Rob Robinson

Robert J. Robinson was born in Durban, South Africa where he completed his undergraduate degrees before leaving for his Ph.D. Stanford University (1991). From 1991 to 2001 he was on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration (HBS) in Boston, MA. In 2001, Robert was a visiting professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management before accepting the position of Weinman Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and E-Business at University of Hawai‘i’s Shidler College of Business, and the role of executive director of the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) from 2001-2007.

In 2002 Robert founded HI Angels, a Hawai‘i-based angel investor network that invests in technology startup firms. In 2007, Robert co-founded Kolohala Ventures, and in 2010 Topaz Management, both Honolulu-based private equity firms and fund managers. These assorted entities have to date funded in excess of $120MM into primarily Hawai‘i-based startup companies.

He is on the board of, or has served on the boards of, the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, the Hawaii Life Sciences Council, and numerous startup companies in Hawai‘i. He is a senior mentor at Blue Startups, Hawai‘i’s nationally-ranked tech accelerator, and is deeply involved with startups and entrepreneurship at many levels throughout the State of Hawai‘i.

Academic Background

• 1991 - PhD, Stanford University
• 1987 - MA, University of Cape Town
• 1984 - BA, University of Cape Town
• 1983 - B.Commerce, University of Natal Durban

Research Interests

• Angel Investing: The patterns and nature of the investments made by private individuals in early-stage startups, and their relationship with venture capital.
• Entrepreneurial Negotiations: Equity, venture capital, and business transactions, particularly in the hi-tech sector.
• The Social Cognition of Conflict and Negotiation: How structure and construal interact in interactive decision-making.
• Industrial Justice and Ethics: Procedural and distributive justice, social account giving, models of ethical and unethical negotiation behavior.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles And Books (2000 - present)

Barry, B., & Robinson, R. J. (2003). Ethics in conflict resolution: The ties that bind. In special issue of Journal of International Negotiation: Negotiation Ethics.

Robinson, R. J., & Barry, B. (Eds.) (2003). Special Issue of Journal of International Negotiation: Negotiation Ethics.

Robinson, R. J. (2003). Angels in Paradise: The Challenge of Forming and Running an Angel Network in Hawaii. In State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing, The Batten Institute.

Garcia, S. M., Darley, John M., & Robinson, R. J. (2001). Who moves first? Conflicts between public defenders and district attorneys. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, RJR Resume, Page 5 September, 2006 731-743.

Kray, L., & Robinson, R. J. (2001). Partisanship, construal and the status quo. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 321-335. (Also HBS Working Paper #98-038.)

Robinson, R. J. (2001). Fundamentals of early stage negotiating. In D. Amis, & H. Stevenson, Winning Angels, Prentice-Hall, New York, pp. 240-243.

Robinson, R. J. (2001). Wings of desire. Angel Advisor, January-February, 42-47.

Robinson, R. J., & Kray, L. (2001). Status vs. quo: Naïve realism and the search for social change and perceived legitimacy. In: The Psychology of Legitimacy: Emerging Perspectives on Ideology, Justice, and Intergroup Relations. John T. Jost & Brenda Major (Editors), pp. 135-154.

Robinson, R. J., & Van Osnabrugge, M. (2001). Do venture capitalists behave differently when investing in high tech ventures? Journal of Private Equity, 4, 31-42. (Also HBS Working Paper #99-131.)

Van Osnabrugge. M., & Robinson, R. J. (2001). The influence of a venture capitalist's source of funds. Venture Capital, 3, 25-29. (Also HBS Working Paper #99-133.)

Lee, F., & Robinson, R. J. (2000). An attributional analysis of social accounts: Implications of playing the blame game. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 1853-1879. (Also HBS Working Paper #99-136.)

Robinson, R. J., Lewicki, R. J., & Donahue, E. M. (2000). Extending and testing a five factor model of ethical and unethical bargaining tactics: Introducing the SINS Scale. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 649-664. (Also HBS Working Paper #96-031.)

Sohl, J.E., Van Osnabrugge, M., & Robinson, R. J. (2000). Models of Angel Investing: Portals to the Early Stage Market. In Frontiers Of Entrepreneurship Research: Proceedings of the Annual Babson-Kauffman Research Conference.

Van Osnabrugge. M., & Robinson, R. J. (2000). Angel Investing: Matching Startup Funds with Startup Companies -- The Guide for Entrepreneurs,

*Professional Background *

• 2005 - present Founder & Managing Partner of Kolohala Holdings, a venture and private equity firm in Honolulu, HI.
• 2002 - present Founder & President of HI Angels, angel investing network Honolulu, HI.
• 2001 - present Board of Hawaii Venture Capital Association.
• 2003-2006 - Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation Advisory Board.
• 2001-2008 - Board Hawaii Life Sciences Council, Board HIBEAM (virtual accelerator).
• 1991-present - Management consulting and training, emphasis on negotiation training, entrepreneurial negotiations / startups, decision-making, team building, and management team facilitation.