Juliette Devillard, Greentown Labs

Organizational background

Greentown Labs is the largest clean technology incubator in the United States and the home to more than 80 member companies that collectively employ over 900 people. Greentown Labs’ mission is to “foster a passionate community committed to solving the world’s biggest efficiency, energy and environmental challenges by providing the resources and labs startups need to succeed”. Alongside providing regular member services, Greentown Labs runs a manufacturing initiative under their non-profit arm, Greentown Learn, that helps startups connect with local manufacturers who can produce their technology. Greentown Labs also runs periodic ‘Greentown Launch’ accelerator programs where they partner with one of their corporate sponsors to create a bespoke program to fast tracking entrepreneurs providing them with the mentors, team members, business and technical resources they need to launch successful ventures.

Role during the Internship

My role at Greentown Labs involved supporting Katie MacDonald, the Director of Strategic Partnerships, with all aspects of the Greentown Launch program. This summer, we launched a call for applications for the current program: the Greentown Labs Bold Ideas Challenge that was run with French multinational Schneider Electric. I was responsible for managing inbound applications to the program and helped to organize the different stages of judging and the program’s launch event.

I realized in my first few weeks at Greentown Labs that a number of their startups would benefit from additional public speaking training to help them express themselves and pitch their ideas. Therefore, alongside my work with Greentown Launch, I sought to give back to the community by setting pitching and public speaking office hours. Over the course of my internship, I helped to coach 20 different startup members, 17 of whom were co-founders or CEOs who were directly responsible for pitching to investors. Part-way through my internship, I also ran a 1-hour seminar on pitching techniques that was attended by over 50 people.

Personal Reflection

Working at Greentown Labs was a truly wonderful experience that cemented in me the desire to work in the renewable energy industry in the future. As a result of my time at Greentown Labs, I have refined my focus and I now know that I wish to focus my academic and professional career on innovation in the clean technology field. Post-graduating from Fletcher, I hope to use my OPT to work in Massachusetts for one of the many renewable-focused organizations in the area.