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Where are the Latinos in Tech Start-ups?

AnaRC - Latism Founder February 1, 2011 4
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Most of you have heard the beginnings of LATISM.  It pretty much started with one tweet: “Where are the Latinos in Social Media” – a famous tweet that received over 300 replies.  The same day I created the Facebook group (btw, we we are trying to move to a fan page so please like it), the LinkedIn group and the blog.  It was almost like a cry for help together with the joy of all the answers who gathered around the #Latism hashtag on twitter with a “finally home” feeling.  That question wasn’t my own initiative, instead it came as a reaction to a client who boldly told me “There are no Latinos in Social Media” – well, the rest is history.  #LATISM is on the top permanent hashtags that gets an average of 4 million impressions a day.  Yes, any given day.

The other day, I was having dinner with a good friend who happens to be a V.C. and I heard him say the same provoking statement.  “There are no Latinos in Tech start-ups”  – They’re all marketers.  Hello? I guess it’s time for another big call:  “Are there any Latino(a)s starting up a tech venture?” Who are you? Do you know each other? Can we help one another? Can your community give you a hand? Can you make us proud by listing yourself and the ones you know on this post’s comment? Can you list yourself on our new casita as Developer?

The cruel reality is that according to the Venture Capital Human Report, Latinos don’t exist in the Tech Valleys of this country.

African Americans make only 1% of the tech founders population.  And Latinos are so under-represented that the report squeezed us together with the “Mixed” category.

Can this be true? Is this another misperception like the one I kept hearing less than 2 years ago about Latinos not being in Social Media?  This report is pretty disturbing and we must do something about it.  If it’s simply a lack of information, then let’s begin the Tech Start-Up Parade and list every Latino tech founder you know out there.  Instead if it is true, we must dig deeper into the reasons why this is happening. I would love to hear your opinion in the comments.  Don’t be shy and speak up mi gente.

Here is the entire report:
Venture Capital Human Capital Report (Part 1) –

African Americans make only 1% of the tech founders population.  And Latinos are so under-represented that the report squeezed us together with the “Other” or “Mixed” categories.
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POSTED IN » LATISM, Technology - Tecnología
About the author: AnaRC - Latism Founder View all posts by
Social Entrepreneur, Developer, CEO of Premier Transmedia, LATISM Founder, Plaza Familia Publisher, Serial Entrepreneur, Proud Latina, Mother and Wife

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  • Su cipto
  • http://twitter.com/dannycme Daniel Castro

     I agree with @mposada:disqus  Angel would be a great start. In my case (Founder of Kuento.com) I’ve had a hard time finding the connection to get visibility within the professional Latino community in a serious fashion. Of course, we are still a baby startup but this article confirms my point. Ironically, one of the goals for Kuento is to create a platform for a digital panamerica :) .

    btw -  @AnaRC:disqus  FYI, the link to “new casita” is broken.

    Keep up the great work! Actively supporting #LATISM in any way we can.

  • http://twitter.com/minsd Marce Gutiérrez

    I’m happy to report that as I type this, Mexican VC’s first class demo day is winding down in SF. Expect more info to come soon, but there is definitely hope yet!

  • Ed

    As Hispanic, I’m starting to familiarize myself on this issue but it’s still very unclear what’s the problem statement. On the surface it slightly looks like a discriminating issue but I guess I’m missing something:

    *Are we saying that there are not enough Hispanic/Latino startup tech-firms receiving funds??

    *Are we saying that there are but in percentage terms they are not receiving funds relative to other population segments???

    *Are we saying that Hispanic start-ups are not innovative enough creating disrupting technologies and that’s the reason VC firms don’t look at them seriously??

    *Are we saying that our presentation skills suck while pitching to VCs even though we have great, disruptive business ideas?

    *Are we saying that there are significant number of funded, Latinos Startups but the media is neglecting to include them in magazines, reports???

    I’ve been in the Valley for over 7 years and when having conversations with VC’s I’ve seem them apply the same rules:
     They look for a great, experienced team, a great, massive-scaling technology and a defensible business model. I have yet to hear of a single discriminating situation as of today.

    And yes, my personal experience is that Latinos are heavily biased towards marketing firms. At least on the ones I’ve been pitched. 
    Perhaps there are pure tech Latinos  startups  but if they are, they are probably not doing a great job to speak up and promote themselves.

    The first task is to come up with a list of those companies and in no more than two lines clearly tell what’s their business model.

    The second task is to meet up to discuss/polish their business value, presentation skills.

    The third task is to put them together in an event to speak as a single voice.

    The fourth task is to network to pitch to VCs.

    Just complaining about under-representation is not going to take us anywhere and makes us look like a typical minority speech.
     Let’s first clearly break down the issue in a more structured approach and laser-focus on the areas that need the most traction.