How a Startup Program Spun Out of a 35-Year-Old Nonprofit
I’d like to introduce you to Dennis Teranishi. He is currently the CEO of a Hawaii-based nonprofit called the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR). PICHTR’s concept was originally discussed by the U.S. Government and the Prime Minister of Japan before being set up by the Hawaii State legislature in 1983. Its programs have funded defense and technology innovation in Hawaii for the past three decades and Dennis has been involved in some way or another since 1994, most recently serving as President and CEO for the past four years.
Just last month, PICHTR spun out one of its programs, a startup accelerator called Energy Excelerator, initially founded by Maurice Kaya and Dawn Lippert in 2009 and joined by Jill Sims in 2011. Energy Excelerator is now its own nonprofit, called Elemental Excelerator. It’s common for larger corporations and research labs to spin out companies, but less common for nonprofits. What would motivate a well-established nonprofit like PICHTR to spin out a program? If you know Dennis, he carries an arsenal of stories sourced from his varied experiences like being in negotiations with Cesar Cavez and chopping wood for his family’s furo (Japanese bath). He explained his motivation through 3 short fables.
Be like water
Water breaks all the rules as the only substance on Earth that exists naturally in three physical states. In its liquid state, it is flexible and boundless. It creeps around barriers with grace.
When Dennis took the helm at PICHTR in the mid-1990s, the organization was having financial difficulties. “We had to lay off highly educated people because of financial difficulty,” said Dennis. “It’s easy to say you have to lay them off because you cannot survive, but it’s not that easy to do. I can tell you after the fact that we saved the organization, we’re still here, but at that time we were a million dollars in the hole; we couldn’t pay our bills.”
Dennis concludes this story with a stoic smile. This was one of three stories he told me how being boundless in your thinking, can help you overcome resistance with grace.
Even though you choose no build, the wind will continue to blow and the flowers will continue to grow
In addition to his role as CEO of PICHTR, Dennis is also Chair of the board of the U.S. Japan Council, a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening relationships between the United States and Japan. One of its programs is the TOMODACHI Initiative, of which Aki Marceau, head of Hawaii Projects Deployment at Elemental Excelerator, is one of its emerging leaders. This second fable is from her and an ode to the urban planning nerds.
Environmental Impact Statements are decision making tools required by law for anything altering the human environment in a significant way. The document lays out a number of paths for action, one of which is always “no build.”
“Of the many alternatives, one alternative is always ‘no build.’ And the purpose of having a ‘no build’ option is to show the difference in impact between the alternatives and inaction. Although things remain unchanged, inaction is still a choice, you still have to make a decision. And there is still risk and consequences,’” says Aki. “The environment around you continues to grow, change, and evolve, you just decide whether or not you want to grow with it.”
Don’t be afraid to dance with fire
Dennis grew up in an area between Haleiwa and Waialua, called Kaamooloa. His grandmother was three months pregnant when his family was kicked out of their plantation village for trying to organize a movement against unfair treatment by plantation owners. At a young age, he experienced first hand how doing the right thing didn’t always align with the path of least resistance and how choosing inaction proved risky.
Dennis became a specialist in helping companies of different sizes overcome barriers with grace; taking companies like PICHTR from their ashes to roaring flames. In the spinout of Elemental Excelerator, many questioned why he would “blow out” PICHTR’s brightest flame, which had deployed over $20 million in project funds to over 53 companies resulting in 28 innovation projects with dozens of local business like Watanabe Floral and Hawaiian Electric.
But he saw the situation differently. “This reminded me of sending our 17-year-old daughters off to college,” says Dennis. He knew there was risk in sending them off into the world alone, but at the same time he knew the timing was right. He wasn’t blowing out the flame, he was simply letting it glow on its own.
He ended the interview by saying, “I know there is risk in any type of change. But, I believe that serendipity is so important in building a successful business and serendipity never happens if you keep doing the same thing over and over.”
Originally published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser in May 2017
