tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11606230238941509082024-03-05T04:44:43.568-08:00Vista HispanoOfficial Hispanic marketing blog of HUB 81 providing insights into the trends and changing dynamics of the Hispanic Market.José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-10527178754326205332014-07-18T10:28:00.000-07:002014-07-18T10:28:27.761-07:00Sweet Spot Launches Crowdfunding Campaign for Smart Activity GamingSanwood, LLC is crowdfunding its launch of Sweet Spot, a smart swing sensor for golf and tennis. Sweet Spot is available for preorder through <a href="http://igg.me/at/sweetspot/x/8187815" target="_blank">Indiegogo.com</a> and supporters of the campaign are able to reserve Sweet Spot for $99.95. Sweet Spot was developed by Sanwood, LLC and founded by Dr. Robert (Bob) Woods and Eric Sanchez with development in Santa Barbara, CA and business development in Las Vegas, NV.<br />
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<a href="http://igg.me/at/sweetspot/x/8187815" target="_blank">Sweet Spot</a> is a smart swing sensor that connects via BluetoothSmart to an iOS or Android app and works with any golf club or tennis racket. The Sweet Spot sensor records data from a golf club and tennis racket, helping players improve their game by gamifying practice and play. Sweet Spot’s Swing Away Activity Games develop a users’ swing and make practice fun through multilevel training games for all ages and skill levels. Sweet Spot’s social integration will allow users to connect with friends on Facebook to challenge, compete, and share accomplishments. The activity games teach the fundamentals of golf and tennis while developing the key skills. <br />
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Sweet Spot is the first product from Sanwood LLC, a developer of activity gaming technology. is the technology development company behind Sweet Spot and IoT Skybox. The Sweet Spot sensor records data from a golf club and tennis racket, helping players improve their game by gamifying their practice and play time.<br />
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Today’s sedentary technology is adversely impacting the health of our children, but Sweet Spot is part of a movement to change that trend with “internet of things” devices that gamify activity. Activity games, like Sweet Spot, engage users and challenge them by making it fun to learn how to play a new sport. Sanwood incorporated game mechanics to make Sweet Spot challenging for all skill levels and by connecting Sweet Spot to Facebook, players will be able to challenge their friends around the world.<br />
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Regarding the crowdfunding campaign, Eric Sanchez, President of Sanwood LLC, said, “We are very excited to be launching on Indiegogo. This is a great opportunity for us to intro the product at a discount and help us finalize our tooling and manufacturing here in the US.” <br />
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Register now for preorder notifications by visiting <a href="http://gosweetspot.net/preorder">http://gosweetspot.net/preorder</a>. Sweet Spot’s crowdfunding campaign is now live. Contributors that give $99.95 will receive a Sweet Spot sensor and hardware for golf and tennis. To learn more about Sweet Spot, visit www.GoSweetSpot.net.<br />
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For Press inquiries, contact Sweet Spot Marketing rmcmanus(a)contentvia.com.<br />
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<b>About Sanwood LLC & Sweet Spot</b><br />
SanWood, LLC is a Nevada-based corporation with software and hardware development in Santa Barbara, CA and business operations at The Integration Center in Las Vegas, NV. Learn more about Sweet Spot at <a href="http://www.gosweetspot.net/">www.goSweetSpot.net</a>.<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-11388297164762995212014-07-10T10:26:00.000-07:002014-07-10T10:27:41.511-07:00Pioneering Hackathon Event to Accelerate Latino Entrepreneurship Takes Off on the Central Coast of California<div style="text-align: left;">
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<a href="http://santamaria.startupweekend.org/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCh5X87e8qIlo0OCxVvx7kawD8-clE7jQhO-l9LKCVxzMJbxfryW3rO6LlQFUYLSWcTw3TmKrsnR6uYd-u0ZdkEbwvr-HYzVUmYbng0Mw_wK1yosjJlZScgJfD2FcIdekWLn0eElBOTg/s1600/SW_SM_BEd.png" height="298" width="640" /></a></div>
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SANTA MARIA, CA - July 2, 2014 - Nestled between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Santa Maria is part of a Central Coast hotbed of rising entrepreneurial activity. Set to take place on August 1st - 3rd, Startup Weekend Santa Maria (<a href="http://santamaria.startupweekend.org/">http://santamaria.startupweekend.org</a>) is aimed at accelerating entrepreneurship in an arena where Hispanics account for 70% of the population.<br />
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Offering a dynamic runway for launching new ideas, Startup Weekend Santa Maria brings a robust mix of mentorship, idea generation, unmatched networking, team building, and startup community energy. “Startup Weekend is a legitimate resource for people with ideas and we are delighted to help make this event a reality providing a solid launch pad for entrepreneurship to the local Hispanic business community,” stated Sandra Valdez, Co-Organizer and local business leader.<br />
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“This ‘No talk. All action.’ event stands as a true landmark in enhancing the economic vitality of our city and region.”, said Jose Huitron, Co-Organizer and Central Coast Chapter Director of the Latino Startup Alliance. “We are beyond excited to address a growing demand for startup fuel and help share the unmatched excitement of Startup Weekend by hosting an event in Spanish that will foster tangible outcomes and continued momentum.”<br />
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To register or attend this event, follow this link <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-weekend-santa-maria-082014-tickets-11320561103" target="_blank">Register</a>!<br />
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Startup Weekend Santa Maria en Español will take place at MIYB Spaces, the newest coworking facility on the Central Coast.<br />
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<b>ABOUT STARTUP WEEKEND</b><br />
Startup Weekend (<a href="http://startupweekend.org/">http://startupweekend.org</a>) is a non-profit, community-building event that brings together entrepreneurs of different backgrounds, including software developers, marketers, designers, and other enthusiasts throughout the globe. They gather to to pitch ideas, form teams and start companies in just 54 hours. The participants that attend have 60 seconds to make a pitch (optional), the pitches are whittled down to the top ideas, and then teams form around the ideas to come out with several developed companies or projects. Finally, the weekend culminates with demonstrations in front of an audience of judges and potential investors.<br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-67428773101768122072014-06-06T09:42:00.001-07:002014-06-06T09:45:13.476-07:00For Latinos Gaining Access to Capital is Like Climbing Mount Everest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcPfs47gdH9HeI3YSfEaXWtv7PdbdPCnpu_bVsGUaMOe4RWqFlw0VSgdYNpV6tojCdjvwVrgME8JMXRffPUX7Vl3pLcqoBKNVWVvby0lBkycKV64FAg46L7NS9n9YZpjMkYtbrbBf3JYk/s1600/Cash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcPfs47gdH9HeI3YSfEaXWtv7PdbdPCnpu_bVsGUaMOe4RWqFlw0VSgdYNpV6tojCdjvwVrgME8JMXRffPUX7Vl3pLcqoBKNVWVvby0lBkycKV64FAg46L7NS9n9YZpjMkYtbrbBf3JYk/s1600/Cash.jpg" height="427" width="640" /></a></div>
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Capital is a critical resource for accelerating ideas and keeping entrepreneurs on the path to changing the world. However, a recent study highlights significant discrimination in the land of plenty. </div>
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Conducted by business school professors at Utah State University, Brigham Young University and Rutgers University, the study featured nine businessmen—three white, three black, and three Hispanic. Similar in size and stature, donning the same outfits, and armed with similar education levels and financial profiles, they visited numerous banks seeking a roughly $60,000 loan to expand the very same business. </blockquote>
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The Hispanic and black business owners were provided far less information about loan terms, offered less application help by loan officers, less frequently handed a business card, and asked more questions about their personal finances. (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/black-hispanic-entrepreneurs-discriminated-against-when-seeking-small-business-loans/2014/06/03/70059184-ea86-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>)</blockquote>
Despite the fact that Latinos make up the fastest growing entrepreneurial segment in the U.S., these barriers in financing prove as a stark reminder of the need to amplify awareness around the real challenges that exist for minority entrepreneurs.<br />
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In an arena where only 1-2% of VC money finds its way to African American and Latino entrepreneurs, there is still plenty of work to do and kudos to those who are raising the flag of awareness.<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-28951003078850076952014-03-31T21:42:00.000-07:002014-03-31T21:43:38.061-07:00Developments in the Hispanic Media Market<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7H2KfHrQbB8YpFlR1-GcXjIH5cqio7QGuGcw2c8GzKSuxrx3UY9u_jgGqbW8oJsufMistfo0nIF1PKdCw8SBR3ET3D1naAL0TH7Cj1qreVDxFFf90dXZH1NiQXg16de9oEqHXxMTAhg/s1600/Hispanic+Media+Landscape.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7H2KfHrQbB8YpFlR1-GcXjIH5cqio7QGuGcw2c8GzKSuxrx3UY9u_jgGqbW8oJsufMistfo0nIF1PKdCw8SBR3ET3D1naAL0TH7Cj1qreVDxFFf90dXZH1NiQXg16de9oEqHXxMTAhg/s1600/Hispanic+Media+Landscape.png" height="537" width="640" /></a></div>
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Media companies' interest in the booming Hispanic market increasing according to a recent timeline report released by the <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2014/03/26/developments-in-the-hispanic-media-market/" target="_blank">PewResearch Journalism Project</a>. Providing a solid overview into the growth of media outlets geared towards the Hispanic market, the timeline highlights an important overview of the media landscape.<br />
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"What’s clear from the timeline is that general market companies, those that also own outlets geared to the overall U.S. population have jumped into the Hispanic news industry in recent years. Six of the seven national outlets listed were started by these general market companies, including a handful that are partnerships: Fusion is a partnership between ABC News and a company focused solely on Hispanic media (Univision) and MundoFox is a partnership between Fox International Channels (owned by 21st Century Fox) and RCN Televisión, a Colombian broadcast television company." </blockquote>
The fact remains that solid material geared towards the Latino market has the potential to garner significant growth and relevance among an audience that is hungry for quality content. There are obvious pioneers in the business of Hispanic media. Today, the energy around entrepreneurship combined with rising technologies has presented individuals and organizations with a great opportunity to satisfy the market's desire for relevant content based on insights, cultural affinity, and good judgement.<br />
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It will be interesting to see the continued rise of winners and losers in this competitive landscape.<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-62743810905780614712014-01-23T22:46:00.000-08:002014-01-23T22:46:13.984-08:00Entrepreneur Series | Q&A with Kevin Hernandez, Founder of RecCheckIdeas are better served with inspiration. Sometimes on the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship we need a little bit of motivation and a hard reminder about the possibilities in front of us and the merits of hard work. <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinJustin" target="_blank">Kevin Hernandez</a> is the Founder of <a href="http://www.reccheckapp.com/" target="_blank">RecCheck</a>, a mobile application that would allow users to easily set up pick up games with their friends and other players around them. RecCheck is a way for users to discover new parks and players in their area. Following is an interview with Kevin who recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdismo. (<i>Disclosure: I am a Co-Founder of Crowdismo and huge supporter of Kevin's startup.</i>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgWUeg0WvcJphoIreG87j1E482mBr37a2K6LGDiHjYp97mNghjjf8-gUKHC_7Hxx5pVOFA5DUzLIFeR7lRz57_8VuW5jgT3zSuBzJN1GM8-ItRCNWzlVDGdfvhLoipZFMnSxGbBklllQ/s1600/RecCheck.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgWUeg0WvcJphoIreG87j1E482mBr37a2K6LGDiHjYp97mNghjjf8-gUKHC_7Hxx5pVOFA5DUzLIFeR7lRz57_8VuW5jgT3zSuBzJN1GM8-ItRCNWzlVDGdfvhLoipZFMnSxGbBklllQ/s1600/RecCheck.png" height="406" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RecCheck Mobile App </td></tr>
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<b>Tell us About Yourself | You have an amazing story.</b><br />
I was born and raised in the Silicon Valley so I have always had a very strong interest in technology and entrepreneurship. Growing up during the Dot-com Boom, I was always surrounded by crazy ideas that seemed to only work here in the Valley. Additionally, my parents always taught me that hard work pays off and they exemplified this mindset by leading by example. My mother worked her way from the Philippines all the way to the Bay Area where she worked many jobs in order to put me and my sister through school. My father also went through his share of struggles just trying to make his way to the United States. He left El Salvador in the 80s while the country was going through a civil war. He had a vision of raising his kids through education and the right morals. This is why I have such a strong affinity with education and especially schools that teach entrepreneurship. Because of this, I decided to earn a degree in entrepreneurship from Arizona State University where I graduated Magna Cum Laude. After graduating from ASU, I decided that I wanted to further my education and expand my network. That's when I decided to apply to the program at Draper University.<br />
