A FinTech Startup Educating the Latino Community on Investments and Financial Literacy: Israel Hernandez CEO & Co-Founder, Aaron Chavez CFO of Dinerazo

Speaker A: Welcome listeners. This is Jonathan Yamasaki, founder and co host of um Go Entrepreneur Yourself.

Speaker B: And this is Richard Ceballos, your easygoing yet, uh, engaging co host all the way from the Silicon Valley San Francisco area.

Speaker A: We are a podcast where we bring you local entrepreneurs and leaders from around the world where they share their story about adverse triumph and their business.

Speaker B: The name of this podcast speaks for itself. We empower you with digestible, inspiring and valuable content on starting your own business. Also, we like to dissect stories of success and reveal some of the raw truths and hardships of creating and maintaining your business.

Speaker A: Today we bring you two exciting entrepreneurs, Israel Hernandez, the co founder and CEO of uh, Vinerazo, and Aaron Chavez, who you all know from last, uh, episode, CFO and co founder of uh, Dinerazo. So Dinerazo is a financial education platform that provides personal and comprehensive investment education and strengthens financial literacy for the underserved Hispanic market domestically and internationally. Israel was born in Mexico and has been living in the US since 2014. He graduated from the University Tecnologico Monterrey with high honors. His entrepreneurial journey began with his brother and some friends while in college, which led to developing a fintech company now known as Ideaco. Ideaco started in Mexico as an electronic payment service, then transformed into an electronic SaaS transactions platform. For those that don't know what SaaS is, it's software as a service and he used this platform with banks, gas stations and many more. Wow, Israel, you were in fintech before it became cool. Erzero and Aaron, thank you for coming onto our show.

Speaker C: Thank you guys.

Speaker D: Absolutely happy to be here.

Speaker B: So today we're going to learn how, uh, Dinerazo emerged as a company. How it's educating, uplifting and strengthening Hispanic and Latino communities so they can invest and grow. We will discuss the challenges Dine Erazo has faced, are currently facing while thinking about its role in shaping the future of fintech and for Hispanics and Latinos. It's important for our Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurs listening today to hear about the benefits of uh, fintech for achieving financial freedom. But before we dive into all of this, I wanted to ask Israel some m quick and personal questions better known as our Fast5. Aaron, you participated in the Fast5 last time in the previous episode. Any parting advice to Israel?

Speaker D: Uh, be honest and try not to think too much.

Speaker C: Okay. Okay. So let's do it.

Speaker B: Let's go. Israel. What is one movie you can watch over and over and still enjoy?

Speaker C: Uh, Wolf of Wall street, obviously.

Speaker B: I feel like my brother Quotes that all the time. Tell us about one of your visions for the fintech space that you and your peers don't always see eye to eye on.

Speaker C: Everything is going to be integrated. The services are more accessible for fintech companies to create great, uh, products for the consumers.

Speaker B: Thank you. I look forward to hearing more about that. What is the first curse word in Spanish that comes to mind right now?

Speaker C: Pendejo.

Speaker D: I was thinking mierda immediately.

Speaker A: That's not a curse word.

Speaker C: That's not a curse. It's only a human product.

Speaker D: Yeah,

Speaker B: it's better than some of the other ones I was thinking of. So in the year 2100, what will Latin America be using? Cryptocurrency or paper slash coin? Money?

Speaker C: Crypto.

Speaker B: Okay, and this last question, just for you. What's your favorite food to eat in Mexico City?

Speaker C: Tacos.

Speaker A: Yeah. What kind of taco? What kind of taco?

Speaker C: Street taco. Uh, Pastor taco. Because I can't get here here. The, the original Pastor Taco.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And it's, it's. They're way more accessible. They're everywhere. In Mexico City you can get a good taco. It's super cheap compared to eating out here in the Bay Area. It's way overpriced.

Speaker A: Awesome. So that was the Fast Five. Thank you for participating in that, Israel. And now that we got a chance to learn more about you on a personal level, and now we're going to learn about your journey. Describe the moment that you and Aaron both realized we need to create dinerazo.

