Flying Back To Oahu Over Moloka’i
As I start another journey back to Oahu, to go to the EastMeetsWest.Co Conference, I have to think about how fortunate I am to be able to commute back and forth over these beautiful islands. Usually upon leaving Maui, you always get a really nice view of the North Shore, from Spreckelsville, to Paia and Kuau, all the way Upcountry. And then when you begin to head East towards Oahu, the plane will fly directly over Molokai, and on this day, I could even see the fish ponds below!
Dinner At The Outrigger Canoe Club
I arrived at Honolulu International Airport and made it to Outrigger Canoe Club just before sunset, which was absolutely perfect. The silhouettes of the sailboats and canoes along the horizon could not have been more picturesque. There were 16 guests invited to this VIP dinner, many of them speakers that would be presenting during the event. It was hosted by Chenoa Farnsworth, Managing Director at Blue Startups, and Matt Melloy, Business Development at Blue Startups. The rest of our group came from all over Silicon Valley, as wells as different parts of Japan, Korea, and China.
It was quite the intelligent mix of people to be sharing dinner with, and I enjoyed interesting conversations with many of them, including: Dr. Bee-Leng Chua, Executive Director of the Hawaii Business And Entrepreneur Acceleration Mentors (HiBEAM); Robbie Melton, CEO and Exectutive Director of the High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC); Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship, Wilton Chau, of The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Faruq Ahmad, Founding Partner of Palo Alto Capital Advisors (PACA); Jay Onda, a Principal of DOCOMO Capital, Inc.; Elton Satusky, Partner at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati; Rui Ma, Venture Partner at 500 Startups; and Ben Levy, Co-Founder of Bootstrap Labs.
Howard Hughes Ward Village
After dinner, I had to head back to home to Maui for a night’s work—but the next morning, it was again off to Oahu for a 2 nights stay at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. My room came with a view of the Ala Wai Yacht harbor and the skyline towards Kaka’ako, where I would soon be heading to the IBM building and the models for the new Ward Village.
Here we were greeted by the big kahuna of the EastMeetsWest.Co Conference, Managing Director of the Tetris Company, Chairman of Blue Planet Software and Founder of Blue Startups, Henk B. Rogers., and his daughter Maya Rogers, President/CEO of Blue Planet Software and also helps manage business development for Blue Startups and Avatar Reality. Henk was looking especially dapper that evening, and he mentioned it was actually his wedding anniversary. It was quite the group, and plenty of the people there were the same ones from dinner. Always great to see familiar faces!
Ward Village’s main sales associate does a great job with her presentation—demonstrating the different buildings, what’s going where, and how they’ll have protected views. I was personally quite happy to experience this presentation now twice in one week, and she was really encouraging me to send buyers to her. I know that together we’ll help future buyers realize their dream of owning a home in the new Ward Village, and I very much look forward to working with her.
Then it was time for dinner with good friend Andrew Tang, at the classic Chart House restaurant. Andrew and I met at a couple Tony Robbins events: first, Date with Destiny in Palm Springs, and again at Business Mastery in February, 2013. A very skilled architect, he did a lot of work recently in Holland, and is now looking to bring some of his local talents to downtown Honolulu. He’s a fantastic urban planner and I know he’s going to be a large contribution for Honolulu, Waikiki, and Kaka’ako. It was a great evening catching up with him!
EastMeetsWest.Co Conference 2014
The next morning I rose with boundless energy as it was time for the reason we were all here, the conference! We were welcomed by Chenoa Farnsworth, Managing Director at Blue Startups; Richard Lim, Director at Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; Matt Melloy, Business Development at Blue Startups; and Bill Dorman, News Director at Hawaii Public Radio. Next, it was a keynote presentation: “Global Digital Lifestyle Trends”—strategies for tapping into global markets in an interconnected world. The introduction was by Faruq Ahmad, and the keynote address by Nick Hodulik, VP Software + Services at GoPro. Then, it was a discussion titled “Challenges of Going Global: Tactics and Learning.” This talk focused on entering new markets, receiving foreign investment and how to stay competitive. It was moderated by Jeffrey Kraatz, Former VP at Keynote Systems, and featured a panel of: Nick Hodulik, Dr. Bee Leng Chua, Maya Rogers, Casey Lau, Cofounder at StartupsHK, and Victor Ching, CEO at Chinchin.
After a break we were treated to a special appearance by the Mayor of Honolulu, Kirk Caldwell. Then, it was a discussion on “Cross-Border Investing: Opportunity or Headache.” This covered the complexities and best practices of cross-cultural and cross-border investing. It was moderated by: Bow Rodgers, Mentor at Plug and Play, featuring a panel of: Rui Ma, Wilton Chau, Founder at Pan Asia Development Platform, Tak Miyata, Founding Partner at Scrum Adventures, Ben Levy, and Jay Onda. Following a short break for lunch was a keynote dubbed: “Cross-Cultural Deal Making & Business Development,” presented by Casey Lau and featuring an intro by Dr. Bee-Leng Chua.
Then it was time for the exciting East/West Startup Pitches featuring 13 unique startups. The judges panel included: Rui Ma, Wilton Chau, Tak Miyata, Ben Levy, Jay Onda; Joti Mangat, Business Development at mBloom; Rob Robinson, Founder at Hawaii Angels; Henk Rogers, Founder of Tetris and Blue Startups; and Laura Reitel, National Acceleration Manager at Lightning Lab New Zealand. Each startup presented their pitch to the judges, and they in turn got to ask any questions. It was really a thrill to hear all their ideas!
Following that, was another keynote, this one titled: International Investing and the Rise of China. It featured an intro by Matt Melloy, and main speaker Rui Ma. After that was a discussion called “Startup Paradise:” Hawaii’s Unique Perspective. It was lead by moderator: Meli James, President at Hawaii Venture Capital Association and Program Manager at Blue Startups, and featured a panel that included: Chenoa Farnsworth; Brad Punu, Stategic Partnership Manager at Energy Excelerator; Omar Sultan, Founding Partner of Sultan Ventures and Cofounder/Manging Director at XLR8UH; Donovan Kealoha, Senior Associate at Startup Capital Ventures; Joti Mangat; and David Cunningham, International filmmaker and Founder at Global Virtual Studio. Next was the keynote: “Global Investment Trends”—which covered early stage investing from Silicon Valley to Asia, specifically the similarities and differences. Introduction by Meli James and featured main speaker, Elton Satusky.
Finally, was the moment those 13 pitches would be narrowed down to 3 winners, 1 from Asia and 2 from the US. After a final Q&A session, and much deliberation from the judges panel, it was announced that Genoplan, Ibis Networks, and Yuru were the lucky recepients of a cash prize from mBloom! Genoplan is from Korea, and is a personalized health plan based on genotype. Ibis Networks is from Hawaii, and enables large organizations to manage plug-load energy use with a patented, secure, scalable Intelisocket Platform. Yuru is also from Hawaii, and is the modern day spin on the advice column where you can ask and share openly or anonymously.
Wrapping Up My Experience
It was such a joy and honor to be a part of the EastMeetsWest.Co Conference, and I want to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone involved. The relationship between Hawaii, Asia, and the Mainland U.S. is only going to grow in the coming years, and is something that I am so excited to be a part of!
Aloha!
Dano Sayles R(B)
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