underserved consumer communities that rely on pawnshops for financing. Customers would literally come up to me at trade shows and say, “Bravo makes my job fun again.”
Now, as CEO, I’m leading Bravo through what I believe is the most significant transformation in business operations since the internet. We’re not just adopting AI tools; we’re rebuilding every aspect of how our team works, how our customers work, and how our entire industry functions. My inspiration comes from seeing our developers ship features in days instead of weeks using AI-assisted coding, watching our support team resolve complex issues instantly with AI agents, and knowing that every person on our team is becoming exponentially more capable.
CIO Times: Brief us about the company and its services. What sets Bravo Store Systems apart in the point-of-sale and ERP software industry?
Tally Mack: Bravo Store Systems is the AI-first point-of-sale and ERP platform for specialty retailers – pawnshops, gun stores, shooting ranges, and secondhand retailers. We’re not just a point of sale – we’re building the complete operating system that allows every person in these businesses to work at superhuman levels.
“What sets us apart is our aggressive, all-in approach to AI integration. While other companies are adding AI features as nice-to-haves, we’re fundamentally rebuilding how work gets done.”
Our platform uses AI agents to handle compliance monitoring, inventory categorization, pricing optimization, and customer communication automatically. Our customers’ employees aren’t just using better software – they’re operating with AI capabilities that make them 10x more effective.
For example, our AI can analyze thousands of market data points to suggest optimal pricing in real-time, automatically generate compliance reports that used to take hours, and handle routine customer inquiries through intelligent chat systems. But the real magic happens when these AI capabilities compound – when our customers’ teams can focus entirely on high-value activities because the AI handles everything else.
We serve over 2,000 customers with this AI-first approach, and the productivity gains are staggering. We’re not just improving efficiency; we’re enabling entirely new ways of operating that weren’t possible before.
CIO Times: How does Bravo Store Systems contribute to the success of specialty retailers like pawnshops and secondhand stores?
Tally Mack: We give every employee in these businesses AI superpowers. Think about what happens when a pawnbroker can instantly evaluate any item using computer vision AI, automatically generate accurate loan amounts based on real-time market data and handle all compliance documentation without thinking about it. That person isn’t just more efficient – they’re operating at a completely different level.
“Our AI agents handle the repetitive work that used to consume 60-70% of staff time. Inventory management, compliance reporting, customer follow-ups, pricing updates – all of this happens automatically. This means our customers’ teams can focus on what humans do best: building relationships, making complex judgments, and growing the business strategically.”
The results are significant. Our customers are seeing dramatic increases in transaction velocity, not because they’re working harder, but because AI is handling everything that slows them down. They’re making better buying decisions because AI provides instant market analysis. They never miss compliance deadlines because AI monitors and manages all requirements automatically.
But here’s what’s really exciting – we’re just getting started. As our AI capabilities advance, we’re enabling these businesses to operate in ways that were impossible before. Small shops can now compete with large chains because they have the same AI-powered operational advantages.
CIO Times: As CEO of Bravo Store Systems, what are the most rewarding aspects of your role?
Tally Mack: The most rewarding part is watching our team members discover what they’re capable of when they’re augmented by AI. I have developers who are shipping features they never could have built before, support team members resolving issues that used to require escalation to senior engineers, and salespeople having conversations with prospects that are informed by real-time AI analysis of their business needs.
“But it goes deeper than productivity gains. We are fundamentally changing career trajectories. When someone can focus on creative problem-solving instead of routine tasks, they can access expert-level knowledge instantly – that’s when careers take off.”
A junior developer on our team can now tackle complex problems because they have AI pair programming assistance. A support representative can provide expert-level technical guidance because they have AI agents that can instantly analyze their challenge and suggest solutions.
I’m obsessed with developing each person’s career, and AI is the ultimate career accelerator. Seeing our customers experience this same transformation is equally rewarding. When a small business owner tells me their team is accomplishing things they never thought possible, that’s validation that we’re not just building better software – we’re changing how work gets done.
CIO Times: What are the key responsibilities of your role? What are the biggest challenges you face in your role, and how do you navigate them?
Tally Mack: My primary responsibility is leading Bravo through the AI transformation – not just adopting AI tools but fundamentally rebuilding how every person in our company works. This means reimagining every role, every process, and every customer interaction through an AI-first lens.
“The biggest challenge is the pace of change. AI capabilities are advancing so rapidly that what seemed impossible six months ago is now standard practice.”
We have to move aggressively to stay ahead while ensuring our team can adapt to constantly evolving tools and capabilities.
