PACE BUSINESS - Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship

Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship • UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business
PACE BUSINESS VOL06
SPRING 2011
UH represented at the “Superbowl” of business plan
competitions in Houston
is invaluable. It prepared us for the elevated
level of competition at Rice. The experience
strengthened our vision for the company, and
reinforced our dream to start the business.”
“This is the Super Bowl/World Series of
business plan competitions. Forty-two teams
out of approximately 500 made the cut. We
were competing with teams from prestigious
universities such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon,
Johns Hopkins, USC, Notre Dame and UW
to name a few,” said PACE Director Susan
Yamada. The Rice Competition is the largest
The experience strengthened
our vision for the company,
and reinforced our dream to
start the business.
and richest business plan competition in the
world awarding more than $1.3 million in cash
and prizes.
Jeffrey R. Davis (far left), director of Space Life Sciences for NASA, presents the $20,000 Best Earth/Space Life Science Innovation
Award to Diagenetix team members Scott Shibata, Kahlan Salina, David Schmidt and Ryo Kubota. Photo credit: Slyworks Photography
For the first time, the University of
Hawai‘i was invited to compete in the
Rice Business Plan Competition, the
“superbowl” of business plan competitions.
In April, a team of four UH students presented
their business plan for a company called
Diagenetix in Houston, Texas. Diagenetix’s
management team is comprised of MBA ‘11
David Schmidt, MBA/JD candidate Kahlan
Salina, and molecular bioscience students
Ryo Kubota and Scott Shibata. The company
developed a genetic-based, pathogendetecting
technology. They expect to sell
their portable pathogen-detecting kits to
the diagnostics market for the food and
agricultural industries, which is currently
valued at US $1 billion worldwide.
The team represented the University of
Hawai‘i well, bringing home the $20,000
NASA “Best Earth/Space Life Science
Innovation Award.” Team member Ryo Kubota
said, “The mentorship we received from PACE
In March, Diagenetix also competed in the San
Diego State Venture Challenge at San Diego
State University, where they received valuable
feedback from the judges.
Banners of competing schools hung at the Rice competition.
Photo credit: Slyworks Photography
2404 Maile Way, Room E–301
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
pace@hawaii.edu • (808) 956-5083
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/pace
PACEhawaii
Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship
[IN THIS ISSUE]
- Director Susan Yamada's Message P2
- Family Business Center of Hawai‘i thrives P3
- An army of help P3
- Entrepreneurs Club update P4

2
[Advisory Board]
PIIA AARMA
Founder and President
Pineapple Tweed Public Relations and
Marketing
STEVEN BAKER
Founder
Micronesia Registration Advisors
JOHN DAVIDSON
Special Fund Advisor
Startup Capital Ventures
JOHN DEAN
Executive Chairman
Central Pacific Bank
DEBRA GUERIN BERESINI
CEO
invencor, Inc.
DAVIS HAWKINS
Consultant
USIS
GREG KIM
Founding Partner
Virtual Law Partners
DANNY LUI
Founder
Lenovo
WILLIAM K. RICHARDSON
Managing Director
DragonBridge Capital
VANCE ROLEY
Dean
Shidler College of Business
SHAN STEINMARK
Founder
STR Corporation
SUSAN YAMADA
Executive Director
PACE
[Director's Message]
Dear PACE Ohana:
Every spring PACE hums with activity and
excitement as we hold our annual business
plan competition and send past winners to
graduate competitions in San Diego and
Houston.
This year marks the 11 th annual UH business
plan competition and, as expected, the
competition was intense. It constantly
amazes me to see promising new
innovations partnered with motivated
students producing the “next big thing.”
The innovations of this year’s competition
all hailed from the College of Engineering.
We are fortunate to have such a strong
entrepreneurial culture within the College
of Engineering and its success cannot be
denied.
Competing with the best
Last year’s business plan competition
winner, Diagenetix, participated in the
San Diego State University Venture
Challenge competition. This competition
attracts graduate teams from around the
world to participate in a spirited battle of
entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, a fatal
miscommunication eliminated the team in
the first round. Undaunted and armed with
a clear understanding of what information
needed to be conveyed, the team set forth
to Houston for the Rice University Business
Plan Competition. This competition is the
Super Bowl/World Series/Stanley Cup of
B-plan competitions. Teams from around
the world compete for $1.3 million in prize
money and, most importantly, to be noticed
by venture capitalists. This is the first time a
team from UH was accepted as a participant.
The team brought the University credibility
and honor while also bringing home a check
for $20,000.
Entrepreneurial success stories
For the first time, I had the opportunity
to attend the annual Hawaii Executive
Conference. I was put to work moderating
a panel featuring Roxanne Quimby, founder
of Burt’s Bees, and Hawaii’s own, Karin Frost,
founder of the Ergo Baby Carrier, which
recently sold for $91 million to private equity
investors. Both Karin and Roxanne followed
their passions and were not armed with
MBAs, business plans or market analyses.