Speaker C: Um, it was, uh, during a course from Miami Dade College. In fact, the Idea Center, Idea center of, uh, mdc Miami Dade College, during COVID it. It was an entrepreneurship, um, course. And um, this guy told us, okay, think about some, um, industries, some services that you feel that are missing. And in fact I began thinking, hey, when I used to live in Mexico, I never invested in the stock market because they have always told us that the stock market is only for wealthy people. And that's right. If you think how many stock brokerage accounts are in Mexico and you divide into the number of, uh, people that we are there, it's a small, small, small, um, percentage. But then I saw that here in U.S. uh, many people are used to check their portfolio. And I asked them, hey, what are you doing? And they say, I am checking my 401k portfolio. And I said, really? So you know about stocks? Uh, but all these people, uh, were or, uh, first generations or American native. So I began asking my friends, my Latino friends and um, it was interesting that uh, they don't know very much about the stock market. And before COVID I used to know Aaron and I told him hey, I think that we can have an interesting product for our community because although I sold my company in Mexico, as you said, a fintech company company, I didn't know how, how to invest when I arrived to us and it was uh, very interesting to see how this journey began between Aaron. And then I told him hey, we need like a compliance uh, officer. And he said ah, I know a guy that is arriving to Miami. And I told him hey, let's start talk with him, may maybe he can teach us something about this. And then we found our fourth partner that in fact he was, he used to be my lawyer, only my lawyer. And we began talking between the four of us. And in fact Aaron was in the night pitch when I presented uh, and all my companions presented our projects because it was an open platform from CIC Miami Venture Cafe. So there was Aaron and um, I think that we fall in love with this uh, idea from the beginning. And that's uh, how we began dinerazo, uh, to help all our Latino community to be financially educated and help them uh, grow their investments, their money.

Speaker A: That's awesome that it just kind of culminated from just meeting these people and then just seeing the culture, the difference in how Americans look at investing versus like the Latino community. So tell us uh, a few issues that you're working to solve in the Hispanic community. You talked a little bit about that and we would love to hear about it in regards to like personal finance and investment.

Speaker D: So when we look at the Hispanic market more than anything, it's one of those, it's a massive market. It's a market that's very active. You know, there's over 60 million people in the United States alone that are primarily Spanish speaking and use that as you know, very day to day functional language. And they're underserved and they're underserved in you know, 100 ways. That's why there's so many startups, you know, specifically addressing all of these niche communities. And with us and with Israel in particular, he's you know, this fintech and this Latino that exited and had the chance to move to the US and saw that, you know, the financial system was way more accessible here, but it was more accessible to a community that didn't know how to access it. So it's kind of this weird little situation that the US fell in. So from there it was how do we take something that we know is valuable, it's proven, it's helpful, it spans generations and really can contribute meaningfully to, you know, wealth overall. And how do we make it more practical to a community that does so much work based off of trust? I mean, if you had to think of the number one thing that goes within Latino communities, it's the referral. Oh, I have a cousin that works on cars. I have a cousin that can help you with your paint. Or I have this or I have that. It's like, it's very much about that kind of connection and trust. And we saw that this was missing in financial services. It was very much a how can we make money off of them? Not how can we serve them and actually, you know, provide genuine value in that way. I remember that was like a big point that Israel and I were very passionate about because of course he came, you know, someone who exited and you know, a wealthy individual moving from a foreign country and myself, you know, a, uh, poor, uh, guy from Arizona, both running into a lot of the same issues and we're like, this isn't right. There's no way that it's right for both of us to be running into this. And the fact that there's a market that doesn't help us, you know, this is a problem.

Speaker B: Yeah. I have a follow up question. So how does receiving the right financial education enhance the goals you set for yourself and maybe your business?

Speaker C: Well, because, uh, for example, in Mexico, you don't talk about money with your parents is like, uh, what they call a taboo. You never know the budget of the family. You never know how much your father is, uh, earning. So it's a mystery. But if we teach our children about finance, about budgeting, I think that, uh, we can help them not to get into debt. That's a big, big problem in humans in general, okay? Because we always spend more than we earn. So every month you are building debt. Okay?

