Notes from the America Business Forum: Building Bridges for the Ocean

I spent a day at the America Business Forum representing Project Anchor Down. Different crowd than our usual science rooms. More founders, operators, and investors. I went in to listen, learn, and figure out how to run our ocean work with the same discipline that good businesses use.

Why I went

We are growing programs like internships, micro-grants, and field pilots. I wanted to pressure test our plans with people who build teams, manage budgets, and deliver on deadlines. It helped to translate reef work into clear outcomes and simple numbers.

What actually landed

• A short story backed by a one page snapshot. Dollars in, outputs out. Cleanups held, students trained, datasets delivered. People responded to that mix.

• Earned revenue matters. Grants help, but steady cash flow keeps the lights on. We sketched a few small pilots for paid workshops, fee for service data collection, and classroom kits.

• A specific ask beats a vague idea. Six weeks, this budget, this metric. That opened doors.

• Operational hygiene builds trust. A basic CRM, standard scopes of work, and quick kickoff calls tell partners we are easy to work with.

New connections

I left with a few real leads. A data visualization studio that wants to co build a lightweight reef dashboard for classrooms. A logistics partner willing to help with cleanup supplies for campus chapters. An impact minded family office interested in blue economy education pilots and student fellowships.

What changes now

Coming out of the forum, I am tightening a few things on our end:

• A sponsorship deck with clear tiers tied to real outputs like tools, datasets, and trainings.

• A public impact dashboard that updates each quarter with projects completed, students supported, volunteer hours, and shoreline impact.

• A short partner menu with three pilot options, fixed timelines, fixed budgets, and measurable deliverables.

• A simple follow up cadence from intro, to a quick scoping call, to a one page plan, to midpoint check in, and then a final package.

Why this matters

Conservation wins when good ideas meet good operations. If we pair lab precision with business discipline, small projects ship faster, waste less money, and leave behind methods that other teams can reuse.

If you were at the forum and want to compare notes, or if you are a company, fund, or studio looking for a focused pilot, email projectanchordown@gmail.com with the subject line ABF Follow Up and your name. Tell me what you build and what a meaningful six week collaboration looks like to you. I will bring a tight scope and a plan to measure what matters.