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<b>What was it like at Draper University?</b><br />
Draper University was one of those rare experiences where you feel like you can accomplish anything. Here we were taught to be bold and have radical ideas. But to us, our radical ideas were just "out of the box" solutions to problems that needed innovative thinking. We listened to speakers that changed the world with video games, coached companies into billion dollar successes, had theories of the universe that would make Einstein cringe, and even a founder that sold a company while he was still in High School. Everyone that I encountered at Draper University was like-minded and incredibly talented. This was the first time I felt as if I could really bounce ideas with others in such a welcoming environment. Since this was a boarding school, I was able to form lifelong connections with my fellow classmates and I still talk to a lot of them to this very day. Looking back, I'm incredibly grateful to Tim Draper for putting together such a life changing experience. Here I learned to be brave. Whether it was trying to get a job offer in one day, learn someone's life story, recount my most embarrassing moment to a room of 50+ people, or pitch an idea to a team of investors, I always felt prepared and feel like I can accomplish great things with courage and even a little bit of failure.<br />
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<b>If you could lock in the mentor of your choice who would you choose and why?</b><br />
If I could lock in the mentor of my choice it would be someone that values education and has been surrounded by entrepreneurship. Additionally, I'd like a mentor that knows what it takes to succeed as a startup. This is why I feel blessed to have two mentors that exemplify this with Bill Draper and Bruce Brege. Bill has aided in the success of countless startups and even worked in D.C. as the President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Bruce has been my mentor since high school and has always supported my education. With his guidance, I've been able to go through a 4 year university and even start my own company. Bill and Bruce have been tremendous mentors and continue to support me with my endeavors. <br />
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<b>Have any tips for other Latinos(as) looking to get into an accelerator?</b><br />
My biggest tip to Latinos(as) looking to get into an accelerator is to just do something risky and fail while you're at it! Entrepreneurs are supposed to know how to take defeat and dust themselves right off in order to tackle their next challenge. I challenge anyone trying to get into an accelerator to start something. The lessons you gain will far outweigh anything you have to lose. Oh, and it doesn't hurt to be a bit crazy. <br />
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<b>What's the idea behind RecCheck?</b><br />
As someone who loves to play sports and compete against other people, I enjoy hitting up the local court or field to play a game. However, often times I find that there's no one there or no one is willing to play a game. After experiencing this several times I decided to come up with the idea of RecCheck. RecCheck will be a mobile app that lets users discover and organize pickup games around their area. Users can set up a profile according to their favorite sports and difficulty level then challenge players around them, join in on open games, or even create their own events. After a nice run, users can add other players to their network in order to invite them to future games. Also, as a premium feature, players can earn rewards by checking into parks and clocking in their hours. So, the more you play, the more points you get for things like protein shakes, coupons for athletic apparel, sports equipment, etc.<br />
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<b>Love it. So this is a mobile startup plat that encourages folks to be active?</b><br />
Yes, and our motto is actually "Check Into An Active Life" because we feel that it's important to maintain an active lifestyle. We also want to encourage people to get out there and meet local players through the power of pickup games. Often times I'm on vacation and have a hard time finding a basketball court or field. With RecCheck, you'll have the opportunity to look up the closest facilities and even meet new people through games. <br />
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<b>Why is there such a need for this type of startup?</b><br />
There's a need for this kind of startup because people need to get rewarded for the hard hours they put into perfecting their jump shot, practicing their swing, or throwing the perfect spiral. At the same time, sports provide a way for people to work together towards a common goal. With the growing trends in wearable technologies and fitness tracking, we hope to be a part of this wave and move towards a healthier and more active society.<br />
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<b>Why did you create a crowdfunding campaign?</b><br />
I created a <a href="https://www.crowdismo.com/project/reccheckapp" target="_blank">crowdfunding campaign</a> because I want to give people the chance to become a part of this whole experience from the beginning. With crowdfunding, I have the opportunity to give any potential backers or users a sneak peek into the whole process of building this app from the ground up. Crowdfuding also gives us the chance to really connect with people that are truly interested in what we're doing.<br />
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<b>Why Crowdismo?</b><br />
I chose Crowdismo because I wanted to reach out to the Latino community. I want to show Latino entrepreneurs everywhere that there is a support system out there that can really make your ideas a reality. I love Crowdismo's mission statement of "Empowering Latino Genius Everywhere" because I do believe that this is the sort of thing that minority entrepreneurs need.<br />
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<b>How can folks get involved? </b><br />
You can get involved by checking out our <a href="https://www.crowdismo.com/project/reccheckapp" target="_blank">crowdfunding campaign</a> or checking out our actual site and sharing it with anyone that might be interested. Spreading awareness is the first step towards a successful campaign and we're hoping to get as much exposure as possible! You can also stay in contact by filling out the contact form on our site or by simply liking our Facebook page as well. Thanks for all the support and if you have any questions or want to challenge me to a game then email me at Kevin(at)RecCheckApp.com!<br />
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Thanks Kevin! You are an inspiration to us all. Absolutely have no doubts your startup is going places. We can all learn from your hustle. This is the first in a series of Q&A posts with successful and awesome Latino(a) entrepreneurs doing amazing things.<br />
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<i>Article by <a href="http://twitter.com/josehuitron" target="_blank">@josehuitron</a> - Entrepreneur. Author of Vista Hispano. Founder of Hub 81. Co-Founder Crowdismo.</i><br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-21964129458586420832013-12-11T11:11:00.000-08:002013-12-11T11:11:58.007-08:00Sony Electronics Inc. and CHISPA To Host "Latino iConnect" a Digital Marketing Conference in San Diego<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Sony Electronics Inc. and CHISPA To Host "Latino iConnect" a Digital Marketing Conference in San Diego</b></div>
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The Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce encourages business owners and entrepreneurs to attend the Latino iConnect Conference on February 26, 2014 in San Diego, California. The impressive event will be hosted by Sony Electronics Inc and the CORE Hispanic Sony Professional Alliance (CHISPA).</div>
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San Diego, CA (PRWEB) November 25, 2013 -- Sending out a call to all business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce (HISCEC) announces the <a href="http://www.latinoiconnect.com/" target="_blank">Latino iConnect Conference</a> hosted by Sony Electronics Inc and CHISPA.<br />
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The digital marketing conference will be held on February 26th, 2014 at Sony’s corporate building in San Diego, California and will highlight the latest in internet marketing trends and best practices. Tayde Aburto, Founder of HISCEC said of the conference “It's an honor to work with CHISPA at Sony to organize Latino iConnect. The conference will help small business owners and professionals make the most of their time and resources through the Internet marketing tools that are so necessary in today’s competitive marketplace. Without the integral knowledge the conference will impart, it’s so much more challenging to take a company’s marketing efforts to the next level.”<br />
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Speakers for the event include <a href="http://www.ramonwow.com/" target="_blank">Ramon de Leon</a> who is a social media visionary and a global keynote speaker with a focus on inspiration. Additionally, <a href="http://maximizeyoursocial.com/" target="_blank">Neal Schaffer</a> a social media strategist, consultant, and the author of “Maximize your Social” will speak at the event. The founder of the AdAge Top 100 Global Marketing Blog “Maximize Social Business” is also a Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer. In the following days more speakers are going to be announced.<br />
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Topics addressed at the Latino iConnect Conference in late February will be Advanced Strategies to Content Marketing, How to Boost Engagement on Facebook, Google+ for Business and Twitter Tactics and Strategies. Other engaging topics include LinkedIn for Lead Generation and Networking as well as Visual Storytelling via Instagram and Vine. Careful to offer a broad range of subjects the conference will also tackle YouTube Marketing for Small Businesses and Blog Monetization Strategies among various other needful topics.<br />
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Latino iConnect is supported by several organizations such as the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, CANIETI, University of San Diego, San Diego Red, <a href="http://www.crowdismo.com/" target="_blank">Crowdismo</a> and many more.<br />
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For more information about the Latino iConnect Conference visit <a href="http://www.latinoiconnect.com/">http://www.latinoiconnect.com</a>. For more information about the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce visit <a href="http://www.hiseb.com/">http://www.hiseb.com</a>. If you are interested in exhibiting or becoming a sponsor please contact Tayde Aburto at (858) 768-2483 or via e-mail tayde.aburto[at]hiscec.com<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-82928582357393296782013-11-20T13:31:00.001-08:002013-11-21T23:43:14.217-08:00Latino Startups to Watch in 2014<i>In this third post in a series on Latino startups, Oxford SBS Seed Fund co-founder <a href="http://markclaytonhand.com/">Mark Hand</a> highlights the Latino market startups on the path to startup success. Check out the <a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/08/where-are-all-latino-startups.html#.Uhy2E2RUNYI">first</a> and the <a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/09/the-state-of-latino-startups-exploring.html#.Uoe9JZSfZTM">second</a> posts in the series, too.</i><br />
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When Peter Wilkins of New Futuro set out to raise a round of venture capital this year, he found very few investors that understood his target market: US Hispanics. In the VC community, he still says, "there is no one that I know of focused on Hispanic market companies."<br />
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That lack of understanding on the part of investors hasn’t slowed down New Futuro. Through its events, resources, and online community, New Futuro now provides educational advice and material it says reaches millions of Hispanics every year. In the footsteps of companies such as HolaDoctor, Xoom, Progreso Financiero, and Consorte Media, New Futuro is part of a new crop of Latino market startups that are raising cash, building teams, and charging into the Latino market.<br />
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The most active sector for Latino market startups is financial services. <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/09/regalii-is-changing-the-way-people-send-money-to-family-abroad-using-mobile-and-gift-cards/">Regalii</a>, led by Wharton MBA and Echoing Green Fellow Edrizio de la Cruz, follows in the footsteps of iSend in allowing families to have some a say in the spending of remittances. Currently in beta launch according to its website, <a href="http://bucksbillpay.com/">Bucks Bill Pay</a> allows customers to pay their bills in cash at local agents. And <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2011/06/01/juntos-finanzas-helps-latinos-save-plan/">Juntos Finanzas</a>, a product of Stanford d.school, empowers Latino customers to track their own expenditures by SMS, similar to India-based social enterprise <a href="http://www.inventure.org/about/our-team">InVenture</a>.<br />
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Along with New Futuro, another crop of Latino market startups focuses on education: <a href="https://angel.co/yogome">YogoMe</a> is an educational app with plans to move into language learning. Backed by 500 Mexico City (which <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/14/500-mexico-city-batch-3/">announced</a> its new batch of startups just last week), YogoMe is one example of how companies are pulling in resources from both American and Mexican startup ecosystems. <a href="http://sleek-geek.net/">Sleek-geek</a> has three educational tablet apps for teachers, and is one of seven companies in the first <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/11/20/google-partners-with-manos-accelerator.html">Manos Accelerator</a> cohort that includes Antonio Altamirano's <a href="http://www.altamirano.org/technology/interesante-interest-discovery-engine/">Interesante</a>. <a href="http://plazafamilia.com/">Plaza Familia</a> is another educational venture founded by Latino social media veteran Ana Roca Castro.<br />
