Dr. Rob Yonover getting barreled.

Dr. Robert Yonover is a Ph.D. geochemist/volcanologist with a history of innovative scientific contributions, technologies and patents. Dr. Yonover’s unique background arose from his roots as a non-talking child with a strong connection to nature and the ability to approach problems in a primitive yet creative fashion. Using life and death situations with the ocean as his laboratory, he has invented a multitude of  survival  technologies, including the military-approved RescueStreamer®, an emergency distress signaling device, is now in use by all branches of the U.S. Military.  Dr. Yonover’s media credits include appearances on CNN, PBS, Discovery Channel, with most major magazines covering the RescueStreamer® technology.

We officially announced the launch of Entrepreneurs-Wanted.org during the first lunch of [re]Think: Hawaii.  In addition to both Ed Young and I speaking, we also had Dr. Rob Yonover share his entrepreneurial testimonies with the group.  Not only did he bring a different type of entrepreneurial plan, but Rob brought a strong energy that resonated throughout the entire conference.

His simple, practical, yet hardcore approach to entrepreneurship continues to inspire me.  I was able to get him to agree to pause for a moment and share his insights for aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs creating intellectual property, as well as his first invention and the spirit of accomplishment.

We all have the official bio that we post on our “About Me” pages and provide in press releases, but who is Dr. Yonover?  Better yet, tell us about Rob.

“Rob is Hardcore Waterman, Scientist, and Inventor that has an unquenchable thirst to solve problems of all kinds in the simplest and most elegant manner.”

What was your first invention?  You know, the one you built in your parents garage?

“My first invention was the electric nosepicker at the age of 5 – much to the shock of my parents – especially when it worked (a simple drinking straw taped to a small battery-powered spinning motor shaft, inserted upward into the nose cavity…ha!)! That one was built a few years after I got out of the playpen (or maybe I was handcuffed to it?).

My first real invention was made on my lanai (20 years ago) with a piece of plastic and a bunch of pipettes from a chemistry lab – that one actually turned out to be the SEE/RESCUE^® Streamer or RescueStreamer^® that is now used by militaries and civilians all over the world!”

For our readers following the inventors path, describe a few of the usual challenges any inventor can expect and the solutions that worked for you.

“(Ask yourself these questions)

1. How do I solve problems? Look to Nature for Solutions
2. How do I open doors? Be a Polite/Persistent Pain-In-The-Ass
3. How can I get my point across quickly/efficiently? Think and Pitch in Bullet Points (e.g., 140 characters)
4. How do I win someone over on your invention? Let Them Hold It, then Take It Away
5. How do I survive as an Inventor? Don’t Quit Your Day Job so you Can Quit Your Day Job!”

Knowledge about patents, trademarks, and intellectual property need to be some of the sharpest tools in an investors toolbox. Talk more about the right tools inventors or entrepreneurs need.

“It’s important to have a baseline level of IP knowledge, however ultimately if you are serious you have to bring in patent/trademark attorneys. You can skimp on other things, but not when it comes to writing the CLAIMS of your invention. My recent book (Hardcore Inventing) provides an overview and resources on all aspects of protecting your Intellectual Property – it’s a good starting point.”

What are the very first steps anyone should take to protect their intellectual property?

“Write down and date your thoughts in a notebook that has pre-numbered pages. Send copies of your notes to your patent attorney to start a file and begin a paper trail. Do not tell anyone about the specifics of your invention (aside from your patent attorney and maybe your partner or family members, assuming you trust them – ha!). Proceed to a Provisional Application or Regular Patent Application when you are ready to get serious. Save money so you can afford to pursue the patents. On the bottomfeeding front, you can always try to pick up some Poor Man’s Intellectual Property by obtaining a specific Domain Name that describes your invention (i.e., NewPatentIdea.com) and only costs about $10 per year.”

Where do you find your inspiration for an invention?  Life, luck, requests, or other?

“Nature is my biggest source for inspiration once I have engaged in attacking a specific problem. I like to go deep in nature (preferably the ocean) and imagine the simplest possible solution to a problem assuming I only have a few pieces of material and a fixed amount of time to solve that problem. Once I have brainstormed a solution and/or observed a similar problem being solved in nature, I move to the most unnatural setting of all – retail stores that have tons of materials (like Home Depot or Walmart) where I wander the aisles looking at for base materials – usually bits or pieces of an exisitng product that I can just cut up to get to the material consistency I need. Be careful they don’t call store security on you when you start asking weird questions and looking at things like you are insane.”

For the entrepreneur building their team of advisors, what type of people should they have on their board?