Speaker D: And so, um, sorry, Israel, to continue off of that. It's one of those people are making bad decisions and they don't know they're making bad decisions. It's one of those, like getting a bad contract done by a lawyer. It's like you're kind of a victim to the lawyer because you don't know that the contract's bad until the issue comes due. In the same way, you know, Latinos are just making decisions, thinking they're informed, when in reality they are not. And for us, we don't want to be prescriptive. We don't want to tell Latinos you have to do this or you have to do that. We simply want to say, here's what the game really is. Here's the real rules. Make any decision, you know, legally that you can, if you want to be super risky, be super risky. There's no issue with that. But do it from an informed place. Don't do it from a place of ignorance and not know that you're really, you know, digging a hole and then burying yourself in it versus people that maybe want to be more conservative and really want to say, hey, listen, uh, I'm 18, I'm a conservative person. I'm not going to make, um, uh, the career that I love isn't going to yield tons of money. Anything I can do to start saving and investing now is going to help me later. That's a very different person. But both needs are valid and it's one of those. We just want to make sure that whoever they are, they have the ability to do what it is that makes sense for them, not just do whatever the latest advertisement is. You know what I mean?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So run us through the product then. Like, what, what is it? Why does it, how does it educate the Hispanic or Latino community? So how does it educate them? And how does it prepare them to like build that wealth to start having financial literacy?

Speaker C: Aaron, please tell, uh, Antonio's story.

Speaker D: Yeah, I was gonna say so please. So I'll tell you what the product is and then I'll tell you kind of very quickly where it came from. So the product is really kind of a three legged stool. The main leg is very much education. It's free education, it's education by topic. So everything from banking and savings to education by structure, really taking people through kind of a series of building blocks, making them smarter within specific categories or more educated within specific categories. Banking, savings budgets, you know, things that are a little bit kind of more, more meaty in terms of how much you actually have to know to make good decisions on them. So that was a big kind of start for us. The second phase is really the uh, kind of, the second leg of the stool is this investment access. So many people don't invest because they just don't know. They don't know how cheap it really can be. They don't know how to set up simple solutions. They don't understand that there are very kind of risk free or riskless or risk reduced ways to actually put money to work and allow them to engage in a market that could yield some returns. If you look at the historics of it Then number three was we didn't want to be an island, both within our own financial services or within the broader Hispanic community. We want to be an asset, something that can really, you know, move the needle in a major way. And so we wanted to do this kind of bolt on of products and services that genuinely help things that are vetted, things that are thought through. Not just kind of a dump of everything and anything E commerce to, you know, clip a commission off of, but very much, here's some education that can help you and teach you topics, here's access to putting some money to work, and here's a slew of products and services that we have vetted and trust that can help enable the decisions that you want to make. If you want to focus on your savings, we want to make sure that you have the right tools to help, uh, do the savings, regardless if it's through us. And that kind of holistic flow we really think is going to be valuable. The education portion was actually started a number of years ago by one of our co founders, the lawyer that Israel mentioned previously, his name is Antonio. He released this education as a way to just help the Latino community because he used to work as a stockbroker and saw all the bad decisions that were kind of being made without this kind of education there. And basically overnight, as he wrote and wrote and wrote while still attending law school, he started generating fives and sixes and sevens of thousands of views and clicks a day from people that were just drinking the knowledge and really needed it, you know, from, from all over the world. So it was kind of a, uh, clear need and a clear audience fit and a clear opportunity to genuinely make a difference, not just, you know, make some money.

Speaker A: Yeah, and I like that you say that, by the way. All en espanol.

Speaker D: Yeah, all in Spanish. Spanish first, Spanish first.

Speaker A: The marketing, all that is going to be Latino. Because what you guys are tapping into is really an important market, important group of people that, that have just haven't been as supported as they could be, Right?

Speaker D: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Especially, yeah, especially what you guys are saying now. Something comes up when you were talking about giving them these sort of resources, these educational tools. Typically what I know here, like in the United States is like if you are wanting to, you know, bank with, you know, your typical banks like Chase, bank of America, make an investment portfolio 401k, you need to make money to really get a financial advisor. And by the time you get a financial advisor, they're really giving you a cookie cutter portfolio that you're spending A lot of money.

Speaker C: Yeah, you're, you nail it. Exactly. That's the reason.

Speaker D: Mhm.

Speaker A: So then what are you guys doing to help ensure that Latinos. Because a lot of us, like, we're very, we can be frugal or we could be hesitant in like when a new product comes to try to help us. What are you doing to, to capture them? Because let's be honest, um, sometimes latteo community, we could be reserved and be like, ques eso? What is that? Like, I don't know, I don't know if I trust it yet. Like, what are you doing to make sure you capture that? Building that trust. Yes. What are you doing to build that trust?

