ICE Jam Highlights Public-Private Partnership Success

February 8, 2021

ICE Jam 60Hertz

The first ICE Jam event of 2021 was a great way to Launch the new year, Dash us into the fast-moving world of startups, and demonstrate how to maintain a steady 60Hertz frequency.

The webinar hosted two startup companies that have been through Launch Alaska, a tech deployment accelerator focusing on innovative food, energy, water, and transport solutions. The program, sponsored by the office of Naval Research, has the audacious goal of implementing $1 billion in projects in Alaska by 2030.

Piper Foster, cofounder of 60Hertz Energy — which is creating a culture of maintenance for microgrids — shared some of the rules she developed and the biggest lessons she learned while building the startup in 2020. The main lessons included being a good and active listener to your customers. Trusting your instincts and knowing your company identity goes beyond the logo.

Dash Shipping chief operation officer Bryan Miller shared his company’s logistics goals of ‘land the package, not the plane.’ Dash worked beyond the research and design phase into the implementation of their efficient delivery of packages to remote locations that could include rural Alaska communities or chains of islands in the Caribbean. Miller distilled the core ideas in these lessons as follows:

  • Prioritize culture fit and hiring first.
  • Whenever building technology that doesn’t exist, manage expectations with investors/advocates/team.
  • Understand your market; command ownership of your numbers.
  • Take a step back; appreciate the little victories to prevent burnout.

Watch the webinar here and learn more secrets of successful startups!