Starting a small business is often a lonely journey—the long nights, endless spreadsheets and seemingly infinite decisions can feel overwhelming. That’s why CoCreate 2025, held in Las Vegas, drew over 3,500 entrepreneurs this September: a gathering designed not just to share strategies but to remind founders that they aren’t alone.
Panels covered global trade shocks, supply chain disruptions and cost pressures, but the real buzz was about tools that can help small business owners work smarter.
During the event, Alibaba, which famously achieved $30.8 billion in sales in just one day, introduced Accio Agent, its latest AI assistant designed to take on the heavy lifting of beginning a business.
Your AI sidekick for product development and supplier sourcing
Accio Agent, trained on 1 billion listings and 50 million supplier profiles, uses deep industry insights and AI reasoning to offload as much as 70% of the everyday grind for small businesses, according to Alibaba. The tool is designed to streamline the most time-consuming aspects of running a business: transforming product ideas into detailed development plans, vetting and comparing suppliers, generating bulk requests for quotations and tracking compliance requirements.
In recent quarters, Alibaba’s AI-driven revenue has skyrocketed, now making up more than 20% of its income from external customers, and the company plans to pour over $53 billion into AI infrastructure over the next three years.
With the help of Accio Agent, your ideas don’t need to sit in notebooks or cloud folders. The AI tool can take any concept, sketches, photos or text descriptions and turn them into a road map you can track and follow. Simply upload your ideas, and it will figure out the best way to polish, promote and popularize your vision. Think of the agent as part assistant, part co-founder. It can handle the full design and heavy work to create the complete plan or just manage the day-to-day details while you keep control.
Unlock Alibaba’s global supply chain for small business growth
Accio Agent gives small businesses the tools to fully leverage Alibaba.com’s global supply chain. It enables entrepreneurs to source reliably, expand operations confidently and compete internationally. Backed by Alibaba’s proven global infrastructure, financial stability and millions of active suppliers, the platform ensures that small businesses can navigate international trade with confidence.
The complexities of global trade often leave entrepreneurs hesitant to expand beyond their local market. Many fear losing money, making costly mistakes or falling victim to scams, which can make global growth feel intimidating or unattainable. Accio can streamline sourcing, compliance checks and bulk request processes for quotations, effectively automating tasks that often leave early-stage entrepreneurs exposed to errors or fraud.
Scale globally with confidence using verified suppliers
When you’re trying to scale globally, reliability matters. Alibaba.com’s Verified Suppliers undergo thorough third-party assessments, so you know their operations, licensing and quality control meet international standards. It’s a level of transparency that helps millions of entrepreneurs make confident sourcing decisions.
According to Alibaba International’s latest survey of product-focused entrepreneurs, around 40% of small and medium-sized businesses globally are run by solo founders, each navigating tight constraints on time and labor force. The internet has made it simple to launch a venture, but for solo founders, every decision, from sourcing to compliance, can feel like a high-stakes balancing act. Accio Agent lightens that load with strategy creation, supplier vetting and product planning so the founder can focus on growth instead of juggling every detail.
For solo founders, the journey from idea to launch can feel like walking a tightrope. Accio Agent acts as a trusted partner, taking on the heavy lifting so you can focus on strategy and growth. To get started, think of your first step as clearly defining your product vision.
Launching a business alone no longer means doing it all by yourself. With Accio Agent, solo entrepreneurs can translate ideas into action: input your concept, review suggested suppliers and automate compliance and quotation processes. This approach frees founders to focus on scaling their business rather than getting bogged down in the operational details. Consider Accio your tireless co-founder who never complains about late nights.
Photo by Dorde Krstic/Shutterstock
