After years in the technology sector, Nino Cavenecia launched a consultancy that in 2022 became a startup. This is SwiftCX, dedicated to creating software with Artificial Intelligence solutions to offer tools to customer service teams. He himself offers a more graphic description: “We are building an AI in which the customer feels like he is talking to a good agent, not a service in which he goes crazy asking to speak to an agent on the phone and repeating: agent, agent, agent.” Cavenecia had the experience and managed to raise a seed round of capital “of a decent size” that helped them continue to grow. But he was missing something. He was part of the technological community, but his other community, the Latin one, which is also needed in times of stress and doubt, could not be found.
“It was a piece that I had been missing throughout my career,” explains this German-Peruvian descendant, “my world and my childhood were mostly Latino.” When he moved to Austin (Texas) he began to hear about the training program for Latino Entrepreneurs from the Stanford GSB Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN). It is a program that helps companies that already have a turnover of one million dollars or have raised half a million in capital grow. This was not his case, but this year LBAN launched for the first time an accelerator for companies like his in the initial stages and Cavenecia asked to participate. He has been one of the 39 entrepreneurs, most of them from the technology sector, but not exclusively, who have participated in this first promotion. He says that it has been like an “emotional eureka” to connect culturally with other Latino entrepreneurs, receive training and support focused on his own community “with everyone trying to get their idea, their company off the ground.”
The accelerator program lasts nine weeks, is semi-hybrid, and there will be one class annually that begins training in the spring. The program runs in parallel with the scale or growth program — which is already in its 18th class. As described by its director, Elian Savodivker, it allows for combined activities throughout the program and for the development of contact networks between entrepreneurs at different stages of the creation of their companies and the combination of resources.
“The requirement to enter the accelerator is that they have raised a minimum of $200,000 from investors, although we are flexible if we see that they have not been able to raise this amount, but they have a good team and an innovative idea,” explains Savodivker. At least 50% of the company must be owned by a Latino person, be based in the United States and have a clear vision that includes investing in their own community.
Although the accelerator is mostly online with calls with mentors, there are two weekends that require them to go to Stanford Business School, in the heart of Silicon Valley, to do a more fine-tuned program to access capital. “We bring in investors to connect with these entrepreneurs at this stage,” explains Savodivker.
This is one of the key points that most interests entrepreneurs who have difficulty accessing capital like other non-Latino entrepreneurs do, and for which they unite in a sort of common front. It is one of the greatest attractions of the program, especially for people who are trying to find a large community but with few resources for Latino entrepreneurs who receive only 2% of the total venture capital and even less in the case of technology companies. Savodivker points out that while some Latino companies do receive some amounts that can be significant, in reality what happens is that this percentage is only destined for a handful of companies and there is hardly any more money for the rest.
“There is a value proposition in being in a community with people who have common interests and in the real challenges that exist as Latino entrepreneurs,” explains María Medrano, co-founder and CEO of the education company Inspírame. Medrano, whose company combines technology with information on educational pathways to professional training, has participated in other accelerators before LBAN. She has learned a lot from the others, but she admits that in them she was “the only Latina in the group.”
This Californian, daughter of Mexican parents, has held leadership positions in companies such as Google, Visa and Cisco and says that being part of this accelerator has allowed her to not have to defend who she is or explain her experience “to truly concentrate on what they are trying to create.” Medrano values the work done in these accelerators to improve the presentation and defense of each one’s product despite the fact that the “traditional world of money” does not invest enough, much less in educational proposals.
Inspírame has raised a seed round of funding and Medrano believes that the community that has been built in the LBAN accelerator helps combat the impostor syndrome that can develop in many people who have not had that support. “The best way to get rid of that feeling is to be surrounded by other people who have similar goals.” Medrano says that there are natural networks that are formed when you go to the best universities or come from communities with significant assets. “For those of us who do not have those opportunities or privileges, like me who am the first in my family to graduate from college, these programs are very useful,” she says.
Savodivker recalls that the initial stage of a company is when there is the most risk for investors, but also where the opportunities are, so that capital makes a decision. “There has to be a level of trust and a relationship that has been created, we try to find the best way to do that, to organize 30-minute meetings to connect these companies with investors who are interested in their profile.”
While access to capital is paramount, the LBAN accelerator also helps early-stage companies get into the sales channels they need and build teams that execute well, as well as providing the connections between cohorts that support each other. The first cohort has already graduated, and Svodivker says he is reviewing dozens of applications for the second cohort, which will begin in 2025.
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