This summer at Urban Electric Power (UEP), a zinc-alkaline battery manufacturing startup focused on stationary energy storage, I assisted the company to apply for funding, evaluated the cost of manufacturing batteries, and assessed product-market fit in specific markets. These projects were imperative to both the present and future success of UEP. In the short-term, non-dilutive funding, such as the grant I helped my team apply for, enabled the company to keep up with current expenses and plan future manufacturing scale-ups. The manufacturing cost analysis I performed will help drive equipment investment and process change decisions in their current facility. Finally, as the company moves from technology development to commercialization, the market analysis I performed will provide direction that will help the company serve the most lucrative customers in the long-term.

In doing this work, I was surprised at just how much of the MBA core skill set I utilized. I applied lessons from corporate finance, accounting, strategy, and operations management. What most stuck out to me was how critical it is to blend the lessons from these courses. Often, doing work in the core involves applying just one skill set, i.e., those learned from accounting, to a problem like building a cash flow statement. Yet, as I built the manufacturing cost analysis tool, I found myself thinking about the strategic decisions the company might make, like deciding on changes to make to the manufacturing process, and how the tool could best help with that decision making process. I incorporated sensitivity analyses, scenarios, and project revenue projections so the team could implement the changes most applicable to the projects they will build.

One of the biggest challenges I faced was in bridging the gaps between classroom learning and real-world application. While the case method teaches valuable critical thinking, often all the information I need is within the bounds of the case. During the internship I found that gathering the information that I needed to provide coherent insights was a challenge complicated by differing perspectives, changing work priorities, and fragmentary information. As I dug into the commercial and industrial energy sector, for example, I had trouble finding examples of long duration storage (LDES) projects from which to learn how UEPs solution could be applied. Through research I learned that most commercial-scale LDES implementations occur as part of larger microgrid projects at manufacturing plants, utilities, and military bases. These experiences highlighted how deep industry research not only provides critical insights but also opened up new avenues for further exploration, driving me to seek out innovative ways to apply UEPs solutions.

I learned two critical lessons this summer. First, my internship reaffirmed my interest in climate tech while also challenging me to think deeply about the specific role I want to take on in the future. Renewable energy has been a passion of mine since high school, and researching battery energy storage tech and developments this summer was equally invigorating. Second, I’ve always been interested in working at a startup to compare against my experience at a 10,000+ employee privately held company. I find the exercise of establishing a product-market fit something critical to early-stage startups — and eye-opening.

In just one example of the insights gained during customer discovery, I spoke with an employee at Renewable Energy Alaska Project about how isolated Alaskan communities think about energy storage for resiliency (backup power). I also ended up learning about how Alaskan communities have survived for the last 10,000 years, the daily challenges they face, and the impact that climate change is bringing to their natural environment. Although a startup seems like the right destination, I can also envision how an environment experiencing constant change and a job title requiring the balancing of numerous initiatives could be mentally taxing. I will still seek experiences in climate-focused startups that push me to explore new sectors outside of energy and determine what I value most about a workplace.