“I am not familiar with official boards (not part of my business  model), but I definitely surround myself with advisors of all types, typically people that I can trust (family) and people that are not afraid to challenge me – I don’t want pushovers that say “yes” to everything I propose. I grew up getting challenged and debating on every front and believe that is a sucessful way to flush out ideas (devil’s advocates on steriods).”

Dr. Rob Yonover with his invention.

Describe the feeling of closing a deal on one of your inventions.

“A great sense of accomplishment, however your are not quite at the home run level until you get your invention on the market and in my case, meet a guy who’s life was saved by my invention! That was the ultimate for me – a sense that I had really contributed to humanity on a personal and global level, like one of my hero’s, Buckminster Fuller, who preached that the highest level of inventing is when it benefits all of humanity, not just a widget to make a profit.”

When you’re not changing the world, what do you do?

“You’re too kind! My main passions are related to getting off land and converting to water man/ape mode, e.g., surfing big waves on the North Shore, solo fishing runs to the Molokai Channel, or lunch time paddleboard runs into the ocean. I am also an accomplished family man with a happening wife and offspring.”

Any last thoughts and advice?

“‘Embrace your perceived negativity’ (paraphrased from “Thick Face, Black Heart” by Chin-Ning Chu, base on the Art of War by Sun Tzu).  Find something you are passionate about, regardless of whether or not it is respected by your family and friends and make that your livelihood! If you enjoy what you are doing, you can do it a lot better and it won’t feel like work!”

Following [re]Think: Hawaii, Rob launched his blog Hardcore Surviving and you can follow him on Twitter @seerescue.

Doing Business Anytime, Anywhere…..Why Not Hawaii?

The desk of an entrepreneur and teleworker.

Earlier this month, Sean Fox and Lance Furuyama of New Horizons Computer Learning Center launched Telework Hawaii.

“Our vision is to promote telework and telecommuting in Hawaii and to become an advocate for telework.  Telework Hawaii’s vision it to grow the overall understanding and acceptance of the benefits for our companies and employees.”

Fox has 7-years of telework experience in Hawaii and he writes that his goals for Telework Hawaii are, “to help make good employers, good managers and good employees even better through the education and understanding of how telework activities and other flexible work arrangements will benefit both companies and employees.”

Telework Hawaii is a member of Entrepreneurs-Wanted.org and Sean Fox and his entire team at “New Horizons Computer Learning Center” are a part of the EWHawaii network.

MobileNorthwest 2009 is for mobile-focused companies who continue to innovate and break ground in the mobile industry.

The conference is attended by regional mobile executives and is supported by Samsung, Mobile Mondays, mocoNews.net, WIP (Wireless Industry Partnership), TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), among others. Confirmed speakers include Tom Huseby of SeaPoint Ventures, mobile consultant Chetan Sharma, along with executives from T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. See our conference Agenda page for additional confirmed speakers.

Attendee Gregory T. Huang of the Xconomy blog shares (3) important takeaways from a venture capital panel at Mobile Northwest 2009:

1. The panic may be over, but caution rules. Entress (Geoff Entress of Voyager Capital) says he’s added nine companies to his portfolio this year, out of a total of 32 he’s involved in (and six mobile firms, including TravellingWave, Swype, Dashwire, and Treemo). “We’re definitely not out of the woods yet,” he said. “But 2010 might be a good year for selling companies.”
2. It’s not all about the iPhone.
3. Watch advertising, input technologies, and connected devices. Tandon (Puneet Tandon of Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA) pointed out that by sometime next year, there are projected to be 3.3 billion Web-connected devices, and 70 percent of them will be connected via wireless operators.

Entrepreneurs-Wanted.org is building a network, team, community of mobile technology developers, publishers, and marketers.  Interested?  Get in touch.

• Young Entrepreneur: Dan Lueck, President of Ikayzo, Inc.
• Clean Tech Entrepeneur: Mark Duda, Founding Member of Distributed Energy Partners
• Digital Media: Jeanette Hereniko, Founder and President of AsiaPacificFilms.com
• Invention: Heidi Kuehnle, Co-founder and Chief executive of Kuehnle AgroSystems Inc.
• Entrepreneurship Advocate: David Fisher, founder of Maui Venture Consulting
• Social Entrepreneur: Henk Rogers, Founder of Blue Planet Foundation

Read more about the Global Entrepreneurship Week events in Hawaii.

• Hawaii’s Young and Hip Entrepreneurs
• Results of Pitch Competition

I was fortunate to be on the panel and was inspired by the energy of the audience, made up primarily of HPU students and members of the MBA Club.  Fellow panelists included, Lorenz Sell of FindMeFit.com and Fresh Cafe owner, Tiffany Tanaka.