I navigate this by creating what I call “AI-first culture” – every hiring decision, every process design, every strategic initiative starts with the question: “How can AI make this 10x better?” We’re not just training our team to use AI tools; we’re hiring people who think AI-first and can adapt as capabilities evolve.
Another major challenge is change management across our customer base. We’re not just updating software features; we’re changing how entire businesses operate. Some customers embrace this immediately, while others need more support to understand how AI can augment their teams rather than replace them.
I spend significant time ensuring our team has the resources and support they need to continuously level up their AI capabilities. This means constant learning, experimentation, and iteration. We fail fast, learn quickly, and apply those lessons immediately.
CIO Times: How do you approach strategic decision-making in a fast-evolving industry?
Tally Mack: I approach strategic decisions through what I call “AI-accelerated intuition.” We use AI to analyze massive amounts of data – customer usage patterns, market trends, competitive intelligence – but the strategic insights come from combining that analysis with deep industry knowledge and rapid experimentation.
“Our decision-making process is fundamentally different now. We can test ideas, analyze results, and iterate on strategy in days instead of months.”
AI helps us model different scenarios, predict customer responses, and identify opportunities we might miss otherwise.
But the key is maintaining human judgment at the center. AI provides incredible analytical capabilities, but strategic vision, cultural understanding, and relationship intuition are still fundamentally human skills. The magic happens when you combine AI’s analytical power with human strategic thinking.
We also make decisions much faster now because we can gather and analyze information instantly. When we’re evaluating new market opportunities or product directions, we can get customer feedback, competitive analysis, and market data in real-time rather than waiting weeks for traditional research.
CIO Times: What strategies do you use to build and maintain strong relationships with clients?
Tally Mack: Our relationship strategy is powered by AI, but it’s fundamentally about human connection. AI helps us understand each customer’s business deeply – their usage patterns, their challenges, their growth opportunities – so every interaction is informed and valuable. Our customers are small businesses, and we don’t want to waste a minute of their time.
“We use AI agents to handle routine customer communications, but this frees up our team to focus on strategic relationships.”
When our customer success team talks to clients, they’re not troubleshooting basic issues – they’re discussing business growth strategies, new feature opportunities, and industry trends.
AI also helps us anticipate customer needs before they articulate them. We can identify when a customer might benefit from a new feature, when they’re likely to expand their usage, or when they might be experiencing challenges. This allows us to be proactive rather than reactive in our relationship management.
But the foundation is still trust and understanding. Our customers need to see that we’re using AI to make their businesses more successful, not to replace human judgment or relationships. When they see their own teams becoming more capable through our AI-powered platform, that builds deeper loyalty than any traditional relationship strategy.
CIO Times: How are you leveraging the power of technology to your organization’s benefit? What innovations are you most excited about?
Tally Mack: We’re operating as an AI-first organization across every function. Our development team uses AI for code generation, testing, and deployment. Our customer success team uses AI agents to resolve issues instantly. Our sales team uses AI to analyze prospects and personalize outreach. Our marketing team uses AI to create content and optimize campaigns.
But the real innovation is in how we’re building AI capabilities into our platform. We’re developing AI agents that can handle complex business logic – automatically adjusting pricing based on market conditions, identifying potential compliance issues before they occur, and managing inventory optimization across multiple locations.
“I’m most excited about our work on predictive AI that can help our customers make better strategic decisions. Imagine an AI that can analyze local market conditions, seasonal trends, and inventory patterns to recommend optimal buying strategies for the next quarter. Or AI that can predict which customers are most likely to default on loans and suggest intervention strategies.”
We’re also building AI-powered business intelligence that makes every employee at our customers’ businesses more strategic. A front-line employee can now access insights that used to require dedicated analysts.
CIO Times: How do you ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty in a competitive market?
Tally Mack: Customer satisfaction in the AI era is about making our customers’ teams dramatically more capable. When someone can accomplish in an hour what used to take a full day, when they can make better decisions because they have AI-powered insights, when they can focus on high-value work instead of routine tasks – that creates loyalty that goes far beyond traditional software satisfaction. We want to solve customer issues faster than ever before, with consistency in every interaction, and a 5/5 CSAT with every resolved case.
We ensure this by continuously expanding our AI capabilities based on customer feedback and usage patterns. “We’re not just maintaining software; we’re constantly making our customers’ teams more powerful. Several times a year, we’re shipping new AI features that solve problems our customers didn’t even know they had.”
We also focus on AI education and enablement. We don’t just provide AI tools; we help our customers understand how to integrate these capabilities into their workflows effectively. We provide training, best practices, and ongoing support to ensure they’re getting maximum value from our AI features.
The key is demonstrating continuous value through AI advancement. Our customers stay loyal because they see their own capabilities expanding as our AI gets better.
