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Featured Speakers
Agenda Highlights
STARTUP BEACHSIDE
Pitch & Pedal: Opportunity to pitch VC on the water,
Chaise lounge office hours with speakers
GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURS BOOTCAMP
Topics: Building for Loyalty, Growth Hacking, Future of Work.
STARTUP PARADISE DEMO DAY
Showcase of alumni companies from the top accelerators in Hawaii.
AFFINITY DINNERS
Small group dinners led by speakers – Investor, Hustler, and Hacker themed dinners.
INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS
Angelist CTO, Global VC Panel, Fireside Chat with 500 Startups, and Hot Topic Roundtable discussions.
REGIONAL INVESTMENT TRENDS
VC/Entrepreneur panels in eSports, Virtual Reality, and Artificial Intelligence.
EAST MEETS WEST PITCH-OFF
Pitch competition winners from around the region battle for startup glory.
STARTUP PARADISE CRAWL
Visit all 4 venture accelerators – Energy Excelerator, XLR8UH, Blue Startups, and GVS Multimedia.
Speakers
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Your Hosts
Previous Speakers
East Meets West is the startup event of the year in Hawaii – bringing together investors and entrepreneurs from Asia, Hawai`i and North America. EMW’17 features amazing international speakers, deep-dive learning opportunities, and ample networking in a tropical Startup Paradise. EMW 2016 from Blue Startups on Vimeo.
East Meets West 2016
“What an awesome conference! The organization, the speakers, the setting, and the entire experience. Everyone I spoke with found it to be very useful and were thrilled to be part of it.” Faruq Ahmad – Palo Alto Advisors, Silicon Valley
“What a great event, so many connections made and super useful for me as I didn’t know nearly as much about Asian various startup ecosystems before.” Laura Reitel – Lightning Labs, New Zealand
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Recommended Hotels
Set on a 22-acre tropical resort on Waikiki Beach, this lively high-rise hotel is a 13-minute walk from Hawaii Convention Center and 2.7 miles from downtown Honolulu. Click here for more details
We are conveniently located in the heart of Waikiki, on the island of Oahu, offering something for everyone looking for the perfect Hawaiian Vacation.
An 8-minute walk from Kahanamoku Beach, this relaxed hotel is also an 11-minute walk from upscale shopping at the Ala Moana Center. Click here for more details
About Blue Startups: Blue Startups is a Top 20 Accelerator in the US (Techcrunch) focused on helping scalable technology companies compete on a global scale. With deep domain expertise in international travel technology and an extensive network in Asia, Blue Startups is fast becoming a nexus of entrepreneurial activity in Hawai‘i, and between Asia and Continental U.S. Blue Startups was founded by Henk Rogers, founder of the Tetris Company and Chenoa Farnsworth of Hawaii Angels in 2012 and has been a full member of the Global Accelerator Network since 2013. Blue Startups is funded by the State of Hawaii, Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation, and private investors. www.bluestartups.com
Growing the innovation economy is critical to Hawaii as it is an economic sector that provides a clear pathway to generate highly skilled, well-compensated jobs to employ Hawaii’s STEM-educated graduates.
The Hawaii innovation sector needs equity capital to grow and achieve critical mass. HSDC implemented the HI Growth Initiative to attract private investment to Hawaii’s innovation economy.
The HI Growth Initiative, in just four years, has shown Hawaii is a viable place build competitive startups. A recent study by the University of Hawaii’s Economic Research Organization found 65 companies have been funded as a result of the HI Growth Initiative. The average capital investment from the HI Growth Initiative is $160,000 per company, representing a cumulative investment at the end of 2015 of $10.5 million. Companies on average have gone on to attract an additional $2 million in private funding for a total of $136 million: over 12X leverage on the state’s investment.
The HI Growth Initiative focuses on three program areas: entrepreneurial ecosystem development, accelerators and investments. These program areas are interdependent and interconnected.