Their stories were so fascinating that I
asked Karin to travel from Maui to spend an
afternoon with us this summer.
Hilo-born entrepreneurs
Also, coming up this Fall is a panel discussion
by the Hilo Boyz, better known as Barry
Taniguchi, president and CEO of KTA
Superstore; Allan Ikawa, president of Big
Island Candies; and Duane Kurisu, founder
and chairman of aio Group. For such a
small town, Hilo has produced a remarkable
number of successful entrepreneurs.
The three Boyz will share their secrets of
success!
To all of you, thank you so much for your
continued support of PACE, UH students and
entrepreneurship. We could not provide the
programming without you! Have a wonderful
summer.
Aloha,
SUSAN YAMADA
PACE Executive Director

3
[Update] Family Business Center of Hawaii thrives
The Family Business Center of Hawaii
continues to provide a full schedule of
activities and expand the services it offers
to its members on Oahu and Maui. The
FBCH advisory board carefully considered
topics of interest that were suggested by its
members and scheduled speakers to share
family business stories and give educational
seminars.
Roger H. Epstein, partner, and Constance
Liu, associate at Cades Schutte, kicked
off the year with a presentation on “Tax
aspects of transferring the business to the
next generation (in light of the new estate
tax law),” on January 11. Kent Tsukamoto,
managing partner of Accuity LLP, spoke on
“Family business succession–the difficult
conversations,” on March 29.
Russell Hata, chairman of the board,
president and CEO of Y. Hata and Co.,
SEE FBCH ON PAGE 4
L to R: Monica Toguchi, Dr. John Butler, Ana Yarawamai, Paul
Uyehara, Paul Mizoguchi, Guy Kamitaki, Myron Nakata
[PIR/VPIR] An army of help
UH students and faculty received hours of valuable advice
and insight from business and industry experts through the
Professional-in-Residence and Virtual Professional-in-Residence
programs.
The Professional-in-Residence (PIR) program connects UH
students and faculty with entrepreneurial experts through faceto-face
Piia Aarma Chenoa Farnsworth Greg Kim
meetings. Each week, PIRs rotated office hours in the PACE conference room and met with students and faculty for 30 mintues at
a time. Piia Aarma, president of Pineapple Tweed; Chenoa Farnsworth, managing director of Hawaii Angels; and Greg Kim, partner with
Virtual Law Partners, served as PIRs in the fall and spring semesters.
PACE also invited industry experts to serve as guest PIRs. The guest PIRs were Ed Harrell, economist and venture funding expert; John
Davidson, special fund advisor to Startup Capital Ventures; Eric Darmstaedter, CEO of ClearFuels; and Jan Sullivan, CIO of Oceanit.
Students and faculty also connected with business professionals by phone and email through the Virtual Professional-in-Residence
(VPIR) program. The VPIR program has grown to include more than 50 professionals. Students and faculty pose a specific entrepreneurial
dilemma or issue to a particular VPIR through the online form. The VPIR then has the option to correspond with the person by phone, email
or in person. Current VPIRs are:
FARUQ AHMAD
Palo Alto Capital Advisors
STEVE BAKER
Palm Cove Capital
ANURAG BIST
Moxair, Inc.
MARKO BRICKMAN
RUSSEL CHENG
Startup Hui
ERIC DARMSTAEDTER
Technosynergies Corporation
JOHN DAVIDSON
Startup Capital Ventures
TIM DICK
Startup Capital Ventures
SUSAN EICHOR
aio Group
CHENOA FARNSWORTH
Hawaii Angels
LENA GAN
ML Global Private Client
Group
LARRY GILBERT
Sennet Capital
BRIAN GOLDSTEIN
Better Place
DEBRA GUERIN-BERESINI
invencor, inc.
DJ HALCRO
SCORE
DAVIS HAWKINS
USIS
MEL HORIKAMI
Optimum Business
Consulting
MARTIN HSIA
Cades Schutte
KATHRYN INKINEN
Kathryn Inkinen & Associates
KRISTI INKINEN
Remedy Staffing
LINCOLN JACOBE
Technology News Bytes
KEHAU KALI
The Ho‘ike Group
PETER KAY
Cybercom, Inc.
ROB KAY
Pac-Tech Communications
GREG KIM
Virtual Law Partners LLP
IAN KITAJIMA
Oceanit
DAVE KOZUKI
People Bridge
DAVID LAEHA
CFO Hawaii
BRENDAN LARSEN
WeatherShot
MARTIN LOUIS
Goodsill Anderson Quinn &
Stifel
MARIA LOWDER
Maria Lowder CPA Inc.
