By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Local entrepreneurs Brit Galanin and Alana Peterson spoke at Wednesday’s Chamber luncheon, promoting the third annual Alaska Startup Week events being held in nine communities statewide – Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Homer, Bethel, Seward, Palmer, and Soldotna – to support and encourage startups.
Leading a discussion on why startups are good for the economy and how to support entrepreneurs, Galanin and Peterson spoke on building momentum for a state’s or community’s unique identities.
“Part of Startup Week, the main goal, is to celebrate entrepreneurship,” Galanin said. “To get more people thinking about what it means to be an entrepreneur. If you are interested in being an entrepreneur, connecting you to those resources or to other people who are like you, or helping you figure out how you can support entrepreneurs or local business growth in your own community.”
Galanin is managing partner of Element Agency, an award-winning Alaska-based creative agency specializing in strategy, design and content creation.
Peterson is owner of Back Door Cafe and Fisheye Cafe, and executive director at Spruce Root, Inc.
Both were born and raised in Sitka.
Peterson’s parents were entrepreneurs and worked from home.
“My little endeavors were always supported,” Peterson said. Although her painted Raven designs on wooden plaques was a huge failure.
“I did that, lemonade stands, newspaper routes,” she said. “I think I was always trying to figure out how to make money. It was really interesting to me and seemed like fun.”
Alana Peterson, left, and Brit Galanin talk about startup businesses during the Sitka Chamber of Commerce noon luncheon Wednesday at the Westmark. The talk was part of Alaska Startup Week events in Sitka. The next event is a panel discussion on financial opportunities and resources needed when starting a business, 7 p.m. tonight at Baranof Island Brewing Company. (Sentinel Photo)
She also stated there were moments where she felt she was not supported by the community or schools.
“I didn’t know that I could be an entrepreneur,” she said. “At some point it dawned on me that I was an entrepreneur. That didn’t happen until after I owned a business. Now, looking back, the lack of dialogue around it in Sitka, and the lack of support that I felt, and the struggle to be who I felt I was meant to be, I think that made it difficult to be an entrepreneur. It was a struggle for me to get support and I think if there was more dialogue around entrepreneurship it would have come more naturally to me.”
Galanin built her first companies in Anchorage and moved them here.
“I was naturally entrepreneurial as a kid,” she said. “I didn’t know that though. No one had identified that in me or told me. I was always interested in community and in people. I was interested in how we interacted with each other and with space and in making change. And what inspires people to make change, what grows a community.”
A sociology degree led to academic research and the realization she needed to be paid for her main commodity, her brain, and the service it can provide and began a consulting business at age 21.
She helped establish a co-working network in Anchorage called the Boardroom, an 18,000-square-foot space that caters to more than 100 businesses with 10,000 visitors yearly, and is a pillar in the business economy.
Wanting to return to her Sitka roots she noted the need to get local creative talent working together and started Element Agency to build story-telling campaigns, help elevate brands, and help companies reach broader audiences.
Both want to start the conversation for more small businesses in Sitka.
The University of Alaska Center for Economic Development states that over the last decade Alaska consistently added 4,000 to 6,000 jobs to the economy each year. Firms that are five years old or less accounted for 89 percent of Alaska’s net employment growth in the private sector.
The downward trend of commercial fishing landings, the decrease of monthly private payroll and current standing – meaning there are few new businesses, K-12 enrollment is decreasing, the 40 and over age group is increasing, and working class families and businesses are declining – are not seen as hindrances, the speakers said.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity,” Peterson said. “I think it’s a good thing that we have so many amazing older people here because that’s a resource we can tap into.”
They noted that dire situations spur innovation and a down economy means more entrepreneurship; that ingenuity equals new problems, equals new solutions, equals innovation; that entrepreneurs then create businesses that hire people; new businesses build confidence in local economy.
“Basically these downward trends, in entrepreneurship, are a good thing,” Galanin said. “They are actually opportunities to make change and for new businesses to come in and make new solutions. It builds excitement and interest in the economy.”
The Path to Prosperity business development competition that Spruce Root has sponsored the past five years in Southeast Alaska shows the majority of entrepreneurs are coming out of Juneau, but Sitka is close behind.
Peterson and Galanin said they hope to establish more active networking and collaboration ensuring that promising local entrepreneurs are discovered, educated, financed, and supported throughout their business life cycle.
“I think there are so many people who are hidden at their home and don’t feel supported,” Peterson said.
Added Galanin, “Support is key to building an entrepreneur in any community.”
They noted that the biggest hurdles to entrepreneurship are the fear of failure or feeling like an imposter, access to capital, and the silver bullet mentality of instant success.
“The only solution to be successful is hard work,” Peterson said. “There is no silver bullet. So often entrepreneurs, especially younger ones, are trying to skip some steps that require patience.”
To help entrepreneurship they suggest discovering or identifying entrepreneurs, provide education about growing a successful company, connect others to financing and capital, invest in businesses, support people through their business cycles, provide mentorship, invest money locally, and support family and friends who have ideas.
“Entrepreneurship is very hard work,” Galanin said. “You work way more as an entrepreneur than you ever would in a regular 9 to 5, because your brain never shuts down. It’s also incredibly rewarding. Every bit of time you put into it is putting time into yourself.”
While both noted that they represent companies that provide services for entrepreneurs, Galanin’s Element Agency and Peterson’s Spruce Root Inc., they suggested an easy path to follow.
“There are people like us that can help you,” Galanin said. “That can help you evaluate that situation and say whether or not it’s a good idea, and we also know how to put those contracts together.”
Peterson added, “Come to events like this. You all are doing it by just showing up. If you are interested in furthering this conversation or dipping a toe in the water and you’re not sure what that will look like just come to events. And just sit there. You don’t have to talk. Just showing up is a huge step towards how you can help.”
Said Galanin, “Join our network of other Sitka business leaders who are committed to building entrepreneurship here.”
During Startup Week, which runs through Nov. 18, a variety of educational workshops, events, and meet-ups across the state will celebrate entrepreneurship.
In Sitka a Business After Hours discussion on financing and resources for a startup will be held 5-7 p.m. today at Baranof Island Brewing Co., 1209 Sawmill Creek Road, with participation by Spruce Root Inc., Northrim Bank and BIBCO.
An entrepreneur reception and networking convention is scheduled for 5:30-7 p.m. Friday at the Fisheye Cafe, 327 Seward Square Mall. It is an event Peterson and Galanin would like to continue.
“Moving forward we don’t have any dates set or events set to meet up regularly, but we would like to do that,” Peterson said. “Whether it would be monthly, we haven’t really figured that out. We wanted to get this week done and see if there was interest and then we would like to create more of an ongoing collaborate network.”
Added Galanin, “There are a lot of different things and as entrepreneurs we are all dealing with the exact same problems, so knowing other entrepreneurs to have those conversations with is super helpful. Also, most entrepreneurs don’t stop at one business, they end up building more businesses. We have a lot of control over what we want our future town to look like.”
Steve and Ashley Eisenbeisz, owners of Russell’s, commented that they didn’t have the support group needed when they first started their business, and said an entrepreneurial collaborative is a welcome idea.
“We had family that had been successfully running a business for quite some time, but we didn’t have the peers our age that we could talk to,” Steve said. “And I think that’s a hurdle for the younger generation getting into business. For these two to stand up here and discuss this is a good thing and is going to spur a conversation that I think is only going to help Sitka in the long term.”
Another feature of Startup Week was a movie on Monday titled “Dream Girl,” about female entrepreneurship in America.
