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Jose Huitron is a champion of entrepreneurship and the Co-Founder of Crowdismo, a rewards-based crowd-funding platform fueling innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship within the Latino community. He is the organizer of Startup Weekend events and the Central Coast Chapter Director of the Latino Startup Alliance developed 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.

Jose holds a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications from West Virginia University, a Bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Phoenix Online, an Associate’s in Business Administration and an Associate’s in Management Technology from Idaho State University.

What you’ll learn

• Jose’s American dream: being the first in his family to access higher education and making the most of those opportunities.
• Why Lifelong learning, and expanding your horizons is key to achieving your dream.
• How Jose’s entrepreneurial family inspired him early on in his life to become an entrepreneur and how he navigated the process of getting into a good college and getting  a scholarship.
• How he launched Hub 81 a Hispanic marketing agency while going to college and working at the same time.
• Why it is critical get buy in from your support base when you become an entrepreneur in order to navigate all the ups and downs.
• You are the master of your own success as an entrepreneur because your thoughts lead to feelings which lead to actions that lead to results
• Great quotes: “If you are not happy with your fruits change your roots” , “We must embrace the urgency of now”, “Make action our domain” , “Images  X  vividness = reality”.
• Word of mouth is the best form of advertising so being relevant, authentic , meeting people  and hustle are the big challenges entrepreneurs face.
• How to deal with situations where family and friends question your choice to be an entrepreneur when the money is not coming in yet.
• Entrepreneurial success is not about ideas it is all about execution.
• Use the Lean Startup methodology and if you fail, fail fast
• How the Latino Startup Alliance provides Latino entrepreneurs access to Silicon Valley networks and resources.
• Jose’s formula for success: “Focus to forget and embrace the power of a positive attitude “ and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and meet people being confident in yourself and in your idea.
• The biggest challenge Latino startup entrepreneurs face is the lack of capital to the make their ideas happen:
  • Only 1% to 2% of venture capital money goes to minority entrepreneurs as only 35% of minorities can even get in front of venture capital and only 15% of them are able to turn a pitch into funding.
  • Latinos lack access to capital as we usually don’t have a rich uncle or the connections in the investor community we need to succeed and need to get better at pitching the business.
  • Educating investors on the potential of the Latino market is key to helping them realize the tremendous potential.

Resources & Links

• Pacific Institute Joe Tice: Thought patterns to success work book
• The Latino Startup Alliance
• LATISM
• Startup communities by Brad Feld
• The Rain Forest by Victor Wang
• The Lean Startup Book by Eric Ries
• The Kapor Center
• Contact Jose: @josehuitron, @Crowdisimo , Jose Huitron

Thank you so much for listening ! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider subscribing in iTunes  and Stitcher and leaving a rating and a review.  This helps us to continue to be featured in the New & Noteworthy rankings so that more Latinos and Latinas can find us.

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