Blue Startups Cohort 17

Blue Startups is Hawaii’s top accelerator, with over $1 billion in follow-on funding and 250+ international mentors, it got ranked #17 in the U.S by Techcrunch.

Over 600 companies applied this year and Mission Mālama was chosen to join Cohort 17 with 11 other startups. And 17 just so happened to be the lucky number.

But how did 2 brothers in college stand among Hawaii’s top founders?

 

Getting Accepted

It started back in 2023, when Kainoa was running a digital marketing company called Mālama Marketing, helping local businesses grow their awareness and sales.

Through that work, Kainoa partnered with a sustainable travel-tech startup called Travaras after attending a PACE x Thrive HI (UH Entrepreneurship) event.

Travaras had just gone through Blue Startups Cohort 15, and that’s when Kainoa was first introduced to the accelerator.

He kept showing up at events like East Meets West, learning and connecting with founders who were building companies that mattered.

But deep down, something was missing. Digital marketing was impactful, but it didn’t feel big enough.

Kainoa wanted to build something that could make a global difference and that inspiration became Mission Mālama.

After falling short in the UH Venture Competition semi-finals, Kainoa made it his overarching 2025 goal to get into Blue Startups.

The loss lit a fire and he started building relationships, studying alumni, and learning from mentors like Kris Eiserloh, Scott Brewer and Rob Robinson, who reminded him to make the vision scalable.

Kainoa visualized Mission Mālama inside the program, the logo on the wall, the pitch on stage, the mission in motion. He could see it so clearly that it already felt real.

Vision, persistence, and faith is what turned an idea into a movement ready to change the world.

 

The Program — 12 Weeks of Growth

For 12 weeks, our team committed 100% of our time, energy and focus, and made Mission Mālama our #1 priority.

The Entrepreneur Sandbox in downtown Honolulu became our second home.

We were surrounded by very successful business mentors and founders in all different stages of growth. 

The camaraderie, the sharing of ideas, and the chance to build alongside friends who work hard and believe the sky is the limit became one of the most valuable experiences of the entire program.

We became apart of the Blue Startups ʻohana.

Everyday throughout the program was packed!

Most days consisted of workshops and mentorship meetings where we dove deep into every part of building a business and learned what it really takes to grow and scale a company.

We also had networking events, pitch practices, and cohort sharings that kept the energy high all week.

Between sessions and countless late nights, we took everything we learned and turned it into real progress for Mission Mālama.

 

 

Idea Transformation

When we first applied to Blue Startups, Mission Mālama was an affiliate platform focusing on sustainable brands, where every sale helps heal the planet. The idea was simple: profit meets purpose.

But once we joined the accelerator and started doing customer interviews, everything began to evolve. 

We needed to differentiate ourselves from the competition, and our focus was on matchmaking, pairing adventure driven brands with aligned creators through an influencer marketing model.

We built our own custom platform on Lovable, fully branded and over the course of the program, we onboarded 10 brands and 15 creators (500k follower network), proving that the system worked.

But we realized our true potential went far beyond affiliate links and campaign management.

And that’s when it clicked: what we were building wasn’t just a marketplace, it was a movement.

So we shifted our focus from matchmaking to community-building, creating a space that unites business, adventure, and impact under one mission: to Mālama our planet.

 

Honolulu Demo Day

Honolulu Tech Week is Hawaii’s largest annual gathering of innovators, founders, and investors. 

A week-long celebration of the Hawaiiʻs growing tech ecosystem.

The final event of the week, Blue Startups Demo Day, brings it all together, showcasing the top startups from Hawaiʻi to the world.

When my brother Koa took the stage to pitch Mission Mālama, he absolutely killed it!

His delivery was sharp, confident, and full of passion.

We were surrounded by family, friends, mentors, and an incredible community that believed in what we were building.

Every pitch felt like a celebration of Hawaii’s innovation ecosystem, proving that world-class startups can grow right here in the islands.

It wasn’t just a pitch. It was a statement of who we are and where we’re going.

 

 

San Francisco

After wrapping up Honolulu Demo Day, we took the Mission Mālama story to San Francisco Tech Week, one of the biggest startup gatherings in the world. 

We pitched in front of dozens of VCs and angel investors in Silicon Valley, sharing our vision of how technology, community, and adventure can come together to heal the planet. 

And the response was incredible, people were really inspired by Mission Mālamaʻs approach to profitability and sustainability.

Throughout SF Tech Week, we explored, attended events, met founders and made great connections, and soaked in the fast pace of the city.

But it reminded us, that while speed gets attention, purpose creates growth that lasts.

Kainoa kept pushing his limits outside of the business too, running 25 miles around Urbano and biking 101 miles around Lake Merced.

Every mile reminded him that building a movement takes time and it’s not about how fast you move, but how far you’re willing to go.

 

 

 

The Legacy Begins

Blue Startups was more than an accelerator, it was a transformation.

It taught us how to think bigger, execute sharper, and lead with purpose.

From the Sandbox in Honolulu to the streets of San Francisco, every pitch, connection, and late night shaped the foundation of Mission Mālama. 

We didn’t just grow a company, we strengthened a belief: that business can heal the planet.

Now the journey continues and one thing’s certain, this is only the beginning of something Legendary.

 

 

Massive mahalo to Chenoa Farnsworth, David Holt, Alexi Drouin, Brian Cruz, Joshua Samonte, Martin Caprile, Nolan Pierce, everyone else in the cohort and the Blue Startups ʻohana, all the mentors, my grandma Carole de Angelis, my brother Koa Eiserloh and my parents Kristan Eiserloh and Lori Fukumoto for an unforgettable experience.

Aloha Always!