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Beyond financial services and education, immigration services platform <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/08/31/tech-start-ups-target-tough-customer-law-firms/fyznk5CXkhnCqQzHpGEIGO/story.html">LexSpot</a> has raised <a href="https://angel.co/lexspot/fundraising">over half</a> of its $750,000 convertible seed round. <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hispanic-search-leader-yasabe-secures-120000334.html">YaSabe</a>, another 500 Startups portfolio company building a bilingual, local search engine, closed a $2.7M funding round in the first half of 2013. <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/06/assuredlabor">AssuredLabor</a>, based in NYC and with operations in Brazil and Mexico, raised $5.5M earlier in 2013 to expand its job-seekers platform.<br />
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Keep an eye on these companies in 2014--no doubt at least one of them will soon stand with Xoom and others that have built successful businesses by serving a large and growing US Hispanic market.<br />
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Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments.<br />
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<i>A couple of notes: iSend is a portfolio company of Gray Ghost Ventures, Mark's former employer. Also, thanks to Barney Santos from Gentefy Media for his help in pulling this list together.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-4844139132611114652013-11-08T17:12:00.001-08:002013-11-08T17:12:48.788-08:00Latino Startup Alliance to Host 1st Annual Innovator Summit in San Francisco<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://summit.latinostartupalliance.org/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4l2weZGTLtT3AsTGahZ8TeFZLzjwHp-DBCUJx0FGB7pKAIj0ktBJPdk90z-MFlsTMHJKDVknA6BTtIb3NJr87z64BihRGyeh7YBnC7dkLXooBUFhqmBH507D_p5NkS2Prmzq-FupHog/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-11-08+at+1.45.39+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://latinostartupalliance.org/" target="_blank">The Latino Startup Alliance</a>, created to encourage the inspiration and cultivation of U.S. Latino led technology startup ventures by providing a strong support network of fellow entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, & mentors, is hosting their 1st annual Innovator Summit at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco.<br />
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<b>About the LSA Innovator Summit</b><br />
The 1st Annual summit in San Francisco that brings together Latino tech entrepreneurs for two days of startup pitches, keynotes, lighting talks, workshops, networking, and the fostering of both partnerships & friendships to help support Latino startups globally.<br />
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The LSA Innovator Summit will focus on three principals: Access, Acceleration, and Awareness. This summit will be the catalyst in providing a platform for <a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/09/the-state-of-latino-startups-exploring.html#.Un2LHpRATpA" target="_blank">startups</a>, entrepreneurs, investors, and partners to connect and take action.<br />
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The Latino Startup Alliance is holding an open invitation where startups can <a href="http://summit.latinostartupalliance.org/#!/register" target="_blank">apply to pitch</a> at the upcoming Innovator Summit.<br />
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With a robust set of partners like the Kauffman Foundation, Latinas Think BIG, Lean Startup Circle, and many others, the LSA Innovator Summit is a landmark event playing front and center in today's "<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/giovannirodriguez/2013/10/25/will-latino-entrepreneuers-help-rewrite-california-history/" target="_blank">Latino Tech Moment</a>."<br />
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Registration: <a href="http://summit.latinostartupalliance.org/#!/register">http://summit.latinostartupalliance.org/#!/register</a><br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-7020698372719757152013-11-04T15:57:00.000-08:002013-11-04T15:57:04.124-08:00Latino Startup Estereobit.tv delivers hip music videos and real-time interaction to musicians and fans of Latin indie music.<b>Estereobit.tv brings back the nostalgia of watching music videos while using the most up-to-date technology and taking on an international mass appeal.</b><br />
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<a href="http://estereobit.tv/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghXQIVNLADt2W2UXw_vPVfP9wmETqX_hZ2p5xUc58i5SuyZMQtX4ClO25hV_4RuXSHTBMTbZ10IA7GjTB85bMfTjTNqmkoixcRA6O3jDdfX_7A_bkxk9NImXKvrlGajn0r2IQ5UbC1uKY/s640/EstereobitTV.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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AUSTIN, TX—Estereobit.tv is an early-stage Latino startup that provides music lovers with a <a href="http://estereobit.tv/leaderboard" target="_blank">music video jukebox</a> in the cloud. Along with tapping into the deep nostalgia people have of music videos—remembering the heyday of MTV—Estereobit.tv is the trusted source of the latest hits in Latin indie music. Estereobit.tv goes beyond the normal music app by building their collection in the cloud, giving users access to their personal music video collection at any-time and anywhere. Imagine spicing up a dull party by having your music video collection handy online or even from your phone!<br />
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“I was tired of the endless Youtube and music blog searches” says Estereobit.tv founder and developer, Ulises Ramirez-Roche. “I wanted to keep track of my favorite artists and watch cool music videos, so I built a music video robot, who lives in the cloud.”<br />
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With the limited resources and competition for the limelight, new artists don’t always have a way to reach their audience; Estereobit.tv gives musicians a better platform from which to reach their fan base and easily promote their music to their target market. With a lack of industry attention towards international and Latin music here in America, Estereobit.tv lends itself as a simple and direct distribution channel for Latin music fans around the globe. <br />
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“With the growing Hispanic population in the United States, there should be a site or channel devoted to young, hip <a href="http://estereobit.tv/new" target="_blank">Latino music</a>” adds Ulises Ramirez-Roche. “A lot of talented Latino musicians go unnoticed because they simply don’t have the resources that American or European artists do.”<br />
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Estereobit.tv is a free music app available to users via <a href="http://www.estereobit.tv/">www.estereobit.tv</a> on their web browsers and mobile devices.<br />
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<b>Estereobit.tv features: </b><br />
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<li>Presents trendy, curated music video collection and personal playlist built in the cloud.</li>
<li>Gives users access to their personal collection from anywhere on their mobile devices or web browsers. </li>
<li>Like videos from a curated video collection and add them to your personal playlist. </li>
<li>View the latest videos from indie pop artists from Latin America. </li>
<li>Vote for videos and track the real-time popularity of a video on the ‘Leader Board’.</li>
<li>Quickly find your favorite videos and add them to your playlist with the quick search feature.</li>
<li>Currently in development, Estereobit.tv is working on a live Twitter feed for each band, to be displayed on each music video page. </li>
<li>Also in development, ‘Late Night Channel’ where it displays the top dance music videos and a list of nearby clubs or concerts near the user location. </li>
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<b>About Estereobit.tv:</b><br />
Founder, Ulises Ramirez-Roche first thought of Estereobit.tv because he missed regularly tuning into a music video channel and saw the need for a promotion source for Latin music in the United States.<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-28149566706055978252013-10-17T15:39:00.003-07:002013-10-17T15:43:33.836-07:00Cal Poly Invites Entrepreneurs, Innovators to Oct. 23 TechPitch Event<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHQEen_Zwd6CxyYQurY-CEe54bfraB0H1XRrI5ag1Bg6R29ecW0XG1Yo5zjY3AfJ_NOYS2_ffg79kQUGro9v0Zk48HAhshNEUMKCn1szk8fo0T7wh_AM_kyeKCAoPnJMguSaOCy4o77A/s320/TechPitch.png" width="320" /></div>
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SAN LUIS OBISPO - <b><a href="http://cie.calpoly.edu/" target="_blank">Cal Poly</a></b> invites all entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts to the third annual TechPitch competition from 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Alex Madonna Expo Center in San Luis Obispo.<br />
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At the event, eight applicants will pitch their viable technology-related business ideas to a panel of industry experts and investors. One winner will be chosen to receive follow-up services, contacts, and opportunities from affiliate organizations.<br />
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Attendees will also have an opportunity to cast their vote for the Viewers' Choice Award.<br />
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The event is put on by the Cal Poly Small Business Development Center for Innovation, Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, <b><a href="https://www.softec.org/" target="_blank">Softec</a></b>, the Economic Vitality Corporation, and the Business & Entrepreneurship Center at Cuesta College. It is sponsored by Madonna Inn.<br />
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"Not only is the program current and relevant - with a crowdfunding expert keynote speaker and updates on new Securities and Exchange Commission rules - but the pitches are entertaining and exciting, and the networking could change the course for your business or career," said past attendee Thea Chase, director of the Cal Poly SBDC.<br />
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Sean Read, a Cal Poly MBA student, said, "I'm excited not just for the pitches, but also for the whole night of fun that comes along with them. Dinner, drinks and a night of networking with prominent industry experts appeals to my entrepreneurial spirit and will help my future professional career."<br />
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Registration is required. The registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 18. Tickets are $59 person, $400 for a table of eight, and $29 for students.<br />
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For more information and to register, go to <a href="http://techpitch.org/">techpitch.org</a> or call Judy Mahan, assistant director of the Cal Poly SBDC for Innovation, at <a href="tel:805-756-5171">805-756-5171</a>. <br />
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<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001oBxTRtd8zAfxO_Dxh6BSRDCYPOCvEqRucHld52czQgosC1cDaMt9hbU99wBMDIvjlo6yiIsCyUBNt2-n_QKcbbFy6MmRZrqCzELNcfllUmT8dFjAUrQWc2p9ZOsjxhIbjrX6GJP-q9BrY3iJVG_w7LeXA8HDCc-jv_dyHpCxEWs=&c=VJ6r6Gns9mUGA_L022jgpcqtL9dvzGw5Y-_ENM2B_rY_4sHe_Vz5yA==&ch=gBwD-t8K5EcbsYNxhnEECcI6mrCRJkAeCz_LmzeZwaP19LqMejohng==">Tech Pitch Reservations</a><br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-28964444707307802942013-09-21T02:02:00.001-07:002013-09-21T02:04:01.999-07:00The State of Latino Startups: Exploring the Challenges<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>In this second post in a series on Latino startups, Oxford SBS Seed Fund co-founder <a href="http://markclaytonhand.com/">Mark Hand</a> explores some of the obstacles that Latino-run and Latino-focused startups face. Read the first post in the series <a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/08/where-are-all-latino-startups.html#.Uhy2E2RUNYI">here</a>. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Startup struggles, generally speaking</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there is one topic that entrepreneurs love to talk about more than any other, it is be the trials and tribulations of being a founder. You work impossibly long hours; you wake up with cold sweats knowing that every moment you’re not working on your idea, your competitor is. You spend more time managing people than you do with the product that you wanted to build; you are constantly reminded by more ‘reasonable’ friends and family members that you are sacrificing prime earning years to chase a dream. Money is always in short supply, and no one--no one--can ever truly give you the peace of mind that you are doing it right.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In nearly one hundred conversations about Latino startups over the last eight months, I’ve also heard and identified a handful of other hurdles specific to Latino startups. Some of them are relevant to Latino founders; others are particular to startups whose primary customers are Latinos.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Latino founders' uphill fight for funding?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Latino founders, just like their non-Latino counterparts, point to the lack of high-risk capital as a significant barrier to the growth of Latino startups. Unlike in conversations with white founders, however, hints at racial bias among funders are pretty common in conversations with Latino founders. Few accuse venture capital investors of outright racism. Instead, they make two arguments. The first, voiced by at least one venture-funded entrepreneur, is that venture investors have the same subconscious racial bias that Chicago Booth researchers <a href="http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/spring03/racialbias.html">discovered among hiring managers in Boston and Chicago</a>. Venture capital (VC) investors retort that if they see a strong team with a good idea in a growing market, they don’t care about someone’s race or country of origin. In fact, Silicon Valley is so dependent upon foreign talent that they now lobby ferociously for immigration reform. <br /><br />The second, related argument is that the nature of many VC investors’ networks is such that black and Hispanic entrepreneurs are excluded not due to racial bias but because of the nature of social networks. In a recent conversation about the opportunity for a Latino-focused startup fund, one VC asked me if I was saying all VCs were racist. “No,” I said, “We’re lazy.” When some VCs proudly trumpet that a resourceful entrepreneur will find the right introduction to them, they are trusting their network to complete the first round of vetting of potential startups. In the aggregate, such a closed-network approach to deal-sourcing means out-of-network ideas are shut out until someone (a “broker” in network theory) connects them. <br /><br />Before they approach VCs for scale-up funding, however, Latino founders point to another gap in funding. Unlike founders from well-connected, wealthy backgrounds, Latino founders have fewer wealthy friends and family members waiting in the wings to pump $20,000 into their startup. One Latina founder told me that, as the most educated and successful member of her extended family, asking her family for money would be laughable; instead, she is expected to be the one with a steady job providing cushion for everyone else. In this way, Latina founders, already carrying much of the weight of the growing Latino startup community, may be loaded down even more than their male counterparts by familial expectations. