Hawai‘i Entrepreneurs Are Ready for the Spotlight at the East Meets West Conference
Blue Startups’ latest East Meets West conference in April aims to connect local startups with a global audience.
In April, startup tech entrepreneurs hope to broaden their exposure and connect with investors when they gather on O‘ahu for the annual East Meets West conference presented by Blue Startups.
This year, the stakes are a lot bigger: The global startup pitch competition Meet the Drapers (similar to Shark Tank) will tape an episode live in Hawai‘i with four companies pitching well-known venture capitalist Tim Draper for a prize of $1 million. “Meet the Drapers is huge for us and the first time that we’re doing anything at that scale,” Blue Startups managing partner Chenoa Farnsworth says.
This year’s conference also features the Honolulu regional qualifiers for the Startup World Cup, another $1 million prize competition that draws leading startups from across the globe. East Meets West has partnered with the event for the past two years, selecting companies from Hawai‘i, Asia and the mainland to participate. The 2024 and 2025 startups that advanced to the finals in San Francisco had ties to Hawai‘i: Vanta, an e-sports company, and Maiven Energy, a clean-energy tech company.
“One of the most important things is visibility,” Farnsworth says. “Most people have a certain conception about Hawai‘i, and we’re constantly trying to change that and say, ‘Hey, we’re more than just a tourist destination. We do have a tech scene here. It’s small but mighty.’”
Although Hawai‘i entrepreneurs are globally competitive, they often lack the exposure of Silicon Valley companies that get attention “just by a matter of being there,” Farnsworth adds.
While the conference is in its 12th year, Blue Startups is heading into its 18th cohort, with both investment and advisory tracks offered, and the venture accelerator hopes to launch a new track this year for ocean tech companies. It’s also working closely with the Hawai‘i Technology Development Corp. “to get the community together, to get all the stakeholders in one room to participate in figuring out what we think is our best path forward for Hawai‘i and technology for the future.”
The conference, April 8 and 9, also includes a keynote from Draper, panel sessions and roundtable discussions.
Katrina Valcourt is the executive editor of HONOLULU Magazine.
