Innovate Más
written BY Hunter Rae / Images provided by Innovate Más
Welcome back to another SHACK15 Partner Spotlight, where we highlight our partners who are changing the game in their fields.
Innovate Más is a community founded by Jesse Martinez— a serial tech entrepreneur, educator, philanthropist, investor, advisor, mentor, and a passionate evangelist for the global Latinx tech community— and Paola Correa— the co-founder of La NUBE LatinX in Cloud Technologies and advocate for Latinx Founders— that highlights Latinx founders, innovators, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, change makers, unsung heroes, and culture—past, present and future.
What started in 2017 as a simple idea scribbled on paper and incubated in Jesse’s mind, was finally ready to launch in spring 2020 with an event planned at SHACK15 before the world was faced with COVID-19. Since then, Innovate Más has pivoted to be a powerful virtual community dedicated to telling the positive stories of the Latinx Community, especially during these challenging times.
We were honored to partner with Innovate Más for their launch in September, with a SHACK15 x Innovate Más conversation featuring Laura Moreno, Founder of Pandocap, and later conversations with Claudia Romo Edelman, Founder of We are All Human, and Henry Muñoz III, Cofounder of Momento Latino, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month!
We spoke with Jesse and Paola to hear about their experience bringing their passion to life and how it has shifted in the midst of a global pandemic.
What was your inspiration behind starting Innovate Más?
Our inspiration for starting Innovate Más was wanting to highlight stories and journeys of LatinX founders as they arrive at that “AHA!” moment of innovation. We know that Latinx founders are a minority in Silicon Valley, and also quickly realized how their journeys to innovation are far too often untold stories. The goal of Innovate Más is to gather our community of founders and shine light on them, highlighting how their background and passion for problem-solving combines with innovation and building new technology. We envisioned a community coming together in person, and having even more intimate conversations about their breakthrough moments with in person events and fireside chats, but since the pandemic we have gone virtual!
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Many facets of tech and entrepreneurship, as well as diversity and equity, have shifted dramatically over the past few months. What do you see as the opportunities for Latinx founders and investors during this time?
The last few months, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, have truly shifted the term “diversity” from a buzz word to a requirement. We feel like it’s our responsibility, now more than ever, to showcase innovators from all types of backgrounds and their determination in their journeys to Silicon Valley. Oftentimes, the obstacles that entrepreneurs face when coming from different countries are overlooked, so we want to make sure to tell these stories, build community around our mission and showcase these founders’ future-thinking ideas.
You both have years of experience fostering community and connecting Latinx entrepreneurs and changemakers, what has the shift to a more virtual sense of community-building been like?
The shift to virtual gatherings, networking, and conversations has definitely been an adjustment, but it reminds us that it’s not about the quantity of people in a conversation, but the quality and value that it will bring to each participant. At it’s core, our goal with Innovate Más is to create personal connections for those who are looking for inspiration in both their personal and professional journeys. Because even without in-person events, it’s always about just one person hearing your story and helping you get to the next stage in your journey. Our advice is to show up, to be vulnerable, and to keep pushing because one day you will look back on your story and be glad you shared it out loud.
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What’s next for Innovate Más?
While we keep building community without in-person events, we are expanding our reach beyond Silicon Valley. In fact, we are currently growing our network in NYC, Houston and Miami where we aim to scale by being a part of those local communities. To tap into this nationwide network, be sure to follow us on social media and please let us know of any Latinx we should know about so we can possibly highlight them in our next series!
We could not be more excited to partner with Innovate Más and create more connections between our two communities.
Stay tuned for more SHACK15 x Innovate Más Conversations coming soon, where we’ll speak to Latinx founders and explore the contributions that Hispanic/Latinos have made and are making to America today.
Make sure to follow Innovate Más on social (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), to see all their latest updates!