About Us

Alaska Entrepreneurship Week makes Alaska’s entrepreneurship support system visible, and puts it within reach of every community in the state.

Alaska already has the organizations, the programs and the people. Lenders, advisors, accelerators, nonprofits, agencies, universities and chambers of commerce all operate here, and most of them operate independently. An entrepreneur in a smaller community often cannot see what is available, and a program built in Anchorage often cannot reach them. What has been missing is the connective tissue. AKEW builds it.

What AKEW does

Showcase what exists. Alaska’s entrepreneurship support infrastructure is substantial but fragmented. AKEW makes it visible: who does what, where, and for whom. During the week, every organization, program and resource appears on one statewide calendar.

Fill the gaps. Assembling the full picture exposes what is missing. Where there is no lending workshop, no mentor network, or no access to advising, AKEW recruits organizations and entrepreneurs to fill those gaps.

Deliver it everywhere. City Leads and City Co-Leads across seven or more regions host events, create programming and recruit additional organizers. Geography should not determine access to support.

How the week works

AKEW is an open platform. Anyone can host. Three tiers help attendees know what to expect before they commit their time.

Featured events are curated sessions with actionable content, qualified presenters and structured feedback, meeting AKEW’s criteria for format, depth and attendee value. Partner events are hosted by established organizations with existing programs, using AKEW’s coordinated promotion to expand their reach. Community events are grassroots sessions hosted by entrepreneurs, business owners, or anyone with something valuable to share. Open mic, open door, open to all.

Statewide by design

Most business programming happens in one city. AKEW is built the other way around. Coordination is statewide, delivery is local, and the calendar reaches communities on and off the road system, plus online. The point is not to bring Alaska to Anchorage. It is to bring the ecosystem to Alaska.

What has been built

AKEW has grown through successive editions without paid staff. The 2025 edition carried more than 120 events, drew in more than 50 organizations, reached seven or more regions, and has been recognized by three Governor’s proclamations.

The less visible result is infrastructure. One statewide calendar where any organization can list an event. One registration system that handles free and paid sessions. A public directory of the organizations that support Alaskan entrepreneurs. A repeatable operating model that lets a small number of people run a statewide program at a fraction of the cost such an effort usually takes. That infrastructure outlasts each edition and is available to the organizations that take part.

How AKEW is run

AKEW is volunteer-led. Statewide Co-Chairs coordinate the initiative, City Leads and City Co-Leads deliver it in their regions, and partner organizations contribute programming, venues and expertise. Nobody is paid to run it.

The work is funded by sponsorship and donations, and administered through a fiscal sponsor. Sponsorship pays for coordination, promotion and logistics, and supports registrations for community members for whom cost would otherwise be a barrier. Sponsorship does not buy influence over programming or content.

Strategic partners are designated annually and are chosen for coverage rather than prominence: each one reaches a part of the entrepreneurial population, or a stage of a founder’s path, that the others do not.

Why this matters now

Alaska’s economy needs businesses that start here, grow here and stay here. That depends on whether a person with an idea can find the right help at the right moment, in the place where they actually live. The week is the most visible expression of that goal. It is not the limit of it. The relationships, the calendar and the directory persist after the week ends, and they are built to keep being useful to Alaskans long after the last session closes.

Get involved

Host an event and put your program in front of a statewide audience. Become a sponsor and fund the coordination that makes the week possible. Volunteer or lead in your community. See the organizations already taking part.

Questions, partnership proposals and sponsorship enquiries go to contact@akew.org.