Tech View: Hawaii-born entrepreneur grows his tech firm on the mainland

If you were looking for the epitome of a successful Hawaii tech entrepreneur, Ho‘ala Greevy is your man. A Honolulu native, in 2014 he founded Paubox, which specializes in encrypted (HIPAA-compliant) email solutions for the health care industry.

He moved the company from Honolulu to San Francisco in 2015 to grow it. He would have preferred to stay in the Aloha State, but there was no way around it. Although he has Hawaii clients, the vast majority of his market — hospitals, nursing homes, behavioral health clinics and the like — are on the mainland. He also needed to acquire capital and top talent, both of which were generally not available in Hawaii.

The move served him well. With 50 employees and over 3,500 customers in all 50 states, the company is rapidly growing. I believe his success provides inspiration for other local tech entrepreneurs.

Ho‘ala was in town recently and brought me up to date.

Question: Do you have any new products?

Answer: Yes. By talking to our customers, we determined email-based workflow automation is an unmet need. In any health care organization with more than 100 employees, we see staff spending a large chunk of their day checking email, opening attachments and manually entering data into disparate systems like an EHR, CRM or billing systems. It’s boring, repetitive and error-prone. In addition, our customers are struggling to fill vacant positions, so our proposition to them is, “Let us automate that workflow for you.” The response so far is indicative of a large opportunity.

Q: What do your Hawaii customers use Paubox for?

A: Paubox customers in Hawaii are utilizing our solutions to send secure, HIPAA-compliant email communications to their patients, customers and partners. We have insurance agencies, hospitals, doctors’ offices, etc. using Paubox Email Suite to encrypt all of their outbound email.

This means their patients can receive and read emails directly in their inbox instead of having to log into a portal or remember additional passwords. Customers also use Paubox Email API to securely send automated COVID-19 test results via email so Hawaii residents can get test results faster. Last, we have a large hospital system using Paubox Marketing to send personalized marketing emails resulting in increased patient engagement. Paubox ensures that health care organizations in Hawaii can send sensitive information securely via email.

Q: Who are some of your local customers?

A: The Queen’s Health Systems, Punahou School, Hawaii Dental Service, ALTRES, Seagull Schools, Kahala Nui, Child & Family Service, Bay Clinic, Pharmacare Hawaii and Helping Hands Hawaii are some of our local customers.

Q: Are your employees working out of your San Francisco office or at home?

A: We’re still on Zoom (a lot). Our company is fully remote at this point; we don’t have requirements of being in the office.

Q: Do you visit customers in person?

A: During the pandemic, visiting customers in person is rarely done.

Q: How do you get feedback from them?

A: Customer feedback is very important at Paubox. In fact, it’s part of the Paubox Foundations, which are eight principles and values we care intensely about. Since we generally do not visit customers in person, we’ve figured out a creative way to get their feedback. Zoom Social Mixers have been successful.

The concept is simple: Gather customers and prospects on a Zoom and ask them what they want to drink/eat. Make sure it shows up in time and go from there. Customers will often provide testimonials that prospects are eagerly seeking.

Q: Do you hire local people to work remotely for Paubox?

A: Yes, we would consider Hawaii people to work remotely for us. Our goal is to hire nearly 50 employees this year, anywhere in the U.S.

Q: What achievement are you proudest of?

A: Our company set up the Paubox Kahikina STEM Scholarship, which encourages Native Hawaiians to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Recipients receive $1,000 per year until they graduate (five-year maximum). To date we’ve awarded 13 scholarships. I’d encourage anyone interested to visit paubox.com for details.

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Rob Kay, a Honolulu-based writer, covers consumer tech, digital media and sustainability for Tech View. He’s the creator of fijiguide.com and can be reached at Robert fredkay@gmail.com.