TechHui

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Graduating from the Manoa Innovation Center

It was with a heavy heart that we gave notice to our friends at the Manoa Innovation Center yesterday. Its time for Ikayzo to graduate to a larger commercial space. We are excited about having a new office, but we will miss the MIC community and our corporate home tucked away in beautiful Manoa valley.

Ikayzo has been at the Manoa Innovation Center since 2005. Our first customer was a fellow MIC company and we have worked in varying capacities with numerous other tenant companies including Pukoa Scientific, Concentris, Island Pacific Energy, Kuehnle AgroSystems, Undefeated Games  and Sprout. In some cases they were providing us with advice on research grants. In others we were providing them with creative and technical services. Having all these great companies in proximity has been invaluable.

Ikayzo has collaborated with HTDC and fellow MIC companies on many community efforts including TechHui.com. HTDC CEO Yuka Nagashima and her staff have been invaluable resources during our journey. A note to our governor and legislators: We sincerely hope HTDC will continue to operate the Manoa Innovation Center and receive the funding necessary to continue their work. This is a uniquely inspiring place. It wouldn't be the same in some nondescript block of office spaces. On a related note, HTDC needs more funding! We finally have decent connectivity at MIC but things like redundant power and reliable AC are a must at an innovation center.

To those entreprenuers thinking about setting up shop at MIC - we highly recommend it. HTDC (the agency that operates MIC and is headquartered on premise) does much more than operate the center. They provide assistance to Hawaii tech companies looking to secure SBIR grants along with partial matching of awards. They have business consultants on staff, do workshops on everything from marketing to hiring, provide a program that gives you access to affordable service providers for legal and accounting services, operate a co-working space on the second floor and even provide testimony at the state legislature in support of our industry. Finally, you will find it invaluable to be surrounded by other startups that can provide advice, assistance and partnership opportunities. To all our friends at MIC - Mahalo nui loa!

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Comment by Rubén Peña on October 16, 2012 at 12:18am

Dan & Mika:

Congratulations!!  It is AWESOME that a Hawaiian born start-up like Ikayzao has been successful with continued growth and has graduated from its incubation center!  I wish you much more continued success for many more years and decades and generations to come!!

 

A hui hou Hawai'i,

Rubén

Comment by Daniel Leuck on September 4, 2012 at 5:14pm

Thank you Ken, Michael, Kevin and Jared! Kevin - E komo mai. I hope Archinoetics gets as much out of the center as we did.

Comment by Jared I. Kuroiwa on September 4, 2012 at 4:43pm

A little late... But congratulations nonetheless!

Comment by Ken Berkun on August 31, 2012 at 4:41pm

Mazeltov on the step out and UP!

Comment by Mika Leuck on August 31, 2012 at 3:45pm

We will miss you too! Ikayzo grew up at MIC. I'll always miss our first office.

Comment by Michael Reisor on August 31, 2012 at 2:26pm

We'll all miss the Ikayzo gang! Y'all are awesome. 

Comment by Kevin Talbot on August 31, 2012 at 1:51pm

Congrats Dan! I heard this from you a few weeks ago when we talked as Archinoetics was preparing to move in. A yin/yang moment I think. We too will "graduate" in the not too distant future.

Comment by Daniel Leuck on August 31, 2012 at 1:45pm

Thank you John. Manoa feels like home, so its been an emotional arc, but I'm excited to see Ikayzo grow.

I hope all is well at IPVM.com. It looks like your site has grown quite a bit!

Comment by John on August 31, 2012 at 12:15pm

Congrats, Dan, excellent to see Ikayzao's continued growth and success!

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