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Latino market: large, nuanced, tough</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What of startups that are not run by Latinos but focus on the Latino market? They too, face special struggles both in financing and execution. In seeking financing from VCs, Latino market startups struggle to get attention from investors rightly inclined to fund what they already know--e.g. tech, life sciences, solar, mass market retail, defense. Why educate yourself on a new, unproven market, exposing yourself to even greater risk? The answer, of course, is that not only are Latinos a large and growing group of upwardly mobile young consumers, but they are early adopters of new technologies and bellwethers for shifts in consumer trends; but <a href="https://medium.com/what-i-learned-today/db0f2656e696">as Antonio Altamirano points out</a>, this case has yet to be made in a clear and compelling way. <br /><br />Even given funding, Latino-focused startups face a special challenge: the Latino market may be huge, but it is incredibly nuanced and diverse. Most obviously, Latino market startups have to balance the needs of English-dominant and Spanish-dominant customers; the fluently bilingual customer support and content creators required to do this are tough to find and harder to retain. <br /><br />Yet both Latino founders and those interested in the Hispanic market are plowing ahead. One example of such forward momentum is <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/giovannirodriguez/2013/09/10/google-bets-big-on-hispanics-and-women/">Manos Accelerator</a>, which has recently accepted their first cohort of Latino startups. In our next article, we’ll take a closer look at a few of the Latinos and Latino-focused entrepreneurs blazing the trail--if you know of a few, send them our way! </span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mark Hand (<a href="https://twitter.com/markchand">@markchand</a>) is the cofounder of the SBS Seed Fund, a student-run startup fund within Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He spent two years with Gray Ghost Ventures investing in early-stage companies in the US and India. Mark is currently researching startups in the US Hispanic market. Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/88876166@N00">Phil Roeder</a> from Wikimedia Commons.</span></span></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-19323559882403933782013-08-21T15:10:00.000-07:002013-08-21T15:12:13.559-07:00Latino Startup Alliance Expands Presence to the Central Coast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Latino Startup Alliance Expands Presence to the Central Coast</b></div>
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<b>Focused on encouraging the inspiration and cultivation of Latino led technology startup ventures</b></div>
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August 21, 2013 -- Latino Startup Alliance (LSA) based in San Francisco, CA is excited to announce that it will be expanding its presence to the California Central Coast.<br />
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The Central Coast has been very active in the tech ecosystem with recent Startup Weekends being held in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. Spanning some of the most beautiful coastline in California from Monterey to Port Hueneme, the Central Coast is home to a vibrant collective of change agents, dynamic entrepreneurs, and forward-thinking educators. Highlighting the Latino entrepreneur and tech community's need for a bigger platform is what a global organization like LSA can provide.<br />
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In addition, leading LSA Central Coast's (LSA CC) efforts will be Jose Huitron - Founder of <a href="http://www.hub81.com/" target="_blank">Hub 81</a> and Co-Founder of <a href="http://www.crowdismo.com/" target="_blank">Crowdismo</a>, the first Latino-focused crowdfunding platform. Jose has been very active in the local tech community through efforts such as Startup Weekend Santa Maria helping to accelerate the conversation on entrepreneurship and increase startup activity.<br />
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"The Central Coast is fast becoming a booming tech and entrepreneurship corridor. An opportunity to help foster increased diversity in tech and entrepreneurship is a welcome challenge. The Latino Startup Alliance brings an important bridge to the region with direct access to Silicon Valley and vital support that will help increase the number of Latinos in tech and entrepreneurship locally." says Jose.<br />
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To register for this upcoming event visit: <a href="http://latinostartupalliancecentralcoast.eventbrite.com/">http://latinostartupalliancecentralcoast.eventbrite.com</a><br />
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<b>About the Latino Startup Alliance</b><br />
LSA launched over a year and half ago and has proudly grown to over 400+ innovators. LSA's mission is to encourage the inspiration and cultivation of Latino led technology startup ventures by providing a strong support network of fellow entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and mentors. For more information visit: <a href="http://latinostartupalliance.org/">http://latinostartupalliance.org/</a><br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-48674497290555671082013-08-13T20:59:00.000-07:002013-08-13T21:06:39.067-07:00Top Gadgets for Business Owners: Guest Post by Tanya Salcido of #LatinaGeeks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Let’s be honest. We all love playing with new gadgets, especially ones that will improve the productivity level in our business or simply for entertainment. As Latinos, it’s no surprise that we are enthusiastic mobile users. Three-in-four (76%) <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/03/07/ii-internet-use-3/">Hispanic internet users</a> say they access the internet on a cellphone, tablet or other mobile handheld device at least occasionally, according to a Pew Hispanic survey. Nothing is growing faster than the adoption of portable devices and the consumption of content on these devices. </div>
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In the U.S., Hispanic consumers’ usage rates of smartphones, television, online video, social networking and other forms of entertainment make this group one of today’s most engaged and dynamic populations in the digital space, according to Nielsen’s recent <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/hispanics-in-u-s-highly-active-on-mobile-and-social.html">State of the Hispanic Consumer</a>: The Hispanic Market Imperative report. It’s proven that mobile presents a significant avenue of opportunity for marketers looking to reach Hispanic consumers. <br />
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So with all the data presented, it’s comes with no surprise that the go-to gadgets for a majority of savvy business owners or entrepreneurs are a smartphone or tablet. They can definitely help knock out the to-do list, especially with the help of business enhancing apps, such as <a href="https://evernote.com/">Evernote</a>, <a href="https://squareup.com/">Square</a> and <a href="https://www.hellosign.com/">HelloSign</a>. Among <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/03/07/iv-smartphones/">Latino adults</a>, half (49%) say they own a smartphone, so you know that cafecito break will be a productive one.<br />
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Let’s look beyond the a smartphone or tablet and dive into gadgets that will take business performance and everyday life to a whole other level. Who knows … your tech savviness may even help you seal the deal at your next client meeting.<br />
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<a href="https://www.leapmotion.com/product"><b>Leap Motion Software</b></a> - $79.99<br />
Touch screen? That’s so 2007. This smartphone-sized gizmo by Leap Motion puts touch screen to shame. You will no longer need to use a keyboard or mouse and kiss those smudge marks on your monitor goodbye. With the Leap Motion Controller, all you have to do is wave your hand or lift your finger, and, as if by magic and pinpoint accuracy, stuff moves on your screen. You can even pick something up and put it down. Just like in real life. It’s been called “the best gesture-control system we've ever tested,” by Wired. It’s design is sleek and only 3” long, so it’s perfect for travel or beside your computer. Using this gadget will not only make your feel like you’re on the next level of your tech game, but it will be sure to impress potential clients when presenting your company’s services.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9TRcfKDfAaXxPBpFTim96S3HhThsjI7Ssr1pAxKANBzRGICBuO4eTTKSVIqoomuM78p0B2PPCj_rd_HBd8zV9mbFyz32SPJZzjUCpSvyaZ2qdjKyIgDljyyy1SO-9SkT23Zs5vS-xgz4/s1600/leapmotion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9TRcfKDfAaXxPBpFTim96S3HhThsjI7Ssr1pAxKANBzRGICBuO4eTTKSVIqoomuM78p0B2PPCj_rd_HBd8zV9mbFyz32SPJZzjUCpSvyaZ2qdjKyIgDljyyy1SO-9SkT23Zs5vS-xgz4/s320/leapmotion.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leap Motion</td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://www.innuevo.com/">DOCKr </a></b>- $149.95<br />
This gadget is a 6-in-1 solution for your iPad. Not only will it protect your iPad, but it works as a battery charger via USB and micro USB port for your smartphone and tablet, has a wireless keyboard, speakers and provides flexible viewing. You also have the option to customize the look of the case by adding your logo. What says, “You rock”, more than a branded case for your team? It’s lightweight and will make meeting note-taking a snap. The DOCKr offers an extra 4-8 hours of extra battery lifetime and will allow you to carry and continue your work while on the go. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2t9UjPpVQone3kwAj3R1dXiySohs1KmqMHh54XiqiLp99UJJhdOwxww9jsj5CX0QFmgHFSQYfDDXH2Fx0KT6sx-Sp4mcG8UplBT9_NvEDfA8PyzgMYQYTuGHrImcDtRrL2vBlen2nWg/s1600/DOCKr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2t9UjPpVQone3kwAj3R1dXiySohs1KmqMHh54XiqiLp99UJJhdOwxww9jsj5CX0QFmgHFSQYfDDXH2Fx0KT6sx-Sp4mcG8UplBT9_NvEDfA8PyzgMYQYTuGHrImcDtRrL2vBlen2nWg/s320/DOCKr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DOCKr</td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://www.kingston.com/us/usb/wireless#wid">Wi-Drive</a></b> - Starts at $80.50</div>
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Having a wireless portable drive can get you out of a tight spot when running late for a business trip or meeting. Did you forget to load your 32GB video to your laptop? No worries. Add it to your wireless drive in advance for safe keeping. Kingston’s Wi-Drive lets you store and share your content with your colleagues. It gives you up to 128GB of added storage for your mobile device and lets you share photos, videos, files and more with three or more users on their own mobile device. Access the Wi-Drive through any Internet browser or download one of the free Wi-Drive Apps to access and easily share the content. This pocket-sized device offers 4 hours of of continuous use and can handle a few drops, bumps and knocks.<br />
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<a href="http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/MobileProductivity/Home/Support/MP180/"><b>3M™ MP180 Pocket Projector</b></a> - $399.00<br />
With a 3M Mobile Projector, you can connect to virtually any digital device with digital output and share it with others. They’ve made it so easy to plug in and present. With Bluetooth technology‚ you can access‚ update and download files over the Internet. So you never again have to worry about having the right content for your presentation. Need a projector that supports Microsoft Office suite and Adobe files? They’ve got you covered. Need to connect to an Apple device? Consider it done. You will always be prepared when walking into that corporate office for a presentation.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-qZyUIx1ZSK9IbeWZlK1cAJgGLVjzzn21FTFn56wIhAophZvY54fOZXeWh-3iS7G1AoO0-NB10JwUBsPNwohA7p99bO_OyvPA9Bjp6pE47rVHfGgnzoGAu5aG-HStzr0ucUuKcVZoWM/s1600/projector.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-qZyUIx1ZSK9IbeWZlK1cAJgGLVjzzn21FTFn56wIhAophZvY54fOZXeWh-3iS7G1AoO0-NB10JwUBsPNwohA7p99bO_OyvPA9Bjp6pE47rVHfGgnzoGAu5aG-HStzr0ucUuKcVZoWM/s320/projector.jpg" width="275" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MP180 Pocket Projector</td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://www.planon.com/slimscan.php">SlimScan SS100</a></b> - Starts at $139.99<br />
This credit card sized scanner packs a punch. It allows you to scan all your receipts into monthly directories, then import to software to view, OCR (Optical Character Reader) into expense database, edit, create Excel report for the period, and also create a report containing Excel and all related expense images together to easily send by email. This device is perfect if you are a frequent traveler or always taking clients out to dinners. No matter where you are, you can bring this scanner with you and capture receipts and business contacts. The best part about this little scanner is it can hold up to 600 images. Remember to pack this device for your next week-long trip.<br />
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<b>About Tanya Salcido</b><br />
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Described as the “go-to girl in branding,” a self-professed social media addict and early adopter of technology, Tanya Salcido is skilled in the ways of digital branding, strategic online communications, online community-building, blogger/influencer outreach and formulating successful marketing action plans. As an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and with professional experience in social media dating back to 2008, Tanya is well-versed in helping companies and non-profits excel in their social and online presence.<br />
