Cohort 18 Showcase in San Francisco

Next stop: San Francisco. During SF Tech Week, the Cohort 18 founders will showcase what they’ve built and connect with the Bay Area startup and investor community.

Blue Startups and ThriveHI are bringing together investors, alumni, mentors, founders, and friends for the Hawaiʻi ʻOhana Mixer, an evening to celebrate Cohort 18, reconnect with our extended ʻohana, and build new connections between Hawaiʻi and San Francisco.

San Francisco, CA

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

5:00 PM to 8:00 PM PT

Spots are limited. RSVP now.

RSVP on Partiful

Blue Startups Cohort 18 Honolulu Demo Day

Here is Blue Startups’ Demo Day 2026 highlight reel!

NatureMe. Nice Industries. Trajectory. Travel Nanny. Paws Abroad. CivicNexus. Pacific Hybreed. Lu’uLive. Manai. LessCAD. Wander. LaunchDetect.

12 startups from Cohort 18. More than 250 of you in the room at the Entrepreneurs Sandbox for the capstone event of Hawaii Tech Week.

Mahalo to Italo Robinson at Repeak Media for the reel, to our Demo Day sponsor Vensure Employer Solutions, and to all our Hawai’i partners.

Thank you for supporting Blue Startups!

Watch Here

Week 8 Recap: Cohort 18 Pitches to Hawaii Angels and Gives Back to the Community

Aloha from Blue Startups!

Cohort 18 spent Week 8 learning from speakers on decision-making, AI visibility, and financial models, watching two of its companies pitch to Hawaii Angels, and giving back in Kailua. Here is what Week 8 looked like.

Week 8: Hawaii Angels

The cohort joined Hawaii Angels for their monthly meeting to observe the other side of the table. Two members of Cohort 18, Travel Nanny and Paws Abroad, pitched to 50+ angel investors and drew a lot of interest from the group. The whole cohort also got to meet and network with the angels.

Decisions, AI Visibility, and Financial Models

On Tuesday, Jane Marie Chen, co-founder and former CEO of Embrace, shared the highs and lows of building a company that has now reached more than a million babies. She led founders through an exercise on the “whole body yes,” learning what it feels like when head, heart, and gut all agree, so their decisions stay aligned with their values.

On Wednesday, Brent Shiratori showed founders how to get their companies recommended when buyers ask AI, and why being specific about who you serve beats trying to outrank bigger players. He covered the pages worth building and how mentions across the web earn a company a place in those answers.

On Thursday, Traci Kim broke down how to build a financial model investors trust, covering market sizing, unit economics, and planning for the case where things go wrong. She encouraged founders to start from the goal they want to reach and work backward to what it takes to get there. She also made clear that a CEO should know and stand behind every number in the model.

On Friday, Jen Apy broke down how founders can build a sales process that works, from the first customer conversation to a closed deal. She encouraged them to treat early calls as research instead of pitches, and to get to a “no” fast so they can learn why. She also covered when it makes sense to bring in an outside agency, and what founders should figure out first.

The cohort spent Saturday giving back to the community, volunteering with Kauluakalana at Ulupō Nui in Kailua to help restore the fishpond.

Blue Academy’s Entrepreneurship Sprint at Windward CC

Blue Startups and Windward Community College are offering a 8-week Entrepreneurship Sprint for adult learners this October 15 to December 3. Tuesdays online, Thursdays on campus, 45 hours total, through Windward CC’s workforce development program. You come in with an idea and leave with a launched company: go-to-market strategy, a live website built with AI tools, and a presentation to a panel of Hawaiʻi founders and investors.

If you know someone in Hawaiʻi who wants to start a business idea, or you are that person, apply today. This pilot cohort program is limited to 15 students. Registration will be competitive. Early submissions are prioritized.

Apply Now

Jobs at Blue Startups Companies

Namaka Algae (Valerie Harmon, Cohort 17) is a Big Island company specializing in algae cultivation technology, growing algae biomass for aquaculture and animal feed through photobioreactors and open pond systems. The team is developing sustainable, nutritionally complete algae blends to replace wild-caught fishmeal and fish oil, and is hiring a Cultivation Manager.

Big Island, HI

Cultivation Manager

Apply Here

Pacific Hybreed (Melissa DellaTorre, Cohort 18) is a biotech company specializing in shellfish aquaculture, breeding, and genetics, operating out of Port Orchard, WA and Kona, HI. The team is developing novel farm stocks tailored to diverse farm environments across the U.S. West Coast, and is hiring technicians for hatchery operations, microalgae cultivation, and shellfish breeding and production.

Kona, HI

Hatchery & Research Technician

Manchester, WA

Hatchery & Research Technician

Apply in Kona, HI

Apply in Manchester, WA

Cohort 18 Showcase in San Francisco

Blue Startups Cohort 18 Honolulu Demo Day

Week 8 Recap: Cohort 18 Pitches to Hawaii Angels and Gives Back to the Community

Blue Academy’s Entrepreneurship Sprint at Windward CC

Jobs at Blue Startups Companies

Blue Startups Partners

Connect

In Partnership With

Cohort 18 Showcase in San Francisco

Blue Startups Cohort 18 Honolulu Demo Day

Week 8 Recap: Cohort 18 Pitches to Hawaii Angels and Gives Back to the Community

Blue Academy’s Entrepreneurship Sprint at Windward CC

Jobs at Blue Startups Companies

Blue Startups Partners

Let’s go global together.

Connect

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