#35 "Chingona" a Badass Investor

10/20/20 • 54 min

Almost 60 million Latinos account for $2.3 trillion in economic activity and are projected to make up 30% of the U.S. population by the end of this year.
In addition, the number of Latinx businesses grew 34% over the past 10 years, making them the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the country. Despite these numbers, when it comes to Venture Capital, less than 2% of venture led companies and venture capitalists are Latinx. Fortunately there are several new fund managers emerging and challenging the status quo.

To wrap up Hispanic Heritage Month, we invited one of the most badass investors in venture, Samara Hernandez, Founding Partner of Chingona Ventures.
As an immigrant struggling with english as a second language, Samara fell in love with numbers, the universal language as she describes it, and became an engineer. Prior to launching her fund, Samara was a partner at MATH Venture Partner and before that she worked at Goldman Sachs where she continually ranked top 5 in her field.
As one of less than one percent of Latinas in Venture, Samara actively recruits more women and people of color into STEM fields, venture capital and entrepreneurship. She also co-founded the Latinx Founders Collective, an organization bringing together Latinx founders, investors, and community leaders. Join us as we talk to her about her fund, the story behind the name and her passion for early stage investing.
You can find Samara at:
www.Chingona.Ventures
Twitter: @SamaraMHernandz
Linkedin: @samaramejia

Previous Episode

#34 Investing in Diverse Teams, Marcos Gonzalez, Vamos Ventures

Last year, a report to Congress based on data from 2017, found that almost 60 million Latinos already account for $2.3 trillion in economic activity and are projected to make up 30% of the U.S. population by the end of this year.
Another study from Stanford University found that over the past 10 years, the number of Latino business owners grew 34%, compared to 1% for all business owners, making them the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States.

Despite these numbers, when it comes to Venture Capital, Latinos represent less than 2% of venture led companies and venture capitalists. How do we change that?

In this episode we talk to Marcos Gonzalez, Managing Partner at Vamos Ventures.

A son of Mexican immigrant parents, Marcos was the first in his family to graduate from college and is now a Brown University and Harvard Business School alumni. Marcos began his career at IBM pre-business school, and the Boston Consulting Group. He then joined the private equity industry as an Investment Officer. Somewhere in between, Marcos also co-founded a venture backed e-commerce company, grew it, and sold it before founding Vamos Ventures, a $25mm fund seeking to invest in companies led by diverse founders. Join us as we talk to Marcos and learn more about what led him to invest in early stage startups.
You can find Marcos at:
https://www.vamosventures.com/
https://twitter.com/MarcosCGonzalez
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcos-gonzalez-b567042/

Next Episode

#36: The Film Industry in Oklahoma

In this new series we go behind the scenes of some of the billion dollar industries we often hear about but don't necessarily know exactly how they work and how they impact the way we live, work and play.
Prior to the pandemic, the global box office and home entertainment industry surpassed $100 billion dollars for the first time in history according to the Motion Picture Association. Yet, despite being a massive industry there is still a lot of mystery around how the industry actually works.
When we think of the film or motion picture industry, we tend to think of California, production companies, animation, film studios, actors and film directors and we fail to recognize the full commercial and technological spectrum. Particularly as the industry moves outside of traditional film hubs.
In this episode we talk to Emmy nominated Film Director Lance McDaniel who has worked in 21 feature films, including Oscar winning "Million Dollar Baby." Until recently Lance was also the Executive Director of the Deadcenter Film Festival. Join us as we talk to Lance about the different layers of the industry and its potential impact in emerging film hubs like Oklahoma.
Find Lance on
Twitter: @lancemcdaniel
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lance-mcdaniel
IMBD: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1590373/