Entrepreneurs enter Silicon Valley accelerator program ---
“There are Latino entrepreneurs out there doing amazing things,” says Edward Avila, co-founder and CEO of Manos Accelerator, a unique business accelerator program that provides education, resources and guidance for promising start-up companies led by Latinos.
Google for Entrepreneurs and San Jose-based Manos Accelerator recently announced the first group of start-up companies to join the accelerator program. Three Bay Area companies along with four others from the U.S. and Mexico were selected from a large number of companies involved in e-commerce, entertainment, digital media, education, enterprise, and cloud to mobile solutions.
"This is exactly what I wanted to see - big, bold and creative solutions," said Avila.
On September 11th, the seven companies were officially presented at a reception at Google headquarters in Mountain View.
Oakland-based Sleek-geek is one of the companies that recently started the mentorship-driven, 12-week accelerator program in downtown San Jose. Sleek-geek is a teacher-led software company building mobile solutions for teachers, students, parents and schools.
“They are helping us with so many services, it’s unbelievable,” said JeanCarl Bisson, who started Sleek-geek with co-founders Francisco Nieto Salazar and Reina Sofia Cabezas. Volunteer mentors from large Silicon Valley companies work with the Latino start-ups on a daily basis to further develop their products, marketing, and other areas of their business.
“There are so many areas of expertise – it’s like Silicon Valley is coming to us,” adds Bisson. “The connections they are making is incredible.”
Avila explains that he and the mentors help the entrepreneurs refine their products and how they present their products to potential customers or investors.
“We have some great mentors who have volunteered from companies like Apple,” says Avila. “All of this is volunteer time.”
The goal of the accelerator program clearly is to advance Latino companies in the most effective way possible. While many mentors are Latino, it’s not where the focus is.
“This is not Latinos for Latinos,” states Avila. “We pull Latinos in and expose them to the brightest talent – whoever they are - that Silicon Valley has to offer.”
Another Bay Area company benefiting from the accelerator program is Blyve, which offers a real-time marketing platform that brings customer closer to consumer brands via interactive and engaging live events.
“They are really helping us to accelerate our growth,” says Blyve CEO Ramsey Ksar of the mentors and the program.
In addition to the expert advice and guidance, program participants such as Blyve are benefiting greatly from new, valuable business connections.
“It is a whole new level of exposure,” says Ksar. “The power of the network that Manos has is what helps us to succeed.”
“It brings Latinos together with companies like Apple. We have so many mentors coming by every day. If through our success, we can help other Latinos business, then everyone is happy.”
As the focus of Manos Accelerator is not limited to the Bay Area, there are two program participants from Mexico.
Qritiqr, based in Mexico City, is a crowd mystery shopping network providing insights about services, products and market opportunities in real time.
“We saw an opportunity to capture important and useful information through mobile technology,” said Marco Montes, CEO.
“In today’s world things are possible; you will need a solid knowledge, but the opportunity is there,” adds Montes. “It is not only for people from United States, (the opportunity) is available for anybody in the world.”
Speaking of the accelerator program, Montes says, “It has been an important experience and if more people have this kind of experience, we will see more successful cases.”
Collaboration and communication are key to programs such as Manos Accelerator and Avila sees a positive shift in how Latino entrepreneurs engage with mentors and peers in business, regardless of their professional or ethnic background.
“Latinos are standing up and saying, ‘this is my strength and I’d like to talk with you’. Things have shifted.”