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While she’s savvy in serving the needs of a wide variety of clientele, Tanya has a particular passion and flair for digital marketing for the Latino market. Her work in this area includes event organizing with an online Latino social media organization, published pieces in <a href="http://www.hnmagazine.com/">Hispanic Network Magazine</a>, <a href="http://professionalwomanmag.com/">Professional Woman’s Multicultural Magazine</a> and co-founding <a href="http://latinageeks.com/">#</a><a href="http://latinageeks.com/">LatinaGeeks</a>, an online community that aims to empower and inspire Latin women by spreading knowledge of entrepreneurship, social media and technology.<br />
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Tanya loves exploring California’s wine regions, cooking, and watching 80’s movie classics like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Valley Girl. She is also an avid baseball fan, which once led to her scoring an Ultimate Fan grand prize from the Angels.<br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-75612161404465834002013-08-12T13:53:00.001-07:002013-08-12T13:55:22.502-07:00Where are all the Latino Startups? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We are excited to announce a special segment on Vista Hispano focused on shedding some light on the state of Latino entrepreneurship. Joining us is <a href="https://www.vizify.com/markchand">Mark Clayton Hand</a>, an MBA from Oxford University and a cofounder of the SBS Seed Fund, a student-run startup fund within Oxford's Saïd Business School. Mark brings a unique set of investment perspective to the table and is focused on helping to illuminate the dynamics around the current state of affairs that is the exciting state of Latino startups. A huge shout out to Mark for joining Vista Hispano.<br /><br /><b>Where are all the Latino startups? By Mark C. Hand</b><br /><br />The US Hispanic consumer market is <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/reports/2012/state-of-the-hispanic-consumer-the-hispanic-market-imperative.html">big</a>. <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21577397-how-american-firms-are-chasing-elusive-hispanic-dollar-lust-latino-lucre">Really big</a>. <a href="http://www.altamirano.org/hispanic-market/hispanic-market-opportunity/">$1.3-trillion-dollars-and-counting big</a>. Major corporations like Best Buy, Yahoo, and The Home Depot are paying attention and have piled in, attempting with varying degrees of success to capture a piece of this large and growing market.<br /><br />Over the course of the last six months, my colleagues and I have researched the Hispanic market with a specific hypothesis: Given its potential, surely there are dozens of startups launching clever, scalable businesses serving Hispanic consumers. As it turns out, we were (mostly) wrong.<br /><br />Over a series of posts on Vista Hispano, I’ll discuss three elements of the Latino startup ecosystem: What barriers are blocking the creation of a Latino startup market? What startups are already plowing through those barriers? Where do they find the capital they need to start their business?<br /><br />First, let’s clear up a bit of confusion about what we mean by Latino startups. When people say Latino startups, they mean one of two things: either startups operated by Latinos, or startups serving the Latino market. And when they say Latino startups, they mean either small companies with huge growth potential, or small businesses. The result is a conversation about four different types of companies, often all in the same conversation. <br /></div>
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The vast majority of businesses in the US fit into the bottom half of this matrix. Venture capitalists sometimes derisively refer to these small businesses as “lifestyle” businesses. But they are the blood pumping through the American economy, and Hispanics start such small businesses <a href="http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/business_ownership/cb10-145.html">at a faster clip</a> than non-Hispanics.<br /><br />These companies are very different than the high-growth entrepreneurs on the hunt for venture capital or private equity investment--the companies we're interested in here. Some of those companies, such as Marc Barros’ <a href="http://contour.com/">Contour</a>, are Latino-owned but not Latino market-focused. Others, like pre-paid phone provider MetroPCS, find success by reaching out directly to Latino customers; but they are not Latino-owned. A handful of companies, such as Alicia Morga’s previous company Consorte Media, are both Latino-owned and Latino-focused.<br /><br />Why do these distinctions matter? Because each type of business faces unique challenges, taps different sources of capital, hires a different type of employee, and demands a different set of skills. If we want to build a Latino startup ecosystem, driving resources to the entrepreneurs who create value and wealth in the Hispanic community, clarity of conversation is key.<br /><br />In our next post, we'll take a look at some of the challenges--both real and imagined--faced by Latino startups.<br /><br /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #444444;">--</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #444444;"><b>Mark Hand</b> (<a href="https://twitter.com/markchand" target="_blank">@markchand</a>) is an MBA from Oxford University and a cofounder of the SBS Seed Fund, a student-run startup fund within Oxford's Saïd Business School. He spent two years with Gray Ghost Ventures investing in early-stage companies in the US and India. Mark is currently researching startups and investors in the US Hispanic market.</span></i><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-28585503136446887972013-07-24T22:54:00.000-07:002013-07-24T23:08:38.849-07:00Understanding the Ebb and Flow of Biculturalism Can Help Elevate Your Latino Marketing Strategy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGh0dRNKaHnAJML6INyvB37XjWW-OxzoX9n9r_o1bdgqP3aggc2Wksw_9QlPSawdh0Se6B78OCU8iNWY7HnDDbejS7KdrFA0_YL_4fVNExiP4-wWqIHrSYAFym3AmQg55b29qGSITaxY/s1600/bicultural+flow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGh0dRNKaHnAJML6INyvB37XjWW-OxzoX9n9r_o1bdgqP3aggc2Wksw_9QlPSawdh0Se6B78OCU8iNWY7HnDDbejS7KdrFA0_YL_4fVNExiP4-wWqIHrSYAFym3AmQg55b29qGSITaxY/s640/bicultural+flow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/everknew/8005793205/" target="_blank">Image credit</a></i>.</td></tr>
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Successful excursions in marketing often arise as a result of an orchestrated collision of research, relevance, information, and creative genius. A winning campaign regardless of the medium, purpose, and audience works because of one simple truth.<br />
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It matters.<br />
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When an idea strikes a chord something tremendous happens. The right idea presented at the right time and place is like a key. It unlocks something magical. It's amazing what happens when you <b><a href="https://medium.com/you-at-the-desk-what-the-hell-are-you-doing-4/88ea034bfbcd" target="_blank">give the people what they want</a></b>.<br />
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That's the ultimate end game.<br />
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Ideas that matter.<br />
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For everyone involved in <b><a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/03/q-leading-author-on-hispanic-marketing.html#.UfC7PWRARrU" target="_blank">marketing to Latinos</a></b>, what matters is often a construct of culture.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html" target="_blank">Culture</a></b> refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.</blockquote>
To understand the ebb and flow of <b><a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/06/upscale-hispanics-immune-to-total.html#.UfC7BWRARrU" target="_blank">biculturalism</a></b> is to explore the arena of motive, values, and passion. The right Latino engagement strategy is one that speaks to the cultural nuances of an audience and drives relevance across technology, geography, and language.<br />
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Enter the dynamics of narrative and brand story.<br />
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An integrated marketing campaign has a chance to thrive when it speaks to the interests and ideals of an audience and has a chance to feed off one or even several big ideas.<br />
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Tools like strategic positioning statements and venn diagrams can help uncover both the rational and emotional factors of a product or service's existence helping marketers move closer to discovering the aha moment of truth that only the champions of branding are made of.<br />
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Uncover ideas and ideals that matter.<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-47343914201465584342013-07-16T13:44:00.001-07:002013-07-16T13:44:52.613-07:00Feria de Salud scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 17, 2013.<b>Food For Thought…</b><br />
Hispanics are more likely than the general population to develop diabetes. It is estimated that 2.5 million, or 10.4 percent of Hispanic and Latino Americans aged 20 and older have diabetes. Hispanics also are more likely to have undiagnosed diabetes than non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks. Nearly half of Hispanic children born in the year 2000 are likely to develop diabetes during their lives. Risk factors include: being overweight; having a parent, brother, or sister with diabetes; being older than age 45; having had diabetes when pregnant; and being Hispanic/Latino, Alaska Native, American Indian, African American, Asian American or Pacific Islander. [<b><a href="http://www.idph.state.il.us/idhp/idhp_HispanicRiskForDiabetes.htm" target="_blank">source</a></b>]<br />
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The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is preparing for its largest Latino event of the year Feria de Salud, scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 17, 2013. Every year in New York City the ADA holds this free health event for Latinos in St. Mary’s Park, Bronx, NY the average attendance is about 4,000 people. The goal of the Feria is to illustrate the importance of learning about preventing and managing diabetes and making healthy lifestyle choices. This is accomplished through fun and informative workshops and activities, which take place throughout the day. Feria de Salud has well over 4,000 participants; Volunteers are needed to make this event a success!<br />
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Join the conversation by following the <b><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23portufamilia&src=typd" target="_blank">#portufamilia</a></b> hashtag on Twitter.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sofritoforyoursoul.com/save-the-date-we-need-volunteers-for-la-feria-de-salud/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SFYS&utm_campaign=%23dailysofrito" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKfBOBntwOY7BDVSsR_jFkRttVTMhE6tXrYYTveIvp5TUNGVfyfjupS95pathg7-N8d0t_4v38MtjzPWsBqHrncGp6Uj0ELBBtdJBT-6VnyFU9dRWG_S1rPHYkKWIppnP7jVUxuzwHPw/s640/FeriadeSalud.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>
<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-74296398737201041912013-07-12T15:04:00.000-07:002013-07-12T15:04:01.904-07:00Verizon and J. Lo Team Up to Sell Smartphones to Latinos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoPPXUE2h2UBnHfktXKFBEQ8h04v5nIvfZOPQxNr8w8beqds58ESHhUL8JyAKHilcJectfFT0QS3j3cKAjp5b2d9xUFw4khuwkxwB0Yzrv28rBcfCmWjhYPhI4tCL7r7B2TBp_i_tfXM/s1600/Viva+Movil.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoPPXUE2h2UBnHfktXKFBEQ8h04v5nIvfZOPQxNr8w8beqds58ESHhUL8JyAKHilcJectfFT0QS3j3cKAjp5b2d9xUFw4khuwkxwB0Yzrv28rBcfCmWjhYPhI4tCL7r7B2TBp_i_tfXM/s640/Viva+Movil.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Will it work?<br />
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Verizon and Jennifer Lopez team up to open 15 Viva Movil retail locations in <b><a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2010/08/fresh-perspective-observing-digital.html#.UeB8dWRARrU" target="_blank">Hispanic</a></b> neighborhoods throughout the U.S. by the end of 2013. The mobile giant is placing a big bet on these niche shops by focusing on the elements of language, familiarity via crossover appeal, and custom shop design to <b><a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2013/03/q-leading-author-on-hispanic-marketing.html#.UeB8rmRARrU" target="_blank">market to Latinos</a></b>.<br />
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"Targeting Hispanic-American consumers was the result of Verizon recognizing the importance of phones among Hispanic-Americans, according to Jeetendr Sehdev, the branding expert hired to spearhead the Viva Movil launch. Hispanic-Americans use their phones more than the general population and are more celebrity-focused, Mr. Sehdev said, thus making Ms. Lopez a natural fit."</blockquote>
Read more on <a href="http://adage.com/article/digital/verizon-j-lo-sell-smartphones-hispanics/243076/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">How Verizon Is Using J.Lo, Kids' Playgounds to Sell Smartphones to Hispanics</a>.<br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-11121945664366220182013-06-18T13:35:00.000-07:002013-06-18T13:35:12.592-07:00Crowdismo Unveils Pioneering Platform Aimed at Launching Innovative Ideas Throughout the Latino Community <br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Crowdismo Powering Latino Genius Everywhere via Crowdfunding </b></div>
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Crowdismo Launches Pioneering Platform Aimed at Launching Innovative Ideas Throughout the Latino Community</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.crowdismo.com/project/heartful-giving-project" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZeNzbKzexdyCel3b7oO2LTJhFFcgtvTWWvkomgTyyKWcRv7x7su-OrOHn8gn9D9CAZYIGKtNW4zVU9d1QuqzqdwyPazsiEqP_pZd-tnU1St5T_Ub2Lp8omT48cVZKTlhaGZ8FEMJw2E/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-06-18+at+1.32.36+PM.png" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.crowdismo.com/project/heartful-giving-project" target="_blank"><i>The Heartful Giving Project, Crowdismo's first crowdfunding campaign.</i> </a></td></tr>
