PACE BUSINESS - Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship
PACE BUSINESS - Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship
PACE BUSINESS - Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship
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<strong>Pacific</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>Center</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Entrepreneurship</strong> • UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business<br />
<strong>PACE</strong> <strong>BUSINESS</strong> VOL06<br />
SPRING 2011<br />
UH represented at the “Superbowl” of business plan<br />
competitions in Houston<br />
is invaluable. It prepared us <strong>for</strong> the elevated<br />
level of competition at Rice. The experience<br />
strengthened our vision <strong>for</strong> the company, and<br />
rein<strong>for</strong>ced our dream to start the business.”<br />
“This is the Super Bowl/World Series of<br />
business plan competitions. Forty-two teams<br />
out of approximately 500 made the cut. We<br />
were competing with teams from prestigious<br />
universities such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon,<br />
Johns Hopkins, USC, Notre Dame and UW<br />
to name a few,” said <strong>PACE</strong> Director Susan<br />
Yamada. The Rice Competition is the largest<br />
The experience strengthened<br />
our vision <strong>for</strong> the company,<br />
and rein<strong>for</strong>ced our dream to<br />
start the business.<br />
and richest business plan competition in the<br />
world awarding more than $1.3 million in cash<br />
and prizes.<br />
Jeffrey R. Davis (far left), director of Space Life Sciences <strong>for</strong> NASA, presents the $20,000 Best Earth/Space Life Science Innovation<br />
Award to Diagenetix team members Scott Shibata, Kahlan Salina, David Schmidt and Ryo Kubota. Photo credit: Slyworks Photography<br />
For the first time, the University of<br />
Hawai‘i was invited to compete in the<br />
Rice Business Plan Competition, the<br />
“superbowl” of business plan competitions.<br />
In April, a team of four UH students presented<br />
their business plan <strong>for</strong> a company called<br />
Diagenetix in Houston, Texas. Diagenetix’s<br />
management team is comprised of MBA ‘11<br />
David Schmidt, MBA/JD candidate Kahlan<br />
Salina, and molecular bioscience students<br />
Ryo Kubota and Scott Shibata. The company<br />
developed a genetic-based, pathogendetecting<br />
technology. They expect to sell<br />
their portable pathogen-detecting kits to<br />
the diagnostics market <strong>for</strong> the food and<br />
agricultural industries, which is currently<br />
valued at US $1 billion worldwide.<br />
The team represented the University of<br />
Hawai‘i well, bringing home the $20,000<br />
NASA “Best Earth/Space Life Science<br />
Innovation Award.” Team member Ryo Kubota<br />
said, “The mentorship we received from <strong>PACE</strong><br />
In March, Diagenetix also competed in the San<br />
Diego State Venture Challenge at San Diego<br />
State University, where they received valuable<br />
feedback from the judges.<br />
Banners of competing schools hung at the Rice competition.<br />
Photo credit: Slyworks Photography<br />
2404 Maile Way, Room E–301<br />
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822<br />
pace@hawaii.edu • (808) 956-5083<br />
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/pace<br />
<strong>PACE</strong>hawaii<br />
<strong>Pacific</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>Center</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Entrepreneurship</strong><br />
[IN THIS ISSUE]<br />
- Director Susan Yamada's Message P2<br />
- Family Business <strong>Center</strong> of Hawai‘i thrives P3<br />
- An army of help P3<br />
- Entrepreneurs Club update P4
2<br />
[Advisory Board]<br />
PIIA AARMA<br />
Founder and President<br />
Pineapple Tweed Public Relations and<br />
Marketing<br />
STEVEN BAKER<br />
Founder<br />
Micronesia Registration Advisors<br />
JOHN DAVIDSON<br />
Special Fund Advisor<br />
Startup Capital Ventures<br />
JOHN DEAN<br />
Executive Chairman<br />
Central <strong>Pacific</strong> Bank<br />
DEBRA GUERIN BERESINI<br />
CEO<br />
invencor, Inc.<br />
DAVIS HAWKINS<br />
Consultant<br />
USIS<br />
GREG KIM<br />
Founding Partner<br />
Virtual Law Partners<br />
DANNY LUI<br />
Founder<br />
Lenovo<br />
WILLIAM K. RICHARDSON<br />
Managing Director<br />