Speaker C: Um, first of all is, uh, what you said. I discovered personally, I discovered that to have a financial advisor you have to have at least 20, $25,000. And let's don't talk about uh, private banking here in us. So we thought, hey, come on, is there a solution between let's say $1,000 and $25,000 and. No, uh, there's no solution.

Speaker D: Uh, there's acorns, there's like things that kind of meet a broad generic need, but nothing that actually offers, you know, just this gap of either, you know, broke some money and then some meaningful money and everybody goes automatically to, you know, the financial advisor phase of, you know, some meaningful 5, 10, 20k all at once. Which can be a lot for a

Speaker C: lot of people, of course. Mhm. And that's the space that we want to help people in that uh, area in that range through a uh, fintech solution that is called a Robo Advisor. In English it's called Robo Advisor that basically it's not a cookie cutter.

Speaker A: Not a cookie cutter, yeah.

Speaker C: Not like a general, so it's like, like an advisor, but using technology, uh, basically.

Speaker A: And is it like something that you're trying to get to maybe make this Robo Advisor artificially intelligent?

Speaker D: So that I was going to say that that's part of the beauty of it, that it already is. So for us, well, what we wanted to do is we wanted to create something that was flexible enough to be appropriate for whoever wanted to access it. So people that are, you know, not very risk on very much conservative, where they want to allocate their money but you know, they still want to put money in the game. Right. They want to get started so very the process of onboarding, which we'll skip all the major stuff, but the big thing is a questionnaire and a questionnaire that we go through and Determine your risk appetite, determine your goals, determine your timeline, determine your comfort level. Right. Because you could be 18, but if you're hyper conservative on how you spend your money, that's a very different portfolio than an 18 year old that has 15k in cash that they're looking to invest as aggressively as possible so they can get maximum return. Right, right. So our solution really, we um, are enabling our solution through a partnership with uh, a technology firm that develops strategies like this that has been doing this for years and years through a lot of different Mexican companies and a lot of banks and financial solutions in Mexico. So for us it was kind of a very natural, you know, JV in true sense of they have this amazing platform that can cater to so many people and we have this educational resource that can really bring a lot of value and build trust that will enable people to actually use and engage with not only the investment side, but, you know, all the products and the services and everything else that follows. It's, it's uh, a really, it's kind of one of those. The opportunity within it could be massive. You, you know, as far as what it could really be or it could simply be the best education platform enabling Latinos. Both are a win. Both are a win. And, but really it's a question of what does our audience want, what can we do, how do we listen and kind of facilitate their path as best we can.

Speaker B: So we've talked about some of the wins and have described Diner Razo in more detail. What have been some of the most challenging obstacles though in starting your company?

Speaker D: Uh, I would say I'll throw one out there, Israel, then you can throw another. I think one of the hardest things is it's hard to really think about everything your customer, because you're writing a balance. Right. Of um, you want to provide them with everything you can, but not so much that they're overwhelmed. Right. You want to have a message, a narrative, something simple to get started. Right. Robinhood started with, you know, zero commission trading. That was it. It wasn't about growth, it wasn't about articles and cool charts and it was just, you can do this for free. Right. And there's value in that kind of simplicity of messaging. So for us the one thing is, you know, this is uh, an audience that needs a lot and we don't want to overwhelm them or intimidate them or scare them. We want to genuinely help. So one finding that balance and then also realizing, you know, it's like I talk with people that work in healthcare and Then they're like, man, this legal agreement's gonna be like 25,000. I'm like, yeah, you're a doctor, right? So it's expensive to do things when there's lots of compliance. Well, fintech is very much the same. So all the technologies, all the investments, all the back ends like this is a very kind of complicated integration system to deliver something so simple of come learn, come invest, come act, right? The front end looks crystal clear. But all the technology and the thought that goes into bringing it in as seamless a way as we can, I think that's really where, you know, the value comes in, but also just a lot of the headaches because it's about finding that balance. But Israel, I'm sure you have, you know, many.

Speaker C: Yeah, because as I, uh, was telling you, um, basically you have to connect everything behind the curtains, right? So for the final user, it's only like clicking an app and say, ah, ah, this is my portfolio. I'm doing well. Uh, that's it. No, you don't imagine what's happening behind curtains. Or for example, when you, you pay at, uh, the supermarket, you don't know what's happening between that little thing called chip, the device that is in the card and all the process to get the balance, the authorization, etcetera, and get back that authorization. So you can take your things.

