Deena Tearney isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. As founder and CEO of Pacific Point, an IT consulting firm that helps enterprises implement Salesforce, the leading company relationship management (CRM) software, she’s helping introduce high-level information technology to the land of the coconut wireless.

With a background in coding, Tearney realized the future of business IT wasn’t building apps from scratch but implementing software quickly and effectively through the use of established CRMs. “I can’t imagine why anybody would want to build something from scratch these days unless you’re building something like virtual reality and AI,” Tearney says.

 

“It takes an incredible amount of patience and time to build relationships and momentum to snowball. You’ve got to stick with it.”

 

When she moved to Hawai‘i 13 years ago to help local companies consolidate old systems onto a single platform, however, she quickly ran into difficulties recruiting the necessary talent for the job. “I was trying to build up a team, and I saw that it was very difficult to hire people who knew what I was talking about,” Tearney says. “The people who were familiar with enterprise technology and implementing software across enterprises were already employed. There’s just not a huge pool of people like there are in Texas or Los Angeles where I came from.”

Though it was an obstacle, Hawai‘i’s geographic isolation created a niche Tearney was eager to fill. “You’re flying people to a tourist destination five hours from the mainland, with time-zone constraints and a lot of cost, and bill rates are already high,” Tearney says. “I remember thinking it would be cool to crack that nut and figure out a way to solve that problem for Hawai‘i, to bring high-value consulting to the state at a reasonable price point.”

The solution she envisioned was Pacific Point. Biting the bullet financially, she recruited former colleagues from the mainland in order to establish a high standard of expertise from the beginning. “While it was very expensive to bring that type of talent, they really became the foundation for our company,” Tearney says. “They set the bar.”

The company is now experiencing rapid growth and making headway on its mission of cultivating the next generation of local business and technology consultants by taking on interns from the University of Hawai‘i. The company has had four interns, some coming fresh from MBA programs, who Tearney believes are quick learners on the road to becoming successful consultants.

Tearney’s other growth strategy required far more patience. While her company was still in its early years, she continued to bid on large proposal work in order to build a base of revenue. Despite losing many of the initial bids, her tenacity helped the company gain ground in Hawai‘i’s business community. “Anyone starting out should really go into it knowing that it takes an incredible amount of patience and time to build relationships and momentum to snowball,” Tearney says, “You’ve got to stick with it.”

Gender discrimination is another barrier to entry for female entrepreneurs in the tech industry. Fortunately, Tearney’s clients care far more about her experience and approach than the fact that’s she’s a woman in a traditionally male world. “On the mainland, it’s a very male-dominated industry,” Tearney says. “As a woman, I was always coached not to sit back. You’ve got to put your voice out there.”

She has also ventured outside of the tech field, finding time to take an unexpected turn in fashion while simultaneously running Pacific Point. Driven by a desire to create, Tearney launched Umee Honolulu in 2006, a women’s clothing line she named after her grandmother.

From attending L.A. fashion shows to meeting pattern cutters and selecting fabric, the project introduced her to an entirely different network and widened her skill set. “It was a great experience, and I was able to learn a lot about business, from marketing to sales to relationship building,” Tearney says. “We learn a lot about so many different industries because our customers are doing really cool things here, and they’re all very different. Just plugging in and learning how an industry works is actually one of my favorite things about being a consultant.”