Three points that were common amongst all panelists were:

• Be willing to take risks, make sacrifices, and to work harder than your competitors.
• Build a supportive, yet honest network of mentors and leaders.
• Know thyself.

Lorenz Sell

Tiffany Tanaka

L.P. "Neenz" Faleafine

Panel Moderator, Audun H. Hansen

Hawaii's Young and Hip Entrepreneurs

Grilled Cornbread, LLP

“The Pitch Competition is an educational event designed to stimulate entrepreneurial development in Hawaii, and to train entrepreneurs in pitching to finance their ventures.”

Audience at Pitch Competition

Mentoring for this competition began in October with semi-finalists selected last week, and the finalist competing last night during Global Entrepreneurship Week at the Bankers Club in the First Hawaiian Bank building in downtown Honolulu.

Here are the results:

Business Elevator Presentation

Tyler Morgan, HonuGuide [Winner]
Online sustainability guide

Meredith Lee, The Rare Orchid
Wholesale gift & stationery prodducts

Tina Quizon, The TQ Group
Hawaii based entrepreneur TV Show

Tyler Morgan

VC Elevator Presentation

Daniel Ward, HI Chariot WM [Winner]
Street legal motorized wheelchair

Dave Stevens, Anela Digital
Digital Multimedia Kiosk Advertising

Clift Yasutomi, CashFlow Envelope
Simple modern budgeting using traditional envelope budgeting

Daniel Ward

20 Minute Investor Presentation

David Fry, Tanuki Interactive
Technology for Political Campaigns

Mark Lane, NotAProblem, LLC
Local Services Marketplace

Clifton Yasutomi, CashFlow Envelope
Simple modern budgeting using traditional envelope budgeting

Zena Zenato-Schmidt, essereMana [Winner]
Interactive transformational entertainment

Zena Zenato-Schmidt

GEW Cocktail

Beer and Business nights are produced to bring together the Hawaii business community in a casual environment. We’re helping local entrepreneurs, executives and investors get to know each other over good drinks and conversation.

Although gratefully held at the Marriott Waikiki and Hawaii Convention Center, Hawaii was the true venue for the recent [re]Think: Hawaii conference and the inaugural TEDxHonolulu. The atmosphere of Hawaii invites people in with a warm embrace giving them permission to take off their power suits and ties to do business.  A lot of business was conducted over the week of both conferences, though if you were on the outside looking in, you wouldn’t have been able to tell.  This is the affect Hawaii has.

Tonight, President Barack Obama announced that Hawaii will host the 2011 Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.  APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world operating on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants.

Without being said, this is an awesome opportunity for Hawaii, her community, businesses, and entrepreneurs.

Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading foundation for entrepreneurship is sponsoring Global Entrepreneurship Week, November 16 – 22, 2009

Hawaii Technology and Entrepreneurship Network (HiTEN), a statewide business support network is organizing a week long series of events to honor Hawaii’s entrepreneurs.

Here is a list of the events:

• 11th Biennial Hawaii SBIR & STTR Conference<
  Federal funding to develop and commercialize your technology.

• HVCA Entrepreneur of the Year Award
  Entrepreneurs in various categories will be honored for their achievements in the Hawaii community.

• Hawaii’s Young and Hip Entrepreneurs
  Hawaii Pacific University MBA Club Hawaii
  Lorenz Sell, innovator of “ILovePhotos” and now FindMeFit; L.P. Neenz Faleafine, founder of Pono Media; and Tiffany Tanaka, proprietor of the successful Fresh Café

• Social Media – Why is it important for your business.
  by the Small Business Development Center Hawaii

• Hawaii Entrepreneur Investor Pitch Competition
  Startups (previously selected) will pitch to a panel of bankers, investors and other financial leaders for cash and other prizes.

• Beer and Business: The Official Cocktail Party for GEW Hawaii
  Power networking at Hukilau Restaurant, Executive Center

For complete information on dates and times,  visit HiTEN Hawaii GEW09.

Official Global Entrepreneurship Week social media accounts and websites:

• Unleashing Ideas on Flickr
• Unleashing Ideas on YouTube
• Unleashing Ideas Facebook Fan Page
• Unleashing Ideas on Twitter
• Global Entrepreneurship Week Singapore Facebook Group
• Globe Entrepreneurship Week Utah on Twitter
• Global Entrepreneurship Week Michigan website
• Global Entrepreneurship Week Oz Facebook Fan Page
• Global Entrepreneurship Week UK website
• Global Entrepreneurship Week Sacramento website
• Global Entrepreneurship Week Jordan on Twitter
• Global Entrepreneurship Week Malaysia on Twitter