Ky Holland, November 21, 2020
This past week was Alaska Startup Week. This was roughly the 8th year of holding a statewide program promoting entrepreneurs and startups in the state. Alaska Startup Week is now organized each year by a team of community volunteers that include community activists and entrepreneurs. This year included over 30 events that can be found at the link above. While COVID has had a terrible impact on established business and families, surprisingly COVID was not a focus of the startup week events or discussions. It was a reminder that entrepreneurs and startups are not focused on barriers or constrained by the way things have always been done in the past. It was inspiring to spend a week with people who are building the Next Alaska.
Journal of Commerce Essays – Part of the Startup Week included a series of opinion essays organized by Gretchen Fauske at the UA Center for Economic Development hosted by the Journal of Commerce. I want to encourage you to read all of the essays, but in particular the one I submitted following up on the Next Alaska 3.0 blog post. Here is a list of the essays.
What’s Next Alaska – https://www.alaskajournal.com/2020-11-17/startup-week-2020-whats-next-alaska-startup-week-look-back-and-ahead
In order to build thriving businesses, we must focus on the entrepreneur https://www.alaskajournal.com/2020-11-16/startup-week-2020-order-build-thriving-businesses-we-must-focus-entrepreneur
A Gap in the Market: Young Entrepreneurs Are Missing Opportunitieshttps://www.alaskajournal.com/2020-11-19/startup-week-2020-gap-market-young-entrepreneurs-are-missing-opportunities
Partnering for Purpose Greater than the Bottom Linehttps://www.alaskajournal.com/2020-11-20/startup-week-2020-partnering-purpose-greater-bottom-line
We need each other, now more than everhttps://www.alaskajournal.com/2020-11-20/startup-week-2020-we-need-each-other-now-more-ever
The Next Alaska3.0 Project
Here is a outline of the project (version 20201026) you can download. If you are interested in helping with this work, please add your name to a list to receive updates.