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<b>SANTA BARBARA, CA - June 18, 2013</b> - <b><a href="http://www.crowdismo.com/" target="_blank">Crowdismo</a></b>, an online crowdfunding platform, today announced the launch of a new online website aimed at helping the Latino community activate creative and innovative ideas. <br /><br />Maintaining an overall positive outlook on the economy and future of America, Latinos are champions of possibility and agents of change placing a priority on collective impact. Crowdfunding is a mechanism of activation allowing today’s tinkerers and inspired inventors an opportunity to launch fresh ideas of global relevance. <br /><br />Recent data outlines a Latino audience that starts businesses two to three times the rate of non- Latinos. However, access to capital and traditional barriers in the financing sector comprise a serious threat to creativity, invention, and entrepreneurship. Crowdismo hopes to change that by offering a unique bilingual and bicultural online destination. <br /><br />“It’s imperative that we foster a community of synergy and build both intellectual and financial capital driven by access to powerful economic resources that will enable continued momentum throughout the Latinosphere in the U.S.,” said Jose Huitron, Co-Founder of Crowdismo. “Crowdfunding levels the playing field in an arena where only 1% of VC money goes to African Americans and Latinos.” <br /><br />On the cusp of a unique opportunity to take idea investment and new venture priority to another level, Crowdismo is aimed at leading the charge in innovation funding, idea powering, and community impact. Crowdismo eliminates barriers to entry by providing a mechanism for collective financing via the collaborative web. <br /><br />Crowdismo is founded by two individuals with similarly identifying characteristics but diverse and dynamic talents. Together, Jose Huitron and Jose Guevarra comprise a powerful duo combining a robust technology skill-base and integrated marketing communications prowess. <br /><br />Crowdismo’s mission is to power bold ideas throughout the Latino community across the arenas of culture, education, social impact, entrepreneurship, music, design, technology, and creativity. <br /><br />Leading the pack of unique purpose-driven Crowdismo campaigns, is the <b><a href="https://www.crowdismo.com/project/heartful-giving-project" target="_blank">Heartful Giving Project</a></b>, a crowdfunding project aimed at supporting international folk art by providing a community arts center where local artisans can practice and teach their skills in Sua, Ecuador. <br /><br />“The Heartful Giving Project is an example of the type of creative and globally relevant projects that we hope to activate and serves as a landmark of hope and possibility.” said Jose Guevarra, Co-Founder of Crowdismo. <br /><br /><b>ABOUT CROWDISMO</b> <br />Crowdismo is a disruptive online platform aimed at powering creativity and innovation within the Latino community via modern collective financing known as crowdfunding. As a fresh destination for launching bold ideas, Crowdismo allows individuals to join a groundswell of people driven by inspired genius and help power projects in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, social impact, music, film, technology, and more. For more information, visit http://www.crowdismo.com<br /><br />Contact:<br /> Jose Huitron <div>
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-19009940744067486372013-06-12T09:30:00.000-07:002013-06-12T09:30:02.353-07:00Upscale Hispanics Immune to Total Market Strategies - Reach Hispanic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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An article featured in the Wall Street Journal highlights findings from a recent AHAA report, which positions <b><a href="http://ahaa.org/default.asp?contentID=27" target="_blank">upscale Latinos as an economic force to be reckoned with</a></b>. WSJ goes as far as calling upscale Hispanics the most “influential segment since the Baby Boomers.” While these findings come as no surprise to economists and ethnographers (and is still music to Hispanic marketers’ ears) upscale Hispanic media consumption could represent a challenge for marketers looking to target this group by way of a “total market approach”.<br />
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A total market approach to media buying means that by targeting the general population, there will be a certain amount of Hispanics targeted as a given. According to AHAA’s findings, upscale Hispanics’ cultural assimilation (as evidenced by their media consumption) isn’t a one way street, and thus could pose problems to marketers looking to reach this group as a side effect of reaching out to the general market.<br />
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In 2012, upscale Latinos (belonging to households that earn 50-100k annually) accounted for 29 percent (15 million) of the U.S. Hispanic population — a number that is expected to double by 2050. The WSJ states that “this viable and sophisticated market boasts 40 percent (or $4 out of every $10 Hispanic dollars spent) of Hispanic spending power, lives in a world of cultural duality, and provides lifetime value and upside opportunities for many high-end and luxury brands.” According to the article, this “cultural duality” fuels media consumption and purchasing trends, stating that “deeper pockets do not translate to increased assimilation.”<br />
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“Upscale Hispanics live in two cultures, with three-quarters speaking both English and Spanish. While they are slightly more English-dominant, their strong cultural duality and bicultural behavior is reflected in their media consumption.” For marketers that are keen to target upscale Hispanics, this distinct cultural reality poses an interesting challenge. According to the AHAA study “over one third of upscale Hispanics watch content in both languages (with English-language comedies, documentary-style programming and children’s weekly programming as the most watched) but switch to Spanish-language television for cultural events, concerts and sports.”<br />
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While there is no cut and dry method to <b><a href="http://reachhispanic.com/2013/05/23/hispanics-beyond-futbol-and-abuelitas/" target="_blank">engage Hispanics</a></b>, AHAA’s study does reiterate the value of courting upscale Hispanics and stresses the benefits of anthropological insights when attempting to do so. According to the study’s findings, the increasingly popular “total market approach” to target upscale Hispanics (which are defined by their cultural duality as expressed in their media consumption) is inadequate to say the least. As Hispanics continue their economic assimilation in the US, their cultural assimilation will be on their terms.<br />
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<i>Article by Sergio Guarin of <a href="http://reachhispanic.com/2013/06/05/upscale-hispanics-immune-to-total-market-strategies/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Reach Hispanic</a>.</i><br />
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<i><br /></i>José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-86159155020336940142013-06-03T11:04:00.000-07:002013-06-03T11:04:16.383-07:00How to Make It In the EdTech Startup Sector<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
"Don't pitch anything related to Education."</blockquote>
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It wasn't that long ago when I read an article about the art of startup pitching and exploding sectors. That was exactly the advice. Don't pitch anything related to education. Really? Anybody that's ever worked in the field of Academics understands that there is definitely room for innovation and fresh ideas. </div>
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EdTech is an arena where individuals have an opportunity to address some real pain points across classroom delivery, access to academic resources, learning management, global collaboration, and administrative procedures. For example, here's an idea: How about removing the classroom walls all together allowing students to focus on breakthrough results? It's already happening! Thanks in large part to growing technology and startup activity.</div>
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Following is some excellent advice from MBAOnline.com on how to make it in the edtech startup sector. </div>
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<a href="http://mbaonline.com/"><b>MBAOnline.com</b></a> is a leading online education resource. It is owned and privately funded by contributors and researchers who have volunteered their time to create this resource and other resources within the site. Its mission is to build a free web resource rich with highly relevant educational materials for those interested.</div>
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<u><b>How to Make It In the EdTech Startup Sector by MBAOnline.com</b></u></div>
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If you’re in business school, wondering which industry is ripe for innovation and rife with investment and consumer dollars, just take a look around and you’ll have your answer. Education, that bastion of methods, materials, and mediums from yesteryear, is finally being rebooted. The educational technology, or edtech, market could be looking down on the <b><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/07/12/what-the-next-multibillion-dollar-edtech-company-will-look-like/" target="_blank">trillion-dollar mark by 2015</a></b>, and now is the time to jump in with a new business idea.</div>
<br />Of course, every market has its own foibles and idiosyncrasies that can become roadblocks to the entrepreneur who is unprepared, and edtech is no different. More than a few pundits are already prognosticating a pop of the edtech bubble before too long. So before you join the fray with your own startup, check out where innovators are making their stands and what their advice is for joining their ranks for the long-term.<br /><br /><i>(Check out a second article in the How to Make It in the X Startup Sector on <b><a href="http://www.mbaonline.com/how-to-make-it-in-the-environmental-startup-industry/" target="_blank">environmental startups</a></b>.)</i><br /><br /><b>Hot Areas</b><br />Even people with the vaguest awareness of edtech developments have heard the names of the edtech companies offering digital alternatives to brick-and-mortar institutions, thanks to the funding they’ve obtained, the users they’ve attracted, or both. Cases in point: Udacity and its <b><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/25/software-eats-education-with-15-million-in-series-b-funding-andreessen-horowitz-bets-on-udacity/" target="_blank">$15 million in funding</a></b>, Coursera and its <b><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/20/coursera-adds-29-schools-90-courses-and-4-new-languages-to-its-online-learning-platform/" target="_blank">2.8 million users</a></b>, and the <b><a href="http://www.minervaproject.com/" target="_blank">Minerva Project</a></b> and its mission to create the <b><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/20/coursera-adds-29-schools-90-courses-and-4-new-languages-to-its-online-learning-platform/" target="_blank">world’s first Ivy League-caliber online school</a></b>, armed with $25 million in venture capital.<br /><br />A burgeoning area of the industry is the service market. Into this category would go learning management systems (LMS), classroom management systems, badge providers, online tutors, and much more. For years, Blackboard has been a dominant name in the LMS space, but since 2011, edtech startup <b><a href="http://www.instructure.com/" target="_blank">Instructure</a></b> has been cutting into its customer base, winning over 350 colleges and K-12 school districts and counting with its Canvas LMS, which Cisco picked to power the <b><a href="http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/netacad/WLC/index.html" target="_blank">World’s Largest Classroom</a></b>. Since 2007, lecture video capture company <b><a href="http://www.panopto.com/" target="_blank">Panopto</a></b> has grown from a research project at Carnegie Mellon University into a powerhouse service provider with 3.5 million users in 60 countries.<br /><br />Finally there’s the closely-related product market, all those gadgets, tools, software, games, and even <b><a href="http://edudemic.com/2012/04/will-your-students-soon-be-wearing-google-glasses/" target="_blank">eyewear</a></b> that will revolutionize the way kids and adults experience education. TechStars Boston graduate <b><a href="http://www.testive.com/" target="_blank">Testive</a></b> recently announced a $500,000 round of funding that will help put its adaptive testing products in front of thousands of students this year. Top Hat Monocle, the maker of a platform that turns students’ mobile devices into educational gear, recently brought its funding level to <b><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/01/18/ed-tech-startup-top-hat-monocle-takes-1-1m-in-follow-on-funding-from-felicis-ventures/" target="_blank">over $9 million</a></b>.<br /><br /><b>Know Your Audience</b><br />Every edtech startup founder and exec we talked to made one point abundantly clear: you have to know exactly who your customer is and what they want.<br /><br />Instructure co-founder Brian Whitmer told us, “A lot of traditional systems in education were built for the administrator, because if the school buys, that means you have the administrators who are going to make the decisions for purchases. But what we’ve discovered and what a lot of other people are starting to see is that what really matters is that end user experience. And if you can build something that can solves peoples’ problems and saves them time and helps them be more successful, then the administrators will love it even more than if it’s easy for (just) them to use.”<br /><br />Before they wrote a single line of code, Whitmer and his co-founder hit the road for a “product validation tour,” presenting PowerPoint mockups of what their platform might look like and asking educators at 17 institutions what their ideal LMS looked like. By the end of the tour, they felt confident enough that Blackboard could be unseated from its throne. “We didn’t pretend to know all the right answers,” he said. “We had to work with those guys to make a good solution.”