Business Pitch Event Serves Up 'Chopsticks and Optics'

The first "Pupus & Pitches" event of the year is coming up on Tuesday. And if the combination of food and startup talk isn't irresistible enough, the theme of the evening is "Chopsticks and Optics." Hosted by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Hawaii at ProtoHUB Honolulu, the event will feature our local companies. They will pitch their businesses plans to seasoned venture investors, get feedback and pitching tips, and answer questions from the audience. An audience whose minds and bellies will be well fed. The four featured companies are:

• Street Grindz: Organizers of the extremely successful "Eat the Street" series of food truck festivals since 2011, working to create a platform for Hawaii’s mobile food industry.

• Mao Organic Farms: A Hawaiian social enterprise that grows organic food as well as young leaders who are working toward a sustainable Hawaii.

• FlyWire: Developing the world’s smallest, most flexible, high-definition wearable camera. Featured on this blog back in January.

• MorphOptics: Merging highly parallel information technology with imaging science to develop high-quality, low-mass optical lenses for specialized applications.

And the panel of investors includes Tim Dick of Startup Capital Ventures, Bob Todd of Red Rock Ventures, and Rob Robinson, co-founder of Kolohala Ventures and founder of Hawaii Angels. For tickets, register online. There's a day left for the early-bird rate of $25 (plus a $2.24 Eventbrite fee), after which it will cost $35 (plus $2.74). Students can attend for $10 (plus $1.49). Listen to Tim Dick of Startup Capital Ventures talking about this event yesterday on Hawaii Public Radio: https://archive.org/download/pupus-and-pitches/pupus-and-pitches.mp3

For more information, visit the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Hawaii on the web, on Facebook, or on Twitter. p Photo from Pupus & Pitches in July 2013 courtesy Entrepreneurs Foundation of Hawaii.