t’s not easy to start a new business, and it’s even more difficult to make a big impression in the first year. Yet three Alaska companies—Aurora Security, Glow Events AK, and Peak Integrated Contracting—have impressed clients enough that they’ve been named the Best Startups in Alaska Business magazine’s Best of Alaska Business awards.
“Working for that size of corporate entity, there’s really no loyalty, which makes sense as it is a for-profit business,” Lance Lacey says. “But for me to continue to grow to the regional vice-president level, it required me to leave Alaska, and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice time with my kids for professional growth. They’re here, so I’m here.”
The Lacey cousins, with several years of experience in security, felt comfortable leaping into the field. To them, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough was in dire need of a “one-stop shop” for residential and commercial security. Established in March of 2023, Aurora Security now serves the entire state, providing a wide range of services including locksmithing, security and camera systems, and safes.
“Nationwide, there’s not really a one-stop shop where customers can get all of their security needs met in one place,” Lacey says. “We pride ourselves on providing a holistic approach to our clients.”
The company is also willing to go the extra step—which in a recent case meant jumping onto a plane headed to Homer, reprogramming a person’s car key, and returning home on the next plane.
In addition to a storefront at The Liberty Center in Wasilla, the company also has a mobile fleet, which enables it to meet customer needs more efficiently. “It’s a pretty even split” how clients choose to take advantage of their offerings, Lacey says.
“What the customer needs is at the forefront of what we do at all times,” he adds. “If we continually put them first, the rest will take care of itself.”
He and his cousin chose the name Aurora Security because they didn’t want to be pigeonholed into the locksmith role. “When you think of a locksmith, you picture some guy in a van smoking a cigarette with a dog; the whole industry in and of itself is antiquated or archaic, for lack of better term,” he says.
The Laceys’ goal has been to modernize security and to market their brand as a solution to any problem by taking a proactive approach. “I don’t want to be the company people only hear about when they’re Googling ‘locksmith’ when they get shut out of their cars,” Lacey says. “I want them to think of us for every need, from having their homes regularly rekeyed to installing a camera system that they can view remotely and on-site.”
This proactive approach is especially important with technology moving so quickly. The Laceys vet new equipment by putting it on friends’ and families’ homes to see if it can hold up to harsh Alaska conditions. “I want to make sure that we stay grounded, do the job right, and think about what the customer needs and not what we want to sell,” Lacey says.
“I think franchising is easily doable,” Lacey says, envisioning the Aurora brand spreading nationwide. “It could be located in any metropolis and do well virtually overnight with some advertising dollars behind it.”
“Though Alaska’s landmass is huge, it’s actually a lot of very small towns, where if you’re not doing things the right way for the right reasons, you get weeded out very quickly,” he says of his company’s success. “We make sure we’re doing things the right way, which is from the heart.”
“We realized that we could do this full time,” says Matsumiya. Thus, she started Glow Events AK last August with her sister, Lucky Limtiaco, in partnership with Medez. “We didn’t even do any research before we started; we just loved the idea and had a passion for it, so we went all in,” she says.
The business is headquartered in Anchorage and has recently had inquiries to plan weddings in Palmer, Wasilla, and even Hawai’i.
“While we are willing to travel and branch out, we’re happy where we are right now,” says Matsumiya. “We want to perfect our craft in Anchorage first. Then if the opportunity comes to travel, we’ll take it.”
Glow Events AK specializes in planning, decorating, and stylizing a range of celebrations, from weddings and milestone anniversaries to birthdays, baby showers, and more.
Glow Events AK recently planned the 50th anniversary celebration of the Narcotic Drug Treatment Center, an organization that provides medication-assisted treatment for individuals with an opioid use disorder, as well as individual counseling and group therapy. The party at the Hotel Captain Cook Quarter Deck with more than 200 people was a resounding success.
“We helped create an event that was very memorable for them,” says Matsumiya.
“My business card is my personality; I take the time to get to know our clients and really listen to them,” says Matsumiya. “I think that in addition to the talent of our team and the time that we spend in planning and decorating, our personalities shine. This creates real relationships, and the clients we work with then recommend us to others.”
“It was special because our client really trusted our vision and the process and planning of the whole event. She was in awe when it was finished,” Matsumiya adds. “Two weeks later, she had her baby. The fact that she trusted us was very special.”
“I had a fantastic career, and I loved the work, but now I’m ready for something different,” he recalls thinking last year. “I went back to my roots. I’d been doing remodels on the side for fifteen years and ultimately decided to go for it.”
He’s picked up gigs at the Anchorage senior activities center where his wife works as a fitness manager. While Pickens was performing maintenance there, he tapped into a lot of seniors who need help at their homes. Pickens says, “I put my information out there, and it’s been really fulfilling to be able to do something that helps our seniors.”
“I take cabinets in less-than-ideal condition and can make them look brand new to install in people’s homes,” Pickens says. “I try to shop locally and have established good relationships with the local hardware stores.”
While the start-up win came as a shock, not to mention ranking alongside large companies in the Best General Contractor category, Pickens credits it to the fact that he leads his company with a customer-first mentality.
He adds, “I’m not finished until the customer is happy. I don’t know if that’s why we got chosen, but I’m assuming that’s what set us apart.”
Pickens’ goals include growing the company from a small shop into a full competitor in the marketplace, expanding his reach into all of Alaska, including remote villages.
“I want to take on bigger projects while still maintaining our handyman branch so that people can call when they need help,” he says. “We can take care of their homes in ways they don’t know how to.”