<br /><br />Miro Kazakoff took a similar approach to Whitmer. The Testive CEO and his cofounder Tom Rose took the MIT break known as “January term” to interview 40 people in two weeks. Based on those interviews, Kazakoff says, “we came up with this idea that there’s a lot of technology out there that can help people learn faster and more effectively, that isn’t being commercialized and isn’t being deployed effectively.”<br /><br />Simeon Schnapper is the CEO and cofounder of classroom management platform <b><a href="http://home.youtopia.com/" target="_blank">Youtopia</a></b>. The software uses gamification through badges, points, and “level-ups” to encourage students to engage in their communities. He said it is crucial to his company to always be aware of its audience. “We might not introduce leaderboards and harsh competition with incredibly introverted, developmentally-disabled second-graders, but it might be great in college for hardcore MBAs.”<br /><br /><b>Go Bottom-Up</b><br />The factors that have kept education behind the times for so long — bureaucracy, miles of red tape, strained budgets — are the very things that make edtech difficult to get into. The “top-down” approach of targeting principals, school boards, and superintendents is a sensible if time-consuming way of getting your product into classrooms. But several entrepreneurs told us using a more grassroots style can be a powerful method of attack.<br /><br />Jeet Banerjee said his company, <b><a href="http://statfuse.com/" target="_blank">StatFuse</a></b>, has had its hands full figuring out how to get its Web application that helps high school seniors calculate their odds of getting into specific colleges and find information on schools in front of the target audience. One tack they’ve settled on is pitching the product to high school guidance counselors and banking on them to get on board and endorse the program to the principal. The other group they’re focusing on is parents of high school seniors, making their presence known at college nights and workshops.<br /><br />Although Youtopia employs a top-down approach also, Schnapper said his company uses its free version to market to teachers directly. “Two or three teachers start to use it, they see the power of it, and it becomes very easy to then go to the principal or the superintendent because then they have data and they see the results,” he said. “And with their teachers telling them how great it is, it becomes easier to break in.”<br /><br /><b>Work the Network</b><br />Although several of them found partners and even investors without having to leave their own campuses, the edtech entrepreneurs emphasized the importance of not simply putting the product out there and hoping someone likes it, but actively building a base of contacts. As Schnapper put it, “I wish it was just sitting back and writing code and watching the money roll in, but there’s still a lot of human networking.”<br /><br />Kazakoff took Testive to the Boston branch of the incubatorTechStars, a move he called “life-changing and course-altering.” “The chance to have three months with access to and feedback from lots of different people who built lots of different kinds of businesses really forced us to think deeply about the assumptions that we had,” he said. “We (built on) the ones we really felt were correct and threw out some of the ones that we weren’t sure about and made a much stronger business.” He added that not only did they meet most of their investors through the accelerator, just being a TechStars graduate gave the company a kind of “seal of approval” that greased the tracks for attractive additional investors.<br /><br />Schnapper said he and the other executives of Youtopia are constantly going to tech conferences, like the <b><a href="http://dmlcentral.net/events/5047" target="_blank">Digital Media Learning</a></b> conference in Chicago and the <b><a href="http://hackeducation.com/2012/03/19/beyond-the-textbook/" target="_blank">“Beyond the Textbook” forum</a></b> hosted by Discover HQ. Having just returned from South by Southwest in Austin, Schnapper mentioned how ironic it was that he’d had to go to Texas to get in front of venture capitalists from Chicago, where he lives, but that until Youtopia becomes more well-known, such appearances are vital. He also said Meetup.com has been great for networking with other entrepreneurs.<br /><br /><b>Set Them Free</b><br />Because the edtech market is already becoming so crowded, and because it involves competing for the limited time and money students and parents have, making your product or service free (at least temporarily) is one of the tricks of the trade seemingly no edtech company can stand to forego.<br /><br />Whitmer said he’d witnessed other startup founders try to charge teachers directly, only to find that the approach was not sustainable. To him, building a customer base via a freemium model presents a much better option. “Then (entrepreneurs can) go to the district or the institution and say, ‘Look, your guys are using this. If you pay for it you get these additional features and functionalities.’ That makes a lot more sense to me in the education space; teachers are already so strapped for cash.”<br /><br />Schnapper said he also had not seen a single edtech company not employing a freemium model, because it’s a way to test the product and market it and prove to investors that you have something of value. Other ways companies use freemium is to simply “get traction in sheer numbers” and find advertising revenue, sponsorship opportunities or affiliates, or other revenue streams.<br /><br /><b>Catch the Fever</b><div>
The one thing all startup founders have in common is a passion for their product and their market, and this is perhaps even truer in the edtech world. All our founders expressed how they came into the industry with a commitment to changing education for the better, and the belief that they could do so.<br /><br />Schnapper said, “Find that niche that really makes you happy and you’re really passionate about, because whether it’s cognitive assessment or testing or anything under the sun in education, it’s an industry that’s changing and being disrupted very quickly. And if you want to get into it, find the thing that you love because there’s just no lack of areas that are going to be innovated overnight like in the world of education.”<br /></div>
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As it is one of the older companies we spoke with, Panopto had to power through the economic downturn. Bixhorn told us that during the recession, the company required all of its employees to take a pay cut while “working around the clock” to build up the product and pump up its sales. “The engineers were living off what they call the ‘college student diet’ of Ramen noodles,” he said.<br /><br />Both Banerjee’s and Panopto cofounder Eric Burns’ journeys into edtech began from within academia. StatFuse was the result of Banerjee and cofounder Supan Shah’s debate in gym class one day over Shah’s chances of getting into certain colleges. When they couldn’t find a program to give them the odds, they decided to make one themselves. Burns was approached by one of his professors at Carnegie Mellon University to create a platform for recording lectures for a disabled student to watch at home or in the hospital.<br /><br /><b>Closing Remarks</b></div>
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Instead of taking the words out of their mouths, we’ll leave you with some pearls of wisdom straight from the professionals.<br /><br />Bixhorn: “Start off with a rock-solid architecture. There’s often a tendency with startup companies to want to build as many new features into their product as quickly as possible, and sometimes that comes at the cost of having a solid foundation that will allow them to scale up their product over time.”<br /><br />Kazakoff: “I think the big mistake that I see a lot of edtech entrepreneurs make is not thinking about how they’re going to get their product into the hands of their user. And the best software that isn’t used by users has very little chance of succeeding. I would push almost all edtech entrepreneurs to think a lot about how they are going to get people using their software.”<br /><br />Banerjee: “Being young was a challenge in the beginning, but now I’ve gotten accustomed to it and it’s gone from being a liability to a great asset.”<br /><br />Whitmer: “We’ve gone from 0 to 350 schools in basically two years because we found a pent-up need and we addressed it. And there are plenty more opportunities out there for disruption and innovation. There are so many I wish I had time to go address.”<br /><br />Even with such a hot market, tech startups fail at a rate as high as 90%. Some are killed by a lack of innovation, some by moving too slow or too fast, and some by plain old bad luck. But by following the advice of those who are making it to know your customer inside and out, to get the product in front of them, and to be passionate about helping them, you will be well on your way to edtech success.</div>
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<i>(Article by <a href="http://www.mbaonline.com/how-to-make-it-in-the-ed-tech-startup-sector/">MBAOnline.com</a>. Image <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johanl/6966883093/">credit</a>.)</i></div>
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-62514987947460460522013-05-18T21:41:00.000-07:002013-05-18T21:41:26.330-07:00URBAN TxT’s Secret Sauce Turns Teens Into Tech Entrepreneurs<br />
“I guess we’re used to a teacher coming in and telling us what to do. When it was just us, nobody really knew what to do.” This answer resonated with everyone of the 31 teens accepted into URBAN Teens eXploring Technology (<b><a href="http://www.urbantxt.com/" target="_blank">URBAN TxT</a></b>) summer program, also known as the Summer Hackaneer Academy. The new participant was explaining why some teens stepped up to the plate and others did not during a teambuilding activity that happened earlier in the day.<br />
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Creating an environment that allows young adults to explore their talents, insecurities, attitude towards leadership, reflect on daily achievements and failures, and openly discuss these amongst the entire team takes a lot of work. Interestingly enough, South Los Angeles’ URBAN TxT has that environment. More importantly, the organization is using computer programming to develop the best and brightest minds in the inner city into technology entrepreneurs.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL7iMX2nYlX9Jt2rpzCMxfJaSOnclZ9GVkoxELO6cw24Iio84gQNhVrxRakP7a3dwjDXpWLqeGZkqseiHziN8mPkSQMsrUKCQ1z3TYsb3Lhns7_io0k-fKEgzRRzfB0g837PmhjqBZkgw/s1600/Founder,+Oscar+Menjivar,+and+Bagel,+URBAN+TxT+mascot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL7iMX2nYlX9Jt2rpzCMxfJaSOnclZ9GVkoxELO6cw24Iio84gQNhVrxRakP7a3dwjDXpWLqeGZkqseiHziN8mPkSQMsrUKCQ1z3TYsb3Lhns7_io0k-fKEgzRRzfB0g837PmhjqBZkgw/s320/Founder,+Oscar+Menjivar,+and+Bagel,+URBAN+TxT+mascot.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Founder, Oscar Menjivar, and Bagel, URBAN TxT mascot.</b></td></tr>
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This unique environment comes out of a curriculum based on peer-to-peer and projectbased learning. Oscar Menjivar, co-founder of URBAN TxT, has been perfecting the curriculum for more than a decade. The program’s secret sauce needs many ingredients. The ability to teach technology concept without technology is key. For the first few weeks it’s all about team and leadership building. On the first day of the 2013 Hackaneer Academy the teens were given a problem. It was up to them to find the solution. The only rule was no verbal communication. Along the way students learned about communication, trial and error, troubleshooting, the frustration that small errors bring about and the satisfaction a coder gets after finishing a perfectly crafted project.<br />
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As students and staff get to know each other, basics of computer programming are incorporated into the activities that make URBAN TxT the only South LA technology organization that does leadership development. URBAN TxT’s secret sauce also needs personal investment from every member of the leadership team. None of the directors, coaches or volunteers are in it for a paycheck. They put in their time, creativity and commitment because they believe in the organization and, more importantly, the teens that are in it. This “students first” mentality helps the leadership team overcome obstacles, grow their own leadership and technological skills and push the boundaries of creativity.<br />
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Now, don’t think you know all there is to URBAN TxT, though. After all, the secret sauce remains secret for a reason. If you get to know the organization enough you might learn a little about the other ingredients, like a talking duck, furry hat, foam ninja or the pup named Bagel.<br />
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<i>Blog written by Juan Vasquez, Communications Coach for URBAN Teens eXploring Technology. URBAN TxT is a nonprofit organization that encourages inner city teen males to become catalysts of change in urban communities. The organization develops teens from South LA and Watts into a new generation of leaders through technology. To learn more about URBAN TxT visit <b><a href="http://www.urbantxt.com/">www.urbantxt.com</a></b>. Follow Juan on Twitter at <b><a href="https://twitter.com/juansvas" target="_blank">@JuanSVas</a></b> and URBAN TxT at <b><a href="https://twitter.com/URBANTxT" target="_blank">@URBANTxT</a></b>.</i><br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-12598487922514883892013-04-29T23:51:00.001-07:002013-04-30T07:37:33.027-07:00Meet Cíbola: South Side Chicago's Innovation Center Fueling Diversity in Tech InnovationFresh off 54 hours of startup ideation via <a href="http://twitter.com/swsantamaria" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Startup Weekend Santa Maria</a>, the excitement and energy still remains. Questions arise as to how we can keep the momentum going in the area of moving viable ideas forward. Enter Cíbola, a prime example of a focused collective effort aimed at helping drive the number of everyday innovators. The Rainforest by Victor W. Hwang and Greg Horowitt identifies several important aspects of the 'Innovation Funnel' including:<br />
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<li>Ideas</li>
<li>People</li>
<li>Entrepreneurs</li>
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<li>Coordinating Infrastructure</li>