LEIGH-ANN MIYASATO
Entrepreneurs Foundation of
Hawaii
HENRY MONTGOMERY
Montgomery Professional
Services Corporation
WAYNE MURAOKA
Armstrong Builders
PATRICK MURPHY
The University Funds LLC
BRETT NESLAND
BRIAN NISHIDA
Step Stone Business
Development
MARI OLSON
Marriott International
CURT OTAGURO
First Hawaiian Bank
KEITH PATTERSON
Keith Patterson Operations
MATTHEW RAPPAPORT
IP Checkups
BILL RICHARDSON
DragonBridge Capital
MARK RITCHIE
Kuehnle Agrosystems
ROBERT ROBINSON
Kolohala Ventures
JOELLE SIMONPIETRI
Simonpietri Enterprises LLC
BILL SPENCER
Hawaii Venture Capital
Association
SHAN STEINMARK
Strategic Transitions
Research
EDWARD SUN
TYLER M. TOKIOKA
Island Insurance Company
DAVID WATUMULL
Cardax Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
TODD WINTER
Winter LLP
BENNETT WO
Wo Capital Group
ROBERT YONOVER
SEE/RESCUE Corporation
TAL ZIV
Sopogy
VOL 06 • SPRING 2011

4
(FBCH from P3)
Limited, spoke to the Maui chapter on “Y.
Hata’s transition from the second to third
generation,” on April 6.
On May 17, Paul Uyehara, president of Aloha
Tofu, gave a presentation to the Oahu group
on “Reinventing the business and family by
the third generation.”
The FBCH also began video recording its
speakers so that members who are not
able to attend meetings are able to watch
the presentations online. The Center is also
developing a secure online directory where
members can access contact information for
one another.
To learn more about the FBCH, visit www.
fbcofhawaii.org or email fbch@hawai.edu.
[Entrepreneurs Club]
Message from the president
Entrepreneurs club members pose after playing rounds of 3D mini golf at the Big Kahuna for their social.
BY Dwight Witlarge
Entrepreneurs Club President
L to R: Timothy Fong, Constance Liu, Roger Epstein, Sandra Au
Fong and Ken Gilbert
[Calendar]
JUL 14
ENTREPRENEURS FORUM WITH
KARIN FROST
Details to be announced.
SEP 16-17 FAMILY BUSINESS CENTER OF
HAWAII ANNUAL RETREAT
Outrigger Reef on the Beach
Email fbch@hawaii.edu for more information.
OCT 31
NOV 17
NOV 30
NOV
HOKU SCIENTIFIC MICROLOAN
PROGRAM APPLICATIONS DUE
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/microloan
BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION
CHALLENGE FINALS
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/bic
KĪPAPA I KE ALA LECTURE SERIES:
HILO ENTREPRENEURS
www.shidler.hawaii.edu/kipapa
MAHALO MIXER
Date and time to be announced.
The Entrepreneurs Club started off the
2011 spring semester with many goals. One
of these was to help our members move
forward with their ideas for starting their
own businesses. Other goals included
holding a successful Launch, an event that
aims to help kick-start
the careers of students
in creative and liberal
arts majors, and start a
mentorship program for our
members.
With the hard work of our
board members, the Launch
was successfully held on
April 22. We have also started the planning
process for the mentorship program and one
member, Mike Haralick, successfully opened
Day and Night Apparel in Honolulu. Others
hope to follow his lead.
In addition to this, throughout the semester,
the club held various networking events
along with the usual bi-monthly meetings
to help members learn and grow as
entrepreneurs. Every semester, the club
brings in guest entrepreneurs to speak about
their own experiences. This year, we were
lucky to have Michael Zhang of Blue Hawaii
Lifestyles, Farid Herschend of Forums Hawaii
and Speed Hawaii, and Cesar Llarenas,
franchise owner of Hawaii’s Z Pizza. The
most important thing our members took
away from all of the speakers was that you
should always search for knowledge and that
being an entrepreneur doesn't stop at the
end of the business day.
This semester has seen some changes
in leadership in the EC. Our president,
...you should always search for knowledge
and that being an entrepreneur doesn't
stop at the end of the business day.
Raul Castellanos Jr., and director of
communications, Mariam Beard, graduated.
Because of this, we are in the process of
reconstructing the leadership.
As we embrace these new challenges, the
EC has a new focus on becoming the best.
To do this, we have some new projects and
business ventures planned for the 2011 fall
semester. In addition, the EC has a great
opportunity to work with Ilikai Hotel, Local
Hawaii Magazine and other businesses
throughout Hawaii to help us succeed with
all of our entrepreneurial ideas. We’re also
working on some internal changes that will
improve all aspects of the EC. With the help
from our beloved PACE we are very excited
about our future.
VOL 06 • SPRING 2011