Blogging the Aloha State and Beyond
As Blue Startups continues to recruit applications for its sixth cohort, the accelerator is hosting its first ever “Founders Mixer” on Tuesday to help potential enrollees build out their teams. Founded in 2012, Blue Startups is among Hawaii’s longest running startup accelerator programs, and was named one of the country’s...
Route 99 Hawaii, based in Wahiawa, sells a popular line of embroidered hats that proudly declare the wearer’s local pride. From “Only in the 808” and “Aloha” to designs featuring the North Shore and Native Hawaiian motifs, the company has grown from a farmers market booth to a lifestyle brand sold in more than two dozen...
Dispelling any doubt that drones have gone mainstream, Honolulu is now home to a brick-and-mortar retail and service shop dedicated to the flying machines. Drones Plus Hawaii, located across the street from the Hawaii Convention Center (1695 Kapiolani Blvd.), is one of nine Drones Plus stores in the U.S. and...
There is absolutely no doubt that Wally Amos loves making cookies. At age 79, he’s been at it for 40 years, much of it against the odds. And now, the latest incarnation of his cookie business has found a new outlet. “Clearly, I am proving you are never too old to quit, eating...
The first person to urge me to check out Hank’s Haute Dogs in Kakaako was local business reporter and fellow foodie Erika Engle, who emailed me eight years ago this week with a one-word review: “Yum!” Hank’s had just opened, and was heralded as a Honolulu dining milestone. Founder Henry...
Not many companies in Hawaii have research labs where scientists experiment with novel tools and techniques in areas ranging from computer systems design to medical sensors to material science. I suspect only one company in Hawaii designates part of its research facilities the “Technology Petting Zoo.” Fortunately, that one company...
Software developers often debate, choose, and evangelize the tools and strategies they use with religious fervor. And one of the dominant religions among coders and the companies who employ them today is Agile development. (It even has a manifesto!) In short, it means working incrementally, adapting quickly, and collaborating openly...
If you’ve got a great idea for a hot new startup but say that you haven’t been able to find the right people to pitch, then you’re just not paying attention. Two of Hawaii’s leading startup accelerator programs are again putting out the call for entrepreneurs who might consider applying for...
One of Hawaii’s top entrepreneurs chose Independence Day weekend to announce his latest big idea: helping island businesses and households to get off the grid by integrating state-of-the-art battery storage with solar photovoltaic energy systems. Henk Rogers built his fortune by flying to Russia to secure the rights to international...
Robert Welch is a long-time avid tabletop gaming fan, spending hours playing board games with friends while working as an English as a Second Language teacher. He was a regular customer of Just For Fun, a hobby shop in Aiea, and just happened to be friends with the nephew of owner Glen...
A locally built app for hungry people in a hurry helps customers order ahead, while also helping businesses find and keep new customers. Dodecki only hit the Apple App Store in March and came out for Android in May, but has already added its 100th restaurant. “It’s really picking up,” says Dodecki cofounder...
Hawaii’s first venture accelerator is looking for its sixth cohort of startup companies. My, how time flies. Blue Startups is hosting an information session at its downtown office on Wednesday, and offering free pizza and beer for anyone actively working on a startup, looking to recruit local talent, or just...
The seventh Startup Weekend Honolulu wrapped up yesterday in Kakaako, drawing more than 100 entrepreneurs and would-be founders to a 54-hour mad dash to conceive, build, and pitch a new company. And for the first time, according to organizer Bryan Butteling, the winning team was led by a high school student....
A University of Hawaii researcher today announced that a jellyfish sting treatment that she has been developing for years is finally available for public sale. “Sting No More” is a cream and spray for jellyfish stings, launched by Alatalab Solutions, a company created by Angel Yanagihara (director of the Pacific Cnidaria Research Lab and a researcher...
The first time I’d heard of Startup Weekend was back in 2008, when half a dozen geeks holed up in an apartment near Ala Moana to try and take the “launch a startup in 54 hours” challenge. The first official event landed in 2011, and by last fall, more than...
Apple announced today that it will be “driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps,” and Honolulu will be one of the first fifteen U.S. cities targeted by the program. In fact, an Apple Maps van was spotted here in February, long before anyone...
Eric Nakamoto has spent five years chasing the poetic but precarious dream of flying for a living, giving up a stable teaching job, selling his Aiea condo, and taking off for the mainland on a wing and a prayer. “I had to seek training on the mainland because almost everyone...
The President has the State of the Union, the governor has the State of the State, and the local startup scene has the annual “State of the Venture Capital Industry” luncheon, hosted by the Hawaii Venture Capital Association. Last year’s event had marked the re-launch of the HVCA, with new president Meli...
Local startup LiveSift announced this week that it was changing its name to MeetingSift “to better align the company’s name with its corporate mission and strategy,” as well as that it had raised over $800,000 in seed financing to help the company grow its enterprise offerings. MeetingSift is led by Alex Bergo and...
A Hawaii-based company this week accused Oculus Rift and its founder Palmer Luckey of building a virtual reality hardware company with information stolen from its own research and development. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, says that Ron Igra and Thomas Seidl partnered to form Total Recall Development in Hawaii in 2010 with the aim of “developing immersive...
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