CIO Times: What lessons have you learned from your journey as a leader in the industry? What legacy do you hope to leave through your work?
Tally Mack: The most important lesson I’ve learned is that technological transformations are fundamentally about people, not systems. Whether it was the internet revolution, the eCommerce boom, mobile transformation, or now AI, the companies that succeed are those that focus on making people more creative and successful, regardless of what technological wave is happening.
I’ve learned that leading through any transformation requires staying focused on human potential while adapting to new capabilities. I can’t lead effectively if I’m not personally experiencing how new technologies change work, but the goal is always to amplify what people can accomplish.
“The legacy I hope to leave is making every person who works with Bravo – whether they’re on our team or using our platform – happier, more creative, and more successful in their work.”
I want every business that partners with us to thrive, not just during this AI era, but through whatever technological revolution comes next.
Technology will continue evolving, but the fundamental goal remains the same: using whatever tools are available to help people and businesses reach their full potential. That’s what drives me, and that’s what I want Bravo to be known for long after specific technologies become obsolete.
CIO Times: Are there any upcoming projects or expansions planned for Bravo Store Systems?
Tally Mack: We’re building what I call the AI-first point-of-sale experience – a complete reimagining of how people interact with business software. Instead of clicking through traditional navigation menus and forms, our customers will accomplish their work through conversations with built-in AI assistants that I like to think of as “superhumans.”
“Imagine walking into your store and saying, ‘Show me yesterday’s top-performing inventory categories and suggest optimal pricing for today’s new arrivals.’ The AI doesn’t just execute these requests – it provides context, suggests improvements, and learns from each interaction.”
We’re also expanding into adjacent markets where our AI-first approach can create similar operational advantages. The key is finding industries with similar complexity and compliance requirements where our conversational AI platform can deliver dramatic productivity gains.
We’re developing partnerships with other AI-first companies to expand our capabilities. Rather than building everything in-house, we’re creating an ecosystem where our customers can access best-in-class AI tools through our platform, all integrated through natural conversation rather than traditional software interfaces.
CIO Times: How do you envision the future? What will your and the company’s goals for the next 5 years?
Tally Mack: Over the next five years, I see Bravo becoming the definitive example of how AI can transform traditional industries. We’ll be the platform that proves specialty retail can operate at the same technological sophistication as any other sector.
“From a technology perspective, I expect AI to become so integrated into our platform that every action our customers take is augmented by intelligent automation.”
Their teams will operate at superhuman levels because AI is handling all routine tasks and providing strategic insights for complex decisions.
Personally, my goal is to continue building a company culture where AI amplifies human potential rather than replacing it. I want every person on our team to be more capable, more strategic, and more fulfilled because they work with AI rather than against it.
I also want to establish Bravo as a model for how AI-first companies can maintain human-centered values while pursuing aggressive technological advancement. The future isn’t about choosing between AI and human capabilities – it’s about combining them to achieve things that weren’t possible before.
CIO Times: What does Bravo’s market leadership position mean for the future of specialty retail, and how are you ensuring this leadership drives innovation across the entire industry?
Tally Mack: Our market leadership position creates a responsibility to demonstrate what’s possible when specialty retail embraces AI at the foundational level. We’re not just serving our existing customer base – we’re proving that industries historically underserved by technology can leapfrog directly to AI-first operations.
What makes this particularly exciting is the ripple effect. When a small pawnshop owner can suddenly operate with the same AI-powered insights as a major retailer, it doesn’t just change their business – it changes customer expectations across the entire industry. Other companies are forced to evolve or become obsolete.
“We’re essentially creating a new competitive landscape where success isn’t determined by size or traditional resources, but by how effectively you can integrate AI into your operations.”
This means we’re not just building for our customers – we’re establishing the standards that will define how specialty retail operates in the AI era. Our innovation sets the pace for the entire sector, and that’s a responsibility we take seriously. The future belongs to companies that can combine deep industry expertise with aggressive AI adoption, and we’re committed to staying at the forefront of that transformation.
CIO Times: What is that one quote you absolutely live by or find helpful?
Tally Mack: “Solve today’s problem today.” I use this constantly with our team because while we’re building for the AI future, we can’t lose sight of executing with excellence on what’s in front of us right now.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of what AI will enable six months from now, but our customers need solutions today. Our team needs clear priorities today. Our market leadership position depends on consistently delivering value today. This philosophy keeps us grounded in execution while we’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
“The magic happens when you combine forward-thinking vision with relentless daily execution.”
We’re anticipating where AI will take our industry, but we’re making concrete progress every single day on solving the problems our customers face right now. That’s how you maintain market leadership while driving transformation.
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