DragonBridge Capital<br />
VANCE ROLEY<br />
Dean<br />
Shidler College of Business<br />
SHAN STEINMARK<br />
Founder<br />
STR Corporation<br />
SUSAN YAMADA<br />
Executive Director<br />
<strong>PACE</strong><br />
[Director's Message]<br />
Dear <strong>PACE</strong> Ohana:<br />
Every spring <strong>PACE</strong> hums with activity and<br />
excitement as we hold our annual business<br />
plan competition and send past winners to<br />
graduate competitions in San Diego and<br />
Houston.<br />
This year marks the 11 th annual UH business<br />
plan competition and, as expected, the<br />
competition was intense. It constantly<br />
amazes me to see promising new<br />
innovations partnered with motivated<br />
students producing the “next big thing.”<br />
The innovations of this year’s competition<br />
all hailed from the College of Engineering.<br />
We are <strong>for</strong>tunate to have such a strong<br />
entrepreneurial culture within the College<br />
of Engineering and its success cannot be<br />
denied.<br />
Competing with the best<br />
Last year’s business plan competition<br />
winner, Diagenetix, participated in the<br />
San Diego State University Venture<br />
Challenge competition. This competition<br />
attracts graduate teams from around the<br />
world to participate in a spirited battle of<br />
entrepreneurship. Un<strong>for</strong>tunately, a fatal<br />
miscommunication eliminated the team in<br />
the first round. Undaunted and armed with<br />
a clear understanding of what in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
needed to be conveyed, the team set <strong>for</strong>th<br />
to Houston <strong>for</strong> the Rice University Business<br />
Plan Competition. This competition is the<br />
Super Bowl/World Series/Stanley Cup of<br />
B-plan competitions. Teams from around<br />
the world compete <strong>for</strong> $1.3 million in prize<br />
money and, most importantly, to be noticed<br />
by venture capitalists. This is the first time a<br />
team from UH was accepted as a participant.<br />
The team brought the University credibility<br />
and honor while also bringing home a check<br />
<strong>for</strong> $20,000.<br />
Entrepreneurial success stories<br />
For the first time, I had the opportunity<br />
to attend the annual Hawaii Executive<br />
Conference. I was put to work moderating<br />
a panel featuring Roxanne Quimby, founder<br />
of Burt’s Bees, and Hawaii’s own, Karin Frost,<br />
founder of the Ergo Baby Carrier, which<br />
recently sold <strong>for</strong> $91 million to private equity<br />
investors. Both Karin and Roxanne followed<br />
their passions and were not armed with<br />
MBAs, business plans or market analyses.<br />
Their stories were so fascinating that I<br />
asked Karin to travel from Maui to spend an<br />
afternoon with us this summer.<br />
Hilo-born entrepreneurs<br />
Also, coming up this Fall is a panel discussion<br />
by the Hilo Boyz, better known as Barry<br />
Taniguchi, president and CEO of KTA<br />
Superstore; Allan Ikawa, president of Big<br />
Island Candies; and Duane Kurisu, founder<br />
and chairman of aio Group. For such a<br />
small town, Hilo has produced a remarkable<br />
number of successful entrepreneurs.<br />
The three Boyz will share their secrets of<br />
success!<br />
To all of you, thank you so much <strong>for</strong> your<br />
continued support of <strong>PACE</strong>, UH students and<br />
entrepreneurship. We could not provide the<br />
programming without you! Have a wonderful<br />
summer.<br />
Aloha,<br />
SUSAN YAMADA<br />
<strong>PACE</strong> Executive Director
3<br />
[Update] Family Business <strong>Center</strong> of Hawaii thrives<br />
The Family Business <strong>Center</strong> of Hawaii<br />
continues to provide a full schedule of<br />
activities and expand the services it offers<br />
to its members on Oahu and Maui. The<br />
FBCH advisory board carefully considered<br />
topics of interest that were suggested by its<br />
members and scheduled speakers to share<br />
family business stories and give educational<br />
seminars.<br />
Roger H. Epstein, partner, and Constance<br />
Liu, associate at Cades Schutte, kicked<br />
off the year with a presentation on “Tax<br />
aspects of transferring the business to the<br />
next generation (in light of the new estate<br />
tax law),” on January 11. Kent Tsukamoto,<br />
managing partner of Accuity LLP, spoke on<br />
