Entrepreneurs Are Building Tomorrow’s Businesses with Innovative Tech

By SBE Council at 10 July, 2026, 4:07 pm

….While Some in Congress are Stuck on Fixing Yesterday’s Illusory Problems

By Karen Kerrigan –

For almost five years, supporters of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) have attempted to advance their bill through Congress. Each time, those efforts have failed. It’s not because legislators oppose competition or innovation. Quite simply, AICOA’s premise about ‘big-tech’s” power is flawed. Moreover, the bill’s provisions reflect unsophisticated awareness about how entrepreneurs are actually building, operating, and growing their businesses in today’s digital economy. The world has changed dramatically since AICOA was first introduced, which makes its June 2026 re-introduction even more senseless.

While digital commerce has become the norm, entrepreneurs do not rely on a single tech platform, marketplace, or sales channel. In fact, they reach customers through multiple channels both online and off via a blended approach. They are constructing integrated digital ecosystems that combine e-commerce, logistics, payments, cloud computing, advertising, cybersecurity, customer communications, accounting, inventory management, AI-powered productivity tools, and marketing into one seamless operation.

That integration is not uncommon. It is how millions of small businesses compete.

AICOA would upend this seamless integration for many small businesses, raise their costs, and erect new barriers to their revenue streams. In short, it would disrupt an affordable digital ecosystem that has worked extraordinarily well for America’s small businesses.

Rather than encouraging innovation, the legislation would inject uncertainty into the integrated digital services that entrepreneurs depend upon every day. It would discourage the very product improvements, interoperability, and seamless experiences consumers love, and that have dramatically lowered the cost of starting and growing a business.

Small Businesses Have Already Voted…with Their Investments

SBE Council’s 2026 Small Business Tech Use Survey tells a clear story about how small businesses are operating in the digital economy:

● 93% of small businesses are multi-channel sellers.

● The business website is currently the primary channel for driving sales, followed (and complimented) by social media platforms, their physical storefronts, in-person events, and online/e-commerce platforms.

● 82% report satisfaction with the current online/offline channel mix.

● Regarding specific platforms: Of the 30% of small businesses that sell on Amazon, 98% say Amazon’s pricing structure is fair and allows them to compete. Of the 26% of small businesses using TikTok, 91% say the platform is important to the viability of their business.

Small business owners are embracing new technologies and digital tools/channels – not whining about their existence.  They are accelerating their digital engagement and investments. In fact, 37% added new sales channels in the past year and 47% plan to add additional channels throughout 2026. Moreover:

● 82% of small business employers now use AI or AI-enabled tools in their operations.

● 93% plan to keep making investments in AI over the next year with 62% of those reporting they will up those investments.

● Due to AI, small business owners report improvements in productivity, customer engagement, revenues, operational efficiency, and competitiveness.

The Modern Entrepreneur Doesn’t Choose One Marketplace

Some in Congress appear to assume that a small business owner picks one dominant platform through which it reaches customers. As reinforced through SBE Council’s 2026 Small Business Tech Use Survey, that simply isn’t how most small businesses operate. Today’s small businesses build customer ecosystems, not single sales channels.

For example, a small business might (among many options):

● sell through its own website,

● maintain a physical storefront,

● offer buy online, pick up in store (BIPOS),

● use Amazon to reach Prime customers,

● sell specialty products on Etsy,

● generate leads through Instagram and Facebook,

● post “behind-the-scenes” or product demonstrations on YouTube,

● advertise on Google,

● sell or test products and services at in-person events such as farmer’s markets, local fairs, and pop-ups,

● communicate through email newsletters, social media platforms, messenger and text,

● nurture customers on LinkedIn,

● build their brand via TikTok, and accept orders through TikTok Shop,

● and fulfill repeat purchases through subscription services.

Each channel serves a unique purpose for the small businesses using it. Some create awareness. Some generate first-time sales. Others build loyalty. Still others handle fulfillment or customer support. The modern entrepreneur isn’t dependent upon one platform. They orchestrate several or many of them depending upon the needs of their business, and more importantly the needs of their customers.

Integration Is an Advantage – Not a Problem

Critics often portray large technology platforms as if they exist in isolation. Small business owners know better.

Again, an entrepreneur selling products online may simultaneously rely on Amazon Marketplace for customer reach, Amazon fulfillment services for logistics, cloud computing to manage operations, AI-powered marketing tools to identify customers, integrated payment systems to process transactions, cybersecurity services to protect data, and advertising tools to build brand awareness.

These integrated services save entrepreneurs time, reduce costs, improve security, and eliminate the need to purchase and manage dozens of separate systems.

For startups and small businesses operating with limited capital and lean staffs, those efficiencies can determine whether a company survives or fails. AICOA risks making those integrated services more difficult or impossible to provide, and creates legal uncertainty around common platform practices that small businesses have come to rely upon.

Congress should not be making digital tools and systems harder to use and more expensive. It should be focused on policies that encourage access, and more innovation at lower cost.

Technology has Democratized Entrepreneurship

America’s greatest competitive advantage has never been government selecting winners and losers. It has been giving entrepreneurs access to better tools, broader markets, and greater opportunity.

Today’s digital platforms, AI applications, cloud services, and online marketplaces have dramatically lowered the cost of starting and growing a business. They have democratized entrepreneurship, allowing even the smallest firms to reach customers across the country and around the world.

Congress should be asking how to expand those opportunities – not how to make them more expensive, fragmented, or difficult to use. The latter is exactly what AIOCA would do, and why the approach and its underlying premise need to be rejected.

Karen Kerrigan is President & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.