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Cíbola, founded by <span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Mahrinah von Schlegel and </span>Emile Cambry, Jr., is an interesting example of coordinating infrastructure focused on launching new ideas and lasting companies of all kinds in South Side Chicago.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.buildcibola.com/" target="_blank">Cíbola</a></b> is a hub for startups innovation, collaboration and creativity in Pilsen. Our mission is to help Chicagoans become everyday innovators, solve complex challenges, promote diversity and create a community of support for all of us to build our dreams. Cíbola is dedicated to building companies of all kinds, with a focus on tech entrepreneurship, social enterprise, and growing both Pilsen and Chicago's entrepreneur communities.</div>
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<b>About Pilsen</b><br />
Just three miles from downtown, Pilsen has been a port-of-entry community for more than 130 years. The eastern section of Pilsen has attracted been home to artists and galleries for more than 20 years. This arts district, along with the expansion of the nearby University of Illinois at Chicago and is less than five minutes from the Illinois Institute of Technology and Depaul University’s downtown campus.<br />
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<b>Why Now?</b><br />
The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) reports that less than one percent of venture capital dollars invested annually has been directed to the country’s 5.8 million minority business owners, who represent 29 percent of all businesses in America. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of minority-owned firms increased 46 percent, compared to 18 percent for all U.S. firms. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2002 and 2007, the number of people employed at minority-owned businesses jumped 27 percent, while job growth for non-minority-owned firms increased less than one percent. The MBDA asserts that closing the funding gap between minority-and non-minority-owned startups, based on the share of the adult minority population, would add $2.5 trillion to the economic output of the U.S. and create 11.8 million new jobs.<br />
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Cíbola, a coworking space, aims to create an intimate, engaging environment for entrepreneurs to learn actual lessons from actual experiences. It’s hard to do that with 3,000 people spread out in a giant auditorium at a keynote full of theory and fluff. What we need is an environment of accelerated and directed effort towards product and idea development.<br />
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Starting in the mid to late 2000s, hackathons became significantly more widespread, and began to be increasingly viewed by companies and venture capitalists as a way to quickly develop new software technologies, and to locate new areas for innovation and funding. Some major companies were born from these hackathons, such as GroupMe, which began as a project at a hackathon at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2010 conference; in 2011 it was acquired by Skype for $85 million. The software PhoneGap began as a project at the iPhoneDevCamp (later renamed iOSDevCamp) in 2008; the company whose engineers developed PhoneGap, Nitobi, refocused itself around PhoneGap, and Nitobi was bought by Adobe in 2011 for an undisclosed amount.<br />
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We need more spaces like Cíbola and <b><a href="http://www.vistahispano.com/2012/10/the-coming-storm-of-latino-startups-has.html#.UX9mvytASPI" target="_blank">innovators</a></b> to help set the tone for ongoing ideation and exciting entrepreneurship.<br />
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Learn more by supporting Cíbola on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/buildCibola">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/buildCibola">Twitter</a>.<br />
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<br />José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-75391053169021489022013-04-24T23:47:00.001-07:002013-04-24T23:47:43.648-07:00NORTEC Collective and Interesante.com Composing New Technology Tune.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju7uT28wsrt48Z4_hpEaL2rN6-ZJ0WRlFcopcd_eiHes5T8Mm7waWC1epOJw5FVEPUqoIFB8qLXQv3oIvq5OMHPZfiw-Mx33DRCrL_NIZ9SA8lZYsB5k0lBP0APT5K2oWVVQK6z66YmM0/s1600/Interesante.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju7uT28wsrt48Z4_hpEaL2rN6-ZJ0WRlFcopcd_eiHes5T8Mm7waWC1epOJw5FVEPUqoIFB8qLXQv3oIvq5OMHPZfiw-Mx33DRCrL_NIZ9SA8lZYsB5k0lBP0APT5K2oWVVQK6z66YmM0/s640/Interesante.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>NORTEC collective and Interesante.com composing new technology tune.</b><br />
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Mexico is experiencing an economic renaissance. The country's explosive growth has fueled a new wave of technology startups that are betting on the Mexican market. <b><a href="http://interesante.com/">Interesante.com</a></b> is one that has been able to fuse culture and technology into a service that allows users to publish, share and discover millions of interests in Spanish and English.<br />
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Interesante users are a highly mobile crowd. To support this, we are regularly releasing improved versions of <b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/interesante/id559035946?mt=8" target="_blank">Interesante for iPhone</a></b> and Interesante for mobile web. Our users can explore different categories, create collections and get recommendations.<br />
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Colors, sounds, location, content and type, play a crucial role in the recommendations we serve users and our highly sophisticated algorithms are making this happen. The algorithms work diligently in the background and simplify the user’s actions. We show our users the best content as fast as we possibly can.<br />
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<b>Discovering new musical tastes through video</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.interesante.com/adventures/nortec" target="_blank">NORTEC Collective</a></b>, a collective of avant-garde artists in electronic music lead by Ramón Amezcua (<b><a href="http://www.interesante.com/bostich" target="_blank">Bostich</a></b>) and Pepe Mogt (Fussible) and twice Grammy nominated artists, are now part of the group of advisors to Interesante. NORTEC collective provides the artistic point of view and opens the doors for up and coming artists to be a crucial part of the discovery engines of the future, where the crowd discovers the hidden gems in platforms like Interesante. Video is key in the discovery of new artists and music and we are committed to taking video discovery to a new level. Interesante has integrated YouTube’s API, enabling video content recommendations<br />
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NORTEC and Interesante are working to understand the needs of musicians and solve the problem of how to be discovered among a sea of noise. Interesante wants to let artists and musicians find their core audience and increase the initial engagement by bringing their music directly to them.<br />
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Interesante, Inc.<br />
Menlo Park, CA<br />
(650)-799-1592<br />
prensa@interesante.com<br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-79554355421014296362013-04-08T13:25:00.000-07:002013-04-08T13:27:56.799-07:00Sabio.la Hosting Developer Bootcamps for Women and Minorities<br />
How can we encourage more diversity in the arenas of entrepreneurship and technology? It begins with a sense of identity and community where each of us play an important role in recognizing that talent and possibility know no boundaries. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas and we must take advantage of opportunities to turn our passions into rewarding careers. Advocates of Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) and proponents of technology and innovation in the startup arena are charged with the task of providing pathways for increased diversity in tech. As we speak organizations like <b><a href="http://www.marchforinnovation.com/" target="_blank">March for Innovation</a></b> are pushing for smart immigration reform to attract and keep the best and brightest to fuel innovation and American jobs. This is a great step forward. However, we must recognize that women and people of color are continually faced with unique challenges in the tech space. At least, that was the featured topic of a recent Diversity in Tech Panel at the LAUNCH Festival in San Francisco. Below is the video of a pioneering discussion on increasing diversity in the technology space.<br />
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Open discussion is a catalyst for idea generation, societal reflection, and community development. Collaboration and synergies among women and people of color is a token for advancement, innovation, increased creativity, and awesome ideas.<br />
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Several Latinos and Latinas come to mind who are doing some great work in encouraging open collaboration and opportunities for all in the startup and technology arena. Pioneering communities like <a href="http://www.ellas2.org/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Ellas 2.0</a>, a unique content platform where female founders, investors and innovators share their startup stories, tips and tricks and guidance, is a prime example of progress and fundamental fairness.<br />
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"If the U.S. wants to maintain its current economic standard of living it's got to figure out how to use all of the talent available..." - Freada Kapor Klein, Ph.D.<br />
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Our goal at Vista Hispano is to highlight those who are addressing these issues and championing possibility and diversity in the entrepreneurial and startup environment. Sabio.la is a perfect example of what can be when individuals come together to promote diversity in tech and create new pathways for sustainability.<br />
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<b><a href="http://sabio.la/" target="_blank">Sabio</a></b> was born out of necessity, desire and hope. The necessity to bring more women and minorities into the world of programming through developer bootcamps. A desire to see a superior and more diverse workforce. And a hope to uplift the communities that suffer from the highest rates of unemployment and worst educational resources.<br />
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Developer bootcamps are basically accelerated learning programs where you take someone with little to no programming experience and in a short period of time (3-6 months) make them employable as an entry level programmer.<br />
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Perhaps, one of the most exciting aspects of a career in technology is that we have the ability to create our own success and (in the case of a startup) be part of a unique team environment and overall industry that is charting the future of America's place in the global arena.</div>
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Kudos to the team at Sabio who are beginning a journey in real possibility and positive outcomes for women and minorities. Interested in supporting Sabio? Check out their profile <b><a href="http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/Sabio" target="_blank">here</a> </b>or visit <b><a href="http://sabio.la/site/home">http://sabio.la/site/home</a></b>.</div>
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160623023894150908.post-35731087069571052842013-03-22T14:46:00.000-07:002013-03-22T21:54:05.129-07:00Latinos in Social Media to Partner with LEAD to Connect Summit Participants via Social Media<br />
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.-The Latino Education and Advocacy Days project has named Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) as its ambassador for this year's <a href="http://leadsummit.csusb.edu/" target="_blank"><b>LEAD summit</b></a>. The day-long summit will take place at Cal State San Bernardino, on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, from 8:00 a.m - 5:30 p.m. at the Santos Manuel Student Union. <b><a href="http://latism.org/" target="_blank">LATISM</a></b> and LEAD's social media team will solicit and train interns from CSUSB, University of La Verne, and East Los Angeles College to assist with twitter, facebook, and instagram traffic the day of the summit. Participants are encouraged to use the hashtags #LEAD2013 and #LATISM_LA when participating via social media.<br />
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<b><a href="https://twitter.com/JesSofiaValle" target="_blank">Jessica Valle</a></b>, the director for <b><a href="https://twitter.com/Latism_LA" target="_blank">LATISM Los Angeles</a></b> will collaborate with Jose Rivera, adjunct faculty at CSUSB's Communication Studies department, in the selecting and training of interns. Student participants will learn the principles of social media engagement and put said principles to use during the summit.<br />
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"LATISM Los Angeles is very happy to partner with LEAD in helping develop young professionals and help educate in the realm of technology and social media," said Ms. Valle.<br />
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Interns serve on the Social Media Team as "Ambassadors" to enhance, brand, and expand external online communications, and build an engaged and vibrant member community around Latino Education. The interns actively represent the team on social networking sites such twitter, facebook, and instagram...<br />
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Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) is a 501(c) 4 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing the social, civic and economic status of the Latino community. LATISM has been hailed as the most influential online movement in the new multicultural Web. For more information about LATISM Los Angeles contact Jessica Valle at valle.jessica@gmail.com<br />
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The LEAD Summit's purpose is to promote awareness of the crisis in Latino Education and to enhance the intellectual, cultural and personal development of our community's educators, administrators, leaders, parents and students. Online registration for the free Summit is now open at the LEAD website at <a href="http://leadsummit.csusb.edu/">http://leadsummit.csusb.edu/</a><br />
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José Huitronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081718210505469313noreply@blogger.com