“Family business succession–the difficult<br />
conversations,” on March 29.<br />
Russell Hata, chairman of the board,<br />
president and CEO of Y. Hata and Co.,<br />
SEE FBCH ON PAGE 4<br />
L to R: Monica Toguchi, Dr. John Butler, Ana Yarawamai, Paul<br />
Uyehara, Paul Mizoguchi, Guy Kamitaki, Myron Nakata<br />
[PIR/VPIR] An army of help<br />
UH students and faculty received hours of valuable advice<br />
and insight from business and industry experts through the<br />
Professional-in-Residence and Virtual Professional-in-Residence<br />
programs.<br />
The Professional-in-Residence (PIR) program connects UH<br />
students and faculty with entrepreneurial experts through faceto-face<br />
Piia Aarma Chenoa Farnsworth Greg Kim<br />
meetings. Each week, PIRs rotated office hours in the <strong>PACE</strong> conference room and met with students and faculty <strong>for</strong> 30 mintues at<br />
a time. Piia Aarma, president of Pineapple Tweed; Chenoa Farnsworth, managing director of Hawaii Angels; and Greg Kim, partner with<br />
Virtual Law Partners, served as PIRs in the fall and spring semesters.<br />
<strong>PACE</strong> also invited industry experts to serve as guest PIRs. The guest PIRs were Ed Harrell, economist and venture funding expert; John<br />
Davidson, special fund advisor to Startup Capital Ventures; Eric Darmstaedter, CEO of ClearFuels; and Jan Sullivan, CIO of Oceanit.<br />
Students and faculty also connected with business professionals by phone and email through the Virtual Professional-in-Residence<br />
(VPIR) program. The VPIR program has grown to include more than 50 professionals. Students and faculty pose a specific entrepreneurial<br />
dilemma or issue to a particular VPIR through the online <strong>for</strong>m. The VPIR then has the option to correspond with the person by phone, email<br />
or in person. Current VPIRs are:<br />
FARUQ AHMAD<br />
Palo Alto Capital Advisors<br />
STEVE BAKER<br />
Palm Cove Capital<br />
ANURAG BIST<br />
Moxair, Inc.<br />
MARKO BRICKMAN<br />
RUSSEL CHENG<br />
Startup Hui<br />
ERIC DARMSTAEDTER<br />
Technosynergies Corporation<br />
JOHN DAVIDSON<br />
Startup Capital Ventures<br />
TIM DICK<br />
Startup Capital Ventures<br />
SUSAN EICHOR<br />
aio Group<br />
CHENOA FARNSWORTH<br />
Hawaii Angels<br />
LENA GAN<br />
ML Global Private Client<br />
Group<br />
LARRY GILBERT<br />
Sennet Capital<br />
BRIAN GOLDSTEIN<br />
Better Place<br />
DEBRA GUERIN-BERESINI<br />
invencor, inc.<br />
DJ HALCRO<br />
SCORE<br />
DAVIS HAWKINS<br />
USIS<br />
MEL HORIKAMI<br />
Optimum Business<br />
Consulting<br />
MARTIN HSIA<br />
Cades Schutte<br />
KATHRYN INKINEN<br />
Kathryn Inkinen & Associates<br />
KRISTI INKINEN<br />
Remedy Staffing<br />
LINCOLN JACOBE<br />
Technology News Bytes<br />
KEHAU KALI<br />
The Ho‘ike Group<br />
PETER KAY<br />
Cybercom, Inc.<br />
ROB KAY<br />
Pac-Tech Communications<br />
GREG KIM<br />
Virtual Law Partners LLP<br />
IAN KITAJIMA<br />
Oceanit<br />
DAVE KOZUKI<br />
People Bridge<br />
DAVID LAEHA<br />
CFO Hawaii<br />
BRENDAN LARSEN<br />
WeatherShot<br />
MARTIN LOUIS<br />
Goodsill Anderson Quinn &<br />
Stifel<br />
MARIA LOWDER<br />
Maria Lowder CPA Inc.<br />
LEIGH-ANN MIYASATO<br />
Entrepreneurs Foundation of<br />
Hawaii<br />
HENRY MONTGOMERY<br />
Montgomery Professional<br />
Services Corporation<br />
WAYNE MURAOKA<br />
Armstrong Builders<br />
PATRICK MURPHY<br />
The University Funds LLC<br />
BRETT NESLAND<br />
BRIAN NISHIDA<br />
Step Stone Business<br />
Development<br />
MARI OLSON<br />
Marriott International<br />
CURT OTAGURO<br />
First Hawaiian Bank<br />
KEITH PATTERSON<br />
Keith Patterson Operations<br />
MATTHEW RAPPAPORT<br />
IP Checkups<br />
BILL RICHARDSON<br />
DragonBridge Capital<br />
MARK RITCHIE<br />
Kuehnle Agrosystems<br />
ROBERT ROBINSON<br />
Kolohala Ventures<br />
JOELLE SIMONPIETRI<br />
Simonpietri Enterprises LLC<br />
BILL SPENCER<br />
Hawaii Venture Capital<br />
Association<br />
SHAN STEINMARK<br />
Strategic Transitions<br />
Research<br />
EDWARD SUN<br />
TYLER M. TOKIOKA<br />
Island Insurance Company<br />
DAVID WATUMULL<br />
Cardax Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<br />
TODD WINTER<br />
Winter LLP<br />
BENNETT WO<br />
Wo Capital Group<br />
ROBERT YONOVER<br />
SEE/RESCUE Corporation<br />
TAL ZIV<br />
Sopogy<br />
VOL 06 • SPRING 2011
4<br />
(FBCH from P3)<br />
Limited, spoke to the Maui chapter on “Y.<br />
Hata’s transition from the second to third<br />
