Hygge Power at NREL’s 2019 Industry Growth Forum
Hygge Power presented at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)’s Industry Growth Forum (IGF)— and we couldn’t be more humbled by the recognition.
IGF is the premier event for cleantech entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts to build relationships, showcase innovative technologies and explore disruptive business solutions. For companies like Hygge Power, IGF is a great event, not only because it’s heavy on the energy side, but also because it provides up-and-coming enterprises the unique opportunity to spend one-on-one time with industry heavyweights who can help take our business to the next level.
At IGF, attendees get access to some of the world’s biggest cleantech investors and industry experts. With the unmatched opportunity to build relationships and connect capital with the attending innovators, IGF aims to create significant impact on the world of energy. And as you’re making the right connections, the trusted NREL “stamp of approval” is a significant benefit as well. The impact of the relationship-building that has occurred at IGF since 2003 is staggering — companies that have presented at the IGF have gone on to raise a collective $6.3 billion in follow-on funding.
Designed to connect the cleantech community, IGF brings innovative research, entrepreneurship and investor money together in one place. Beyond organized networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings, this year’s event, which took place this week in Denver, featured compelling panel conversations and presentations from 30 emerging clean energy companies. And, for the first time at IGF, Hygge Power will be onstage as a presenter!
Proactive Engagement
But we weren’t simply invited just because. It required proactive engagement, solid relationship-building prowess and applying the expert advice we received from IGF last year to get to the point we are at today — and it will take more of the same to deliver on our goal of Better Energy. Better Lives.
Similar to speed-dating, the One-on-One Networking Session provided investors a venue to quickly host numerous 1:1 meetings, forge new connections with cleantech entrepreneurs and hear some pitches before moving on. Because time is limited in these rapid-fire discussions, it’s crucially important to proactively reach out to investors and strategic partners ahead of time.
Fortunately, NREL provides the tools to do so. There’s a portal set up allowing companies to immediately engage with investors and other important people to ensure the alignment is right ahead of the meeting. This allows companies and the individuals they are meeting with to get on the same page and immediately establish goals so that time isn’t wasted during the brief one-on-one session. NREL provides the tools to effectively engage with the experts, investors, accelerators, incubators and other cleantech industry leaders who matter most to cleantech innovation.
Expert Advice
One of the most significant takeaways from attending last year was the amount of expert advice companies receive at IGF. From manufacturing and working capital to the risks and mitigations seen by experts in the energy space, attendees receive unsurpassed expert advice and get a "big picture" overview of the emerging industry and the issues affecting technological innovation, capitalization and commercialization.
While some advice is just noise that needs to be filtered out, the expert feedback received at IGF can be incredibly accurate and useful, better aligning companies to provide additional value moving forward. Experts, startups, technologists and thought leaders with experience navigating the clean energy industry provide feedback as a pro bono service, and they allow attendees to be better prepared for the next stage of growth after learning about best practices and successful strategies.
Next-Level Presentation
We’ve heard that every year at IGF, the quality of the presenters goes up. As such, we were honored and excited to present our company and technology to an audience of hundreds of potential investors at this year’s event. Every time a company presents at an industry event, it typically invites questions from industry-related individuals, scientists and investors, and we believe that provided us an opportunity to show the investors we’ve already connected with what our story is from a more general perspective.
It’s exciting to be talking about products and services that we can execute into the marketplace to provide value to customers. Our presentation answered specific questions about the company, our technology, financials and end-customers, before we opened the floor for a question-and-answer session focused on accelerating how Hygge Power will be able to provide value.
At Hygge Power, we have a track record of doing something once and then going back and doing it better the next time. Since last year’s IGF, we’ve in many ways repositioned ourselves to better define how we’re communicating our story to the people who matter most. The Forum was an excellent opportunity to collaborate and explore partnerships with the cleantech community and being selected to present is a significant milestone. It’s wonderful to have the support of NRELand leading partners and their expertise.