SIYC Newsletter | Fall 2026

Tools & Resources

Amazon Accelerate 2026: a look back

Thousands of sellers packed the Seattle Convention Center from September 22–24 for Amazon Accelerate 2026, and this year's announcements were some of the biggest yet. Amazon unveiled a redesigned Seller Central built around a new visual workspace called Canvas, major expansions to Seller Assistant that connect sales, inventory, advertising, and compliance across your entire business, and new global expansion tools that let you list once and sell in every country where there's demand. Three sellers sat down with us after the sessions to break down what the announcements actually mean for how they run their businesses.

Why Amazon's new AI seller tools feel like a turning point

Three sellers on what Amazon's growth playbook looks like when AI handles the foundation

This was also our biggest Accelerate to date for SIYC. Hundreds of sellers joined us at the SIYC Lounge and the standing room only annual advocacy breakfast, where we launched our plan to have SIYC groups in every state.  We also hosted a SIYC Happy Hour and engaged sellers across six live community stage presentations featuring sellers in SIYC fireside chats, and This is Small Business hosted candid founder interviews and live Box by Box games.

‍Watch on-demand sessions from Accelerate 2026

‍SIYC in Action

Two SIYC sellers take the stage at Dallas Startup Week

DFW Startup Week is one of the largest entrepreneurship events in the country, bringing together thousands of founders, investors, and business builders across five days of programming at Southern Methodist University. This year, two SIYC sellers were part of the action.

Avacraft co-founders Asha and Vivek Kangralkar started their cookware company from their Plano, Texas home in 2015 after Asha, a trained engineer, couldn't find pots and pans that met her standards. They've since grown to over 60,000 customers. Obia Naturals founder Obia Ewah used her degrees in Chemistry and Biology to formulate vegan, pH-balanced hair care products that now sell in more than 21 countries.

Both joined a panel in front of 50 local business owners and community leaders to share what it actually takes to build and scale a brand in the Amazon store.

‍Veteran seller shares their story with state leaders in Savannah

The National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs has been connecting state-level veterans' affairs leaders since 1946. This year's annual conference brought nearly 340 officials from 45 states to Savannah, Georgia, and SIYC sellers were there to tell their stories.

Tally Tumbler co-founder Matt Butler, a military veteran based in Destin, Florida, represented at the booth alongside six other veteran seller success stories. Matt and his co-founder Kelvin Sealy created the Tally Tumbler, a score-keeping beverage holder for golfers, after spotting a gap that combined two things every golfer needs on the course.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Commissioner Patricia Ross recognized Amazon on stage during the event. On a panel, Commissioner Ross and the SIYC team highlighted Bon Appesweet founder Thereasa Black, a Navy veteran and attorney who started her date-sweetened chocolate company after a 13-month deployment away from her daughter. After learning about Amazon Ads at a Veteran EDGE conference, Thereasa invested just $10 a day and watched her sales climb 3,000% in a matter of months. In 2026, Bon Appesweet surpassed $1 million in annual sales. ‍

Small business owners pack a workshop in rural Nebraska

Grow Nebraska has been supporting small businesses across the state since 1998, offering training, technical assistance, and connections to new opportunities. This fall, SIYC partnered with them to host a free panel in Grand Island for 32 local business owners looking to learn what it takes to sell and grow in the Amazon store.

Nebraska Star Beef, a third-generation cattle family that built an $800,000 Amazon channel, and Grill Sargeant, an Omaha-based grill accessories company, shared their very different paths to growth in the Amazon store. The energy in the room spoke for itself. Attendees rushed speakers after the session for follow-up conversations.

The momentum didn't stop there. The SIYC team will be hosting an October webinar to reach Grow Nebraska's broader membership, extending the conversation well beyond the room.

Amazon Updates

This Is Small Business is back with a new season

This Is Small Business, Amazon's series spotlighting the real stories behind building a business, is back with Season 8, now streaming on YouTube and available wherever you listen to podcasts. The show has surpassed one million downloads and continues to grow.

New this season: Box by Box, a fast, playful format where every block pulled reveals a real business insight. Three episodes are already live on YouTube, with six total on the way.

This is Small Business represented at Accelerate on September 22, with four live sessions on the Community Stage featuring sellers in candid founder interviews and live Box by Box games.

Watch and subscribe today

Seller Spotlight: Nebraska Star Beef

The Klute family has been raising cattle in Holdrege, Nebraska for three generations. In 2011, after years of supplying natural beef to Whole Foods, they decided to build a brand of their own. Kayla (Klute) Pfister, who grew up working cattle at the feed yard since she was 15, now runs the Amazon side of the business. "We know cattle inside and out," Kayla said. "You don't know unless you try. That's just how we grew up."

Today, Nebraska Star Beef is a $2.9 million business, with the Amazon store as their single largest sales channel at $800,000 and growing. The family uses Fulfillment by Amazon for shelf-stable seasoning kits, which stores, picks, packs, and ships their products and handles customer service and returns, and Fulfilled by Merchant for steaks that ship frozen on dry ice from their own warehouse. When they moved the seasoning line to FBA in 2025, revenue doubled, jumping from $187,000 to $365,000. "Getting it into FBA was a game changer," Kayla said. "I wish we had done it sooner."

The Klute family gives back locally, selling ground beef to area schools for farm-to-table programs and donating steaks and beef bundles for community events. "Supporting our local community is at the heart of everything we do, and we love that Amazon has allowed us to do that."

Read the full story here. (will replace link with article on SIYC website)

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