The Next Chapter
Crowdismo, a pioneering endeavor to power Latino genius everywhere. What began with a piñata and :60 second pitch at Startup Weekend Santa Barbara has evolved into a wonderful blend of story, impact, and people.
The journey (for us J’s--Jose and Jose) has been both fun and a completely worthwhile learning experience. We’ve met some incredible people. Plenty of game changers, innovators, social entrepreneurs, and doers have delighted us with a few moments and even hours of their time and for that we’re truly thankful.
Crowdismo begin with a vision to power awesome projects that showcase the creativity of the Latino community. Through the power of the crowd and rewards-based crowdfunding, we’ve had an amazing opportunity to help support ideas and things like the Heartful Giving Project, a few Sabio.la coding fellows, Las Fotos Project, Cristian Arcega’s dream to build, the Latina Startup Tour, a startup rethinking the future of pickup games, gente like Nayda Cuevas, a visual artist on a mission to break Latino stereotypes, among a few others. And we’ve fully experienced the simple truth that it takes a village to build.
To our village, we say thank you.
Today, we’re excited to announce the next chapter of Crowdismo and our mission to power genius everywhere.
But first, let’s touch on a few things we’ve learned along the way.
1. People have awesome ideas.
You don’t have to go far to realize that there is real genius and ideation at work all around us. Ideas with the potential to become huge.
2. Hungry to learn.
The community and Crowdismo network is full of individuals hungry to learn and discuss strategies for growth. Many among us are striving for greatness.
3. Barriers to access.
Roadblocks are real. Gaps exist that we must overcome in order to push ahead. Access to capital being perhaps, the biggest of these challenges.
However, access to real capital that remains in the hands of the few is without a doubt the biggest plot on the map. In an arena deemed the 4th stage of the civil rights movement, there is much work to be done.
Only 1% of VC capital ends up in the hands of Black and Latino entrepreneurs.
Folks, we have a fight on our hands. But let’s not stoop to reservations but rather embrace the urgency of now.
This brings us to our exciting announcement at a pivotal moment in the history of American entrepreneurship.
We’re launching Align, a platform to connect diverse-led startups with access to capital and growth resources.
And we’re putting out a call for likeminded founders, mentors, launch platforms, and investors interested in fueling ideas.
Our mission is to connect diverse founders with seed and growth stage capital bridging founding teams with accredited investors interested in changing the tide. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas but what they do have is an opportunity to join us and take advantage of a commitment to bring tools, resources, and capital in all its forms to the table of entrepreneurship.
We invite you to join us in this next chapter.
As we pull the curtain on Crowdismo and Align* for the future, let us take a moment once again to say thank you to all of our supporters, mentors, and everyone who’s had a hand in our success.
It is hard to turn the page but the future ahead is nonetheless inspiring and ripe for continued impact.
Let us move forward and make action our domain.
-J^2