Success Stories

Case #1: A Not-for-Profit Organization Requiring Strategic Planning

A highly respected Hawaii-based not-for-profit organization had designed an award-winning educational software package with funds procured through a federal government grant. Unfortunately, the grant was due to expire, and our consultants were engaged to assist this client because they wanted to maintain and continue developing this educational software package for the “greater good” of the communities it served. They did, however, need several questions answered: 1) Could they realistically sustain such a program without grant money? 2) What resources would they need – internally and externally – to sustain the program? and 3) How should they organize themselves internally to carry out this mission?

To resolve these issues, our consultants worked with officers from the not-for-profit to examine several key issues, including: 1) The resources that they would have to dedicate that they would have to put in towards promoting and marketing the product; 2) Alternatives to in-house management of the marketing and promotion of the product; and 3) Appropriate corporate structures to support this new direction in the company, including operating a for-profit unit.

Utilizing the intellectual property we provided, the client agreed that “doing it themselves” was not consistent with their interests as a not-for-profit organization, and that devoting energy to something that was outside of their immediate areas of expertise could be counterproductive for the rest of the organization. It was also determined that setting up a for-profit subsidiary for this product was not in the best interests of the organization as a whole.

With this clarification in direction, the client thereafter embarked on a successful partnership with a distribution company that had deep expertise in the educational software arena, while internally they focused their efforts on continuing to develop the software and finding alternative sources of funding. Two years after the conclusion of our project with them, the program is doing well; the client has secured funding that will last several more years, and they are reaping royalties from their partnership with the distributor.

Case #2: A Startup Requiring a Business Plan

A software company with a cutting-edge virtual reality product in development approached the Hawaii Opportunities Group for help in fine-tuning their business plan and to assist in fund raising. As a first step, our consultants examined the startup’s initial proposed markets and expansion strategies, and we found that their target market for their eventual product was the gaming industry. We had misgivings about this approach because the gaming industry was already saturated with software, not to mention the fad-driven nature of the market meant that software did not generally have a long “shelf life” in that industry. After researching potential markets for this client and performing financial projections for each scenario, our consultants came to the realization that this client had a better chance of succeeding if it targeted an entirely different sector – the defense industry. Putting our case forward, we convinced the client that this was the best option for them, and we worked closely with them to overhaul their business plan and growth strategies.

Today, this company is a bright spot in the Hawaii economy. Having secured two rounds of startup investments and having signed a multi-million dollar contract with the military, the firm is on track to roll out its product.