The Startup Catalyst

Today’s guest is a rockstar and his name is Evan Leong.

Evan is a fantastic entrepreneur, running various successful companies and projects. He was the host of the popular Greater Good Radio show, distributes Bubble Tea supplies around the globe, owns Standup Paddle Surf.net and Kokua.org.

Evan is a close friend, and he has been a great mentor and advisor for me.

In the interview, Evan and I chat about being an entrepreneur from a young age, the power of networking, figuring out work-arounds to succeed, learn what OPI, OPE, and OPM are. The importance of having clarity and setting parameters. “70% and go”, importance of having a support network / mentors, and man sooo much more. Great tidbit of canoe paddling and the parallels to startups and teams.

We have a great time, and my friends I know you will enjoy my conversation with Evan Leong

This is the Startup catalyst podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stori

This is the Startup catalyst podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stories and catalysts of their startup successes and failures.

Today’s guest: is The man himself: Omar Sultan, Partner at Sultan Ventures

Omar has been a tireless worker for entrepreneurs, technology, and innovation in Hawaii for nearly a decade.

In the interview, Omar gets into how he and his family launched Sultan Ventures, learn about his healthcare and technology background, things he looks for in an entrepreneurs pitch, the importance of education in our startup ecosystem and much more. A quick teaser, you will find out how many different black belts Omar has, as well as his time in New Orleans at Tulane and he even gives his top list of things to do when visiting New Orleans.

We have a great time, and my friends I know you will enjoy my conversation with the man himself, Omar Sultan.

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Michael came up with the idea for Lua technologies (secure, mobile-first messaging for the enterprise) in college and achieved product-market fit through initial testing on a film set!

The company has since gone on to go through Techstars NYC (Spring 2012), raise $10M in Venture Capital and boasts clients such as Hyatt Hotels, United Airlines, Spotify, the US Government and many of the top companies in the Healthcare industry.

As Founder, CEO at Lua, Michael Keoni has led the company to its industry-leading position and immense traction in the Healthcare space having achieved the stringent HIPAA compliance status.

Michael Keoni is also a contributor to both Fortune and Forbes, speaks Mandarin and Japanese, and is also a trained chanter (oli) having studied under renowned scholar, author, and kumu hula Dr. Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele.

This is the Startup Catalyst Podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, I am your host Luke Tucker signing off, tune in next Thursday for our episo

Hey everybody! This is the final show of our bonus series of special programming for the week of Blue Startups Cohort 7 wrapping up with their Honolulu Demo Day last Friday, and leading up to their Silicon Valley Demo Day this weekend.

We interviewed several startup founders from the Blue Cohort 7 including Dillon from UNUM, and Rob from Activiter. Today, we catch up with Safe Chats CTO and Co-Founder Nikita Osipov, and CMO Irina Rudakova.

Included in this bonus episode:

Quick background on Nik and how he started Safe Chats.

We get into some Q&A:

What's the product? How is it Secure?

Who their target customers are?

What Traction do they have?

What about competition?

Are they post revenue?

Opportunities they see in the marketplace?

What's next for Safe Chats?

How they came to Hawaii and Blue Startups and what their experience has been like.

And what is the favorite thing they've done while here in Hawaii?

This is The Startup Catalyst Podcast brought to you by Sultan Venture

This is bonus episode part 2 of our 3-part series of special programming for the week of Blue Startups Cohort 7 wrapping up with their Honolulu Demo Day last Friday, and leading up to their Silicon Valley Demo Day this weekend.

We will be interviewing several startup CEO's from the Blue Cohort 7. Today, we catch up with Activiter CEO and Co-Founder, Rob Lafontaine.

Included in this bonus episode:

Quick background on Rob and his company Activiter and their Elevator Pitch

We get into some Q&A:

Have they pivoted?

What Traction do they have? How have they acquired customers?

What about competition?

Monetization status and strategies?

Opportunities?

Are they raising money now?

What's next for Activiter?

Working on a tech startup in Hawaii and going through Blue Startups

And what is the best activity he's done in Hawaii?

This is The Startup Catalyst Podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stories and catalysts of t

This is the first installment of our 3-part series of special programming for the week of Blue Startups Cohort 7 wrapping up with their Honolulu Demo Day last Friday, and leading up to their Silicon Valley Demo Day this weekend.

We will be interviewing several startup CEO's from the Blue Batch #7. This episode we catch up with UNUM Co-Founder and CEO Dillon Morgan.

Included in this bonus episode:

Quick background on Dillon and his company UNUM

The UNUM Elevator Pitch

We get into some Q&A, including:

What Traction do they have? How have they acquired customers?

What about competition? Isn’t VSCO doing this? What’s to stop buffer or hoot suite from doing this?

Monetization status and strategies?

Opportunities?

What's next for UNUM?

How did they like Blue and Hawaii?

Best instagram accounts he's loving right now?

This is The Startup Catalyst Podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stories and catalysts of their s

Today’s guest: is Warren Doi, Go To Market Lead at Energy Excelerator

Warren is a serial entrepreneur, he co-founded Greencar Hawaii, a company that built a clean energy transportation network with zero-emission vehicles among several other companies and has successfully raised over $10 million in investment capital over the years.

In the interview, Warren talks about successes and failures with Green Car, his time working for exciting startups in the Valley, and the awesome work he’s doing with EEX. Warren is also very active in mentorship and giving back, working on various islands providing guidance and support so we get into his views on entrepreneurship and the startup scene here in Hawaii.

This is the Startup catalyst podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, the the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stories and catalysts of their startup successes and failures hosted by Luke Tucker.

Today’s guest: is Gabe Mott, CEO and Co-founder of Huedoku

Gabe is an artist and startup veteran beginning his career as an associate at Silicon Graphics during the dot com boom and growing in his passion for art and color theory.

He gets into some fascinating topics on color theory, such as 2 ways to create luminosity, we talk about launching the app in Holland, and what his favorite color is.

Gabe’s a rad dude, so grab a coloring book and a cup of coffee and enjoy the interview with Gabe Mott.

We welcome the talented Mark Quezada, Co-Founder and CTO at Hobnob.io.

Mark is one of the most talented full stack developers and startup minds in #startupparadise. He’s founded multiple companies, has built apps and websites visited by millions, and has been a major asset in the Hawaii startup ecosystem for nearly a decade.

Some highlights of the interview include Mark's story about getting his first contract to build a website in high school from his math teacher, what it was like working for eBay founder and billionaire, Pierre Omidyar (make sure and stick around to the very end for a BONUS Pierre anecdote), and finally some great nuggets about his experience with various startups including: Fast Customer, Minded, and of course the awesome product that is Hobnob!

A gem of a section is our conversation of when Hobnob is using phone numbers, and we talk a good amount about how they have overcome the difficulty of not using email, including the day they got covered by TechCrunch a

We are so honored to welcome Chenoa to the show! Chenoa is a leader in our startup community here in Hawaii, and she has been a force in growing and investing in the ecosystem.

In fact, she has been directly involved with organizations that have collectively invested nearly $100 million.

In this episode we talk about the early days of her career in tech and investing, some of the “heady Act 221 Days”, launching Blue Startups, and connecting Hawaii to a global startup community. Our Startup brand is bigger than most know! #startupparadise

For full show notes and links go to www.sultanventures.com/podcast and while you're at it make sure and sign up for our newsletter! Just scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email.

You guys rock! Thank you for listening and Aloooooha!