Crowdismo: Fueling Innovation and Creativity in the Latino Community through Crowdfunding

If the U.S. Hispanic market were a nation, it would boast one of the largest economies in the world with spending power of $1.2 trillion. The realities of today's Hispanic market are that of opportunity, motivation, aspiration, altruism, and hustle. The power and influence of the U.S. Latino collective is undeniable. Many awesome individuals and organizations from the West Coast to the East Coast are launching new ideas, connecting communities, and genuinely shaking the status quo. How can we build upon this momentum and continue to fuel innovative ideas and new opportunities throughout the U.S. Latino market? Enter Crowdismo. (Disclaimer: I'm a co-founder of Crowdismo and believer in bold possibility.)

Crowdismo is a disruptive platform aimed at powering creativity and innovation within the Latino community through crowdfunding. A digital destination and site for individuals to join a groundswell of people driven by inspired genius and help power the prolific. Our goal is to eliminate barriers to entry for gente with bold ideas. By tapping into the power of the crowd, Crowdismo connects you to awesome possibilities in the form of funding.

How it works:

1. Pitch your project to an online community of early adopters and believers.
2. Incentivize backers to pledge to your project with unique rewards.
3. Hit project’s funding goal and get one step closer to activating the incredible.

Age Factor
Overall, those between the ages of 25 and 34 are most likely to make investment decisions via crowdfunding platforms. The median age of Latinos is 27.6 making them the youngest demographic in the U.S. and perfectly aligned to adopt crowdfunding as a means of powering projects across a wide array of arenas including: Education, Technology, Social Impact, and Entrepreneurship to name a few.

Explosive Growth
"...the unassailable fact is that Latino-owned businesses in the United States are growing at a blistering pace." Latinos are three-times more likely to start businesses than the general population. Nielsen's State of the Hispanic Consumer report offers additional insights into the reach and growth of Latinos in America.

Philanthropic
Looking at Experian Simmons data, we know 47% of U.S. Hispanics donated to a charity or philanthropic organization in the last 12 months (Experian Simmons, Fall 2011 NHCS Adult Survey).

According to a recent post in Forbes online, "Sixty-nine percent of Hispanic respondents ranked “help people who are in need” as No. 5 on their list of aspirations compared to only 27% of non-Hispanics, who ranked this at No. 14. They want to make a difference, and if you can facilitate that, you can endear your brand to these consumers."

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. Crowdfunding levels the playing field in an arena where only 1% of VC money goes to African Americans and Latinos.

We're on the cusp of a unique opportunity to take investment and new venture priority to another level and Crowdismo is targeted at leading the charge in innovation funding, idea powering, and community impact.

Crowdismo coming soon 2013! Sign up for early access. Or join Crowdismo on Facebook.

Did We Miss the Biggest Disruption Facing Today's Hispanic Marketing Agencies

According to Wikipedia, disruption can be defined as "an event which causes an unplanned, negative deviation from the expected delivery... according to the organization’s objectives." Disruption is a shift from the norm and a journey in exploration where the destination is often comprised of increased creativity, efficiency, and profitable growth.

There are many disruptions taking shape all around us from crowdfunding to open education and 3D printing. These trends and new technologies are making a pretty big splash. The Hispanic marketing arena faces its own pivots of innovation where questions arise as to who should handle the navigation. The debate surrounding general-market vs niche Hispanic shops is just one example. And now another chapter is unfolding as the result of a recent event in which Univision announced the launch of their own agency.

"Univision Communications, the leading media company serving Hispanic America, today announced the formation of the Univision Agency. Overseeing a media inventory of more than $500 million across all of Univision’s broadcast, cable and radio properties, the Univision Agency will be responsible for all cross-channel promotions as well as research and creative services for clients and internal divisions."

What does this mean for existing Hispanic marketing agencies? José Villa, principal at Sensis, wrote an excellent blog post providing some insight into just how this announcement might impact the industry. There's no denying that this announcement has some pretty big ramifications for those involved with Univision but the real disruption lies in recognizing what just took place. A media company just became an agency or rather added an agency element to its repertoire of an already stout position as a leader in Hispanic engagement.

The time for agencies to disrupt themselves is now. How can we compete with the likes of these huge media holding companies? The answer lies in our ability and willingness to transform into a nimble, responsive, innovative, and forward-thinking enterprise where the words crowdsourcing, lean canvas, and trailblazer to name a few actually become second nature. Es posible.

Latino Startups to Watch in 2013

"Create a prototype and get it to market as soon as you can. Ignore the naysayers. Revise fast." - Guy Kawasaki, Author of The Art of the Start.

Perhaps it's this kind of a mindset that has led to a rising surge in entrepreneurship activity among Latinos. Hispanic entrepreneurs opened twice as many businesses as the national average in the 2000s, according to U.S. Census data. What's even more exciting is a trend where Latin American-born entrepreneurs, a previously invisible cohort, are beginning to make their presence known in Silicon Valley. Bet you didn't know that the co-founder of Instagram, Mike Krieger, is Brazilian. But where is the rest of the startup collective and what problems are they trying to solve?

To no surprise, Latino startups are rising in number and influence. Part of this explosive growth is fueled by Latinas who are vital to startup success. In fact, there are numerous success stories of Latinas who are making some big strides in entrepreneurship activity and blurring the lines of gender difference building huge momentum. And we love it.

Following are a few Latino(a) startups of note that we feel are sure to continue the upward trend in entrepreneurship activity in 2013 and fuel real impact across a multitude of industry verticals.

Parranda.org

A new online/offline community opened its virtual doors this morning with an invitation to all Puerto Ricans to help remap "The Greater Puerto Rico." Parranda.org -- which takes its name from the popular Puerto Rican Winter holiday pastime -- aims to "remap, remake, and remobilize the Greater Puerto Rico" through a series of coordinated efforts involving both people on the island and people in the Puerto Rican diaspora (i.e., people who have moved to the mainland US and other countries). The first focus for Parranda.org is a global project where the community will draw an interactive map of where Puerto Ricans live today. A first look at this map will be published in January.

Dubalu

Dubalu (Pronounced DOO-bah-loo) is the world’s first Social Network Marketing Site—a unique, exciting and valuable new concept in networking that combines the most popular features and benefits of the Internet’s top-ranked social and marketing destinations in one. What's interesting about this site is the fact that they've amassed a huge social media following in a matter of months. It will be exciting to see if Dubalu can capitalize on a subscription based model fueled by the power of social media.

StudentMentor.org

An innovative national mentoring program based on a pioneering technology platform where college students can conveniently find and collaborate with mentors from diverse industries and professions to achieve their academic and career goals. StudentMentor.org has amassed an audience of students from 1,000+ colleges and counting including a network professionals from all industries contributing 40,000+ years of experience is part of the reason the site has been able to partner with none other than the White House.


Latino Startup Alliance

Based out of San Francisco, the Latino Startup Alliance is leading the charge in new ideas. The mission of the LSA is to encourage the inspiration and cultivation of Latino led technology startup ventures by providing a strong support network of fellow Latino entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and business owners. A hub of startup activity and leadership sure to thrive in 2013 and increase the amount of Latino led technology innovation not only in Silicon Valley but across the United States.

The breadth of Latino startup activity is fuel for the visionary and a symbol of opportunity. If you have an idea, forget about fear and move fast because the crowd is waiting, watching, and looking for opportunities to fuel innovation and power genius throughout the U.S. Here's to continued momentum and positive iteration in 2013!