Speaker D: If anyone can appreciate the back end, it's Israel. Because he did so much work in fintech and payments. I mean, his life was focused on seamless integration, which is one of the things that made me, as you know, a co founder, so excited to work with them. Because I'm like, this is someone that really knows how to deliver a smooth experience from a technology side. Because that was what his whole business was predicated on. Speed, accuracy, making sure the partners are very, very good, very qualified. So it's like, let's do this.

Speaker B: Yeah. There's a lot of concerted efforts going on that may not always seem to seem intuitive at first, you may not always think of. And at the same time, I like, Erin, what you said about providing a narrative so folks aren't overwhelmed. A lot of what I do in my work is trying to cater to our target audience, which is young people. So I know how careful you have to be about providing engaging content, but getting right to the point and not sounding, uh, too technical because you could really lose your audience quickly. So speaking of the narrative and philosophy on the website, there's a statement that says rebalance and stay the course. So, so tell the audience what you mean by this?

Speaker D: So that's a little funny. Uh, it's almost an inside joke. So the portfolio strategy, if you had to break it down to very kind of simply what it does is that every month it rebalances, but it just rebalances with very complex weighting in mind. So accuracy and movement and fit and growth rates and whatever kind of you set it to be. So for us, if you're engaging with us once a month, you're hitting a moment of Zen, because you're automatically going to hit some sort of rebalance. So for us, it's one of those, the movement of don't save, invest, which, of course, you know, you want to do a bit of both to make sure you've got a rainy day, you know, little nest egg, but you also want to make sure that your money isn't just an anchor sitting in the bank. Right. So for us, that kind of act of rebalancing is an act of, you know, action. It's about making a positive movement that has the ability to change your life. Not overnight. You know, this is not a dogecoin run. This is not a, you know, a Reddit stock, you know, purchase. This is. We want to take you from A to B and B could be 20 years with the power. Let's get that exactly.

Speaker C: Of compound interest, as Jonathan was saying. So this is not a, uh, 30 minutes, uh, game. It's not a 30 months game. It's maybe a 30 years game. And you will see the power of compound interest.

Speaker A: Yeah, something comes up. What I think about when you both are talking about dinerazo is social entrepreneurship. I think that's great because I've had a couple entrepreneurs on the show talk about what they're doing to really help their, their people, their stakeholders, which are the people that they're serving. Um, and then sometimes some entrepreneurs want to take on that role, but maybe they're not educated enough in how. Well, I don't have enough money. Like, I want to do something good for the people. Do I file as a nonprofit or am I in an llc? Like, how do I file? Because I don't know if, like, investors or angel investors, will they give me money to do something for people that's absolutely free? How are you all, um, managing that and being able to, like, finance some of that for your business? And if you can give any advice

Speaker C: to those that want to do error on space, so go for it.

Speaker D: Yeah, I was, I was going to say, because we actually looked at a nonprofit, looked at it for us and, and we spoke to nonprofit directors, and we did the whole nine yards because very much, you know, person focused. How can we bring maximum value in this way? And what I find is people are almost nervous to make money. As silly as it sounds, you know, they feel guilty about, you know, charging for value. But if you're genuinely providing value, then that's just an exchange. It's no different than buying an apple at the grocery store. Right. It's just you're on the receiving side and you've never owned a store. Right. But the store doesn't feel guilty because it has to buy the product to do it, and neither should you in that way. So for us, it's. It's a very simple of. I meet a lot of founders and I talk to a lot of people that want their business to do well, and they say, you know, to hell with the money. And it's like, that's great, but. But eventually a bill comes due because you want to have people at the office. Well, you got to pay the lease. And if you want to have people come to lunch, someone's got to put down their card. So for us, it's very much about being practical. So from the dinner ASO perspective, we want to, in every way that we can, avoid charging kind of the customer high fees or many fees on the front end, because that's not really the goal of it. The goal is to facilitate. Kind of like Google doesn't charge you a credit card fee when you log on, but. But they are kind of charging you money by subjecting you to ads and whatnot on the other side, because that's the fair deal that they make with you. We'll let you search for free. We're gonna show you some stuff that people pay, and that's the exchange that we do in the same way for dinner aso, it's very much a push of how can we bring the most value in the free sense, but also by providing value and having them act and invest and utilize services that genuinely move them forward. We make revenue on the back end through the people that are engaged. Right? So it's one of those. We wanted to find a good balance, and I think that's what many entrepreneurs should