generation,” on April 6.<br />
On May 17, Paul Uyehara, president of Aloha<br />
Tofu, gave a presentation to the Oahu group<br />
on “Reinventing the business and family by<br />
the third generation.”<br />
The FBCH also began video recording its<br />
speakers so that members who are not<br />
able to attend meetings are able to watch<br />
the presentations online. The <strong>Center</strong> is also<br />
developing a secure online directory where<br />
members can access contact in<strong>for</strong>mation <strong>for</strong><br />
one another.<br />
To learn more about the FBCH, visit www.<br />
fbcofhawaii.org or email fbch@hawai.edu.<br />
[Entrepreneurs Club]<br />
Message from the president<br />
Entrepreneurs club members pose after playing rounds of 3D mini golf at the Big Kahuna <strong>for</strong> their social.<br />
BY Dwight Witlarge<br />
Entrepreneurs Club President<br />
L to R: Timothy Fong, Constance Liu, Roger Epstein, Sandra Au<br />
Fong and Ken Gilbert<br />
[Calendar]<br />
JUL 14<br />
ENTREPRENEURS FORUM WITH<br />
KARIN FROST<br />
Details to be announced.<br />
SEP 16-17 FAMILY <strong>BUSINESS</strong> CENTER OF<br />
HAWAII ANNUAL RETREAT<br />
Outrigger Reef on the Beach<br />
Email fbch@hawaii.edu <strong>for</strong> more in<strong>for</strong>mation.<br />
OCT 31<br />
NOV 17<br />
NOV 30<br />
NOV<br />
HOKU SCIENTIFIC MICROLOAN<br />
PROGRAM APPLICATIONS DUE<br />
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/microloan<br />
BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION<br />
CHALLENGE FINALS<br />
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/bic<br />
KĪPAPA I KE ALA LECTURE SERIES:<br />
HILO ENTREPRENEURS<br />
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/kipapa<br />
MAHALO MIXER<br />
Date and time to be announced.<br />
The Entrepreneurs Club started off the<br />
2011 spring semester with many goals. One<br />
of these was to help our members move<br />
<strong>for</strong>ward with their ideas <strong>for</strong> starting their<br />
own businesses. Other goals included<br />
holding a successful Launch, an event that<br />
aims to help kick-start<br />
the careers of students<br />
in creative and liberal<br />
arts majors, and start a<br />
mentorship program <strong>for</strong> our<br />
members.<br />
With the hard work of our<br />
board members, the Launch<br />
was successfully held on<br />
April 22. We have also started the planning<br />
process <strong>for</strong> the mentorship program and one<br />
member, Mike Haralick, successfully opened<br />
Day and Night Apparel in Honolulu. Others<br />
hope to follow his lead.<br />
In addition to this, throughout the semester,<br />
the club held various networking events<br />
along with the usual bi-monthly meetings<br />
to help members learn and grow as<br />
entrepreneurs. Every semester, the club<br />
brings in guest entrepreneurs to speak about<br />
their own experiences. This year, we were<br />
lucky to have Michael Zhang of Blue Hawaii<br />
Lifestyles, Farid Herschend of Forums Hawaii<br />
and Speed Hawaii, and Cesar Llarenas,<br />
franchise owner of Hawaii’s Z Pizza. The<br />
most important thing our members took<br />
away from all of the speakers was that you<br />
should always search <strong>for</strong> knowledge and that<br />
being an entrepreneur doesn't stop at the<br />
end of the business day.<br />
This semester has seen some changes<br />
in leadership in the EC. Our president,<br />
...you should always search <strong>for</strong> knowledge<br />
and that being an entrepreneur doesn't<br />
stop at the end of the business day.<br />
Raul Castellanos Jr., and director of<br />
communications, Mariam Beard, graduated.<br />
Because of this, we are in the process of<br />
reconstructing the leadership.<br />
As we embrace these new challenges, the<br />
EC has a new focus on becoming the best.<br />
To do this, we have some new projects and<br />
business ventures planned <strong>for</strong> the 2011 fall<br />
semester. In addition, the EC has a great<br />
opportunity to work with Ilikai Hotel, Local<br />
Hawaii Magazine and other businesses<br />
throughout Hawaii to help us succeed with<br />
all of our entrepreneurial ideas. We’re also<br />
working on some internal changes that will<br />
improve all aspects of the EC. With the help<br />
from our beloved <strong>PACE</strong> we are very excited<br />
about our future.<br />
VOL 06 • SPRING 2011