We’re still buzzing after spending three days in Denver discussing the future of Cin7 and inventory at Cin7 Summit 2026: The Future in Stock.
Last year, The Growth Expedition brought us together to talk about scaling smarter. This year, we picked a bigger question: what does it look like to be at the forefront of technology, and how do you get there without blowing up the business you've already built?
Here’s what we learned:
Our new CEO, Sheldon Cummings, opened the conference and dove into his story. Sheldon built his career in consumer insights, both globally and in the US, and that background shaped a clear throughline: a passion for helping SMBs scale and a belief in democratizing technology that was once out of reach for smaller businesses. For Sheldon, joining Cin7 felt like a "hand and glove" fit, a natural next step in a career built around giving growing businesses the tools they need to compete.
Sheldon is fresh off of trips to London, New York, Australia, and New Zealand so he knows what businesses are up against. He heard from customers about the supply chain chaos, inflation squeezing margins, and how AI is moving faster than most teams can keep up with.
He showed that the future of Cin7 will be addressing these challenges and solving the next ones before they’re here. We’re driving growth through inventory intelligence and taking businesses from reactive tracking to predicting what happens next.
The line that stuck with the room: every product business, whether you're selling 10 SKUs or 1 million, deserves the advanced tools that used to be reserved for enterprises.
If there's one question on every Cin7 customer's mind right now, it's this: what can AI actually do for my business today, not someday? VP of Product Josh Fischer took the stage to share how we’re using AI to solve two major problems: reduce bottlenecks and resolve money leaks. How? With three features:
Josh gave a sneak peek on upcoming AI features including: shipping routing logic, price optimization, and deeper API integrations.
Josh Fischer's product keynote showed up with one message front and center: "We are listening." With over 8,500 customers and $40B flowing through Cin7 in the last year, Fischer's focus wasn't flashy new features. It was the small things that add up to a big difference.
The throughline was Cin7's two core customer types: businesses outgrowing spreadsheets, and businesses realizing they don't need a traditional ERP. Fischer used Simple vs. Advanced Sales Orders and the new Advanced Drop Ship Purchase Orders as proof points, showing how Cin7 has quietly solved real operational pain, like eliminating the need to void and rebuild purchase orders when a supplier splits a shipment.
He also outlined where Cin7 is headed: stronger APIs, better Shopify and Amazon integrations, audit log and security improvements in Omni, a POS refresh, and continued investment in WMS, manufacturing, and B2B. Underneath it all was a clear philosophy: most merchants don't want a complex ERP, they want their existing platform to just work better. Fischer's closing ask to the room was direct: tell us what your industry needs that we don't have yet.
One of the most talked-about sessions wasn't about a feature. It was a fireside chat. Kathy Iacono of Carla Zampatti and Adam Stead of Techweave told a real, unpolished story about modernizing operations after 65 years in business, moderated by Cin7's Ciara Rogers.
Carla Zampatti runs 20 boutiques across Australia and New Zealand plus a growing Shopify business, cutting roughly 50,000 units a year. With lean stock per store, inventory accuracy is existential. Their old system, Harmony, had no process enforcement and no way to fix mistakes, once short 5,000 buttons from an unentered PO, permanently.
The path to Cin7 wasn't a straight line: they evaluated Omni first, came back through Techweave, and landed on Core, extended with custom API tooling for stock rebalancing.
The biggest lesson: inventory management is more about people than software. Three years in, the clearest win is a unified online and in-store experience, with new stores and US expansion now on the table.
The breakout rooms filled up fast, and for good reason. Here's what attendees took away.
John Liggett, Kevin Smith (Hawk Cloud Consulting), Alyshah Walji (Lightspeed), and Bryon Paulazzo (SPS Commerce) broke down how to audit your tech stack instead of just adding to it: benchmarking each app for fit and ROI, tightening data flow to cut sync errors, and building a roadmap that scales without disrupting today's ops.
Hillary Major sat down with Liz Myslik (Loft Growth Partners), Cody Beneson (Siddhi Capital), and Peter Boyajian (Startup CPG) for a candid look at what investors actually want to see. They talked through the metrics that signal you're ready to raise, and how messy inventory data can quietly tank a valuation.
Sometimes a standard P&L doesn’t cut it for inventory-heavy businesses. Kinley Shotts led a conversation with Geoff Gualano (A2X), Matt Lynn (BELAY), and Rachel Dauchy (NetDeposited) on what changes once accounting and operations data finally talk to each other.
No slide-and-nod sessions here. Every workshop this year came with a live demo and a tool you could actually dive into.
The session didn't just explain forecasting, it put the black box on trial: what's actually happening when ForesightAI predicts demand, why "100 methods" isn't a marketing gimmick, and why safety stock is basically two extra umbrellas packed for two different reasons. Attendees also got a live look at Smart Reorder 2.0.
Kaleb Carter and Radim Jung ran a live demo of Cin7’s AMA AI-agent. They showcased how plain-language questions can replace static dashboards. A live demo walked through how teams in inventory, sales, operations, and finance can get instant answers instead of building another report.
Alex Garrison and Kaleb Carter broke down how Cin7 Pay and Cin7 Capital work together. Cin7 Pay covers the getting-paid side: embedded checkout inside Core and Omni, expanded payment options, automatic daily payouts, and tight sync with Xero and QuickBooks Online. Cin7 Capital covers the getting-funded side, whether that's a term loan for new equipment, a flexible line of credit, or financing against outstanding invoices.
This is the first time we've run this, and it won't be the last. Think live demos, rapid-fire tips, real reports pulled straight from the people who build Cin7, and 1:1 time with the teams behind the product.
Walk through the lobby at any point over the three days and you'd find yourself surrounded by the reason we all showed up: real products from real Cin7 customers.
The Customer Showcase featured brands from across our customer base from food and beverage to wellness, pet supplies and apparel were displayed in the main lobby. Attendees browsed on the way to sessions, discovered brands they hadn't heard of, and in more than a few cases walked away with a new supplier, retailer, or partner conversation started.
A few of the brands on display this year:
Several showcase brands also sent product for the attendee welcome bags, so everyone left Denver with a little bit of the Cin7 customer community in hand.
Education wasn’t the only benefit of attending Cin7 Summit 2026. Here’s what we got up to outside the classroom:
None of this happens without the partners who show up for it year after year. Thank you!
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Intuit Enterprise Suite |
BELAY |
Kanmon |
Avalara |
Stripe |
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Rillet |
Ramp |
A2X |
Brandscope |
Campfire |
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CartonCloud |
Easy Insight |
EzzyBills |
Granite WMS |
Owlery |
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Qurk |
Shiptheory |
SparkLayer |
SPS Commerce |
Startup CPG |
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Surpass Solutions |
Tugger |
Fiskal Finance |
Crstl |
AceForce Group |
If there's one thing that echoed through every room in Denver, it's this: you don't have to choose between running your business today and building the one you want tomorrow. Whether you're moving off spreadsheets or scaling past your first warehouse, Cin7 grows with you. That's the whole idea behind an IMS instead of a bloated ERP: the power to scale, without the cost, complexity, or year-long implementation. It's the promise behind this year's theme, The Future in Stock. Manage today. Shape tomorrow.
To every customer, partner, and sponsor who joined us in Denver: thank you for making Summit 2026 one for the books. The future's already in stock, and we can't wait to build it with you.
See you in 2027!