Episode 02: Meli James, President of HVCA

Sultan Ventures- Photo of Meli James

EPISODE 02: MELI JAMES, PRESIDENT OF HVCA

Meli discusses her experiences going from Cornell to startups in San Francisco and her work in Hawaii’s Startup Paradise.

Hawaii native and Silicon Valley veteran, Meli James, discusses her experiences going from Cornell to startups in San Francisco and her work in Hawaii’s Startup Paradise. Meli is the president of Hawaii Venture Capital Association; and entrepreneur-in-residence at her alma maters: Cornell University’ s Pillsbury Institute and Punahou School.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Meli lived in Silicon Valley for over 10 years, where she co-founded numerous startups, including Nirvino –a wine app.. In 2015 she was recognized by Hawaii Business Magazine as one of its 20 to Watch for the Next 20. She has recently been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of 5 Women to Watch in 2016.


LINKS AND RESOURCES

Books Referenced:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Blogs / People she admires / follows
Nish Nadaraja from Yelp
Bubba Muraka from DFJ


SHOW NOTES

3:24 – How she got started in the technology industry

5:00 – Making her way to San Francisco

7:10 – How she started working for a private investigator + fun stories of her work while there

11:30 – Helpful tips for entrepreneurs she learned from being a private investigator

15:00 – Starting Nirvino

19:30 – How she realized Nirvino could actually work

23:20 – Lessons Learned (How they got Nirvino to be the #1 wine app in the itunes store)

26:23 – Community Building

29:20 – After Nirvino: Tune Tug Startup

32:50 – Building Community: Strategies coming into Hawaii

42:00 – How the Hawaii startup ecosystem has evolved (stakeholder alignment)

52:40 – Rapid Fire Questions: Favorite beach, recommendations, final tips for entrepreneurs