Sales Copilot takes first place at Techstars Startup Weekend in Seward

A team pitching Sales Copilot took first place at a Techstars Startup Weekend in Seward earlier this month, ahead of five other teams that had roughly 50 hours to develop a business idea.

Acquisition Arbor came in second and Deck Hand third. Acquisition Arbor also took the People's Choice Award, picked by audience vote, according to an Oct. 29 release from Alaska NSF EPSCoR.

The weekend kicked off Friday, Oct. 2, with 27 people pitching ideas to the room. Small teams of community members and students then took on six of them.

From there, the teams went out into Seward and talked with potential customers to learn whether their ideas could solve real problems. When an idea didn't land, the release says, a team worked out what it should build instead and changed course. On Saturday and Sunday, teams met with coaches, including local entrepreneurs, investors, designers and developers.

It all ended Sunday with investor-style pitches to three judges: Taylor Holshouser, managing partner for Seamark; Liam Zsolt, senior director of innovation and new business development with Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; and Melissa Schutter, assistant vice president with First National Bank of Alaska.

Fifty people took part, including Seward entrepreneurs and others from Anchorage, Valdez and Fairbanks. Eight University of Alaska Fairbanks and Anchorage students were able to attend with help from project funds and staff time.

The weekend is part of Interface of Change, a five-year project funded by a $20 million National Science Foundation award announced in April 2024. The project studies climate-driven effects on marine resources, Alaska communities, food security and subsistence. Its strategic plan calls for a Startup Weekend with Techstars every year with at least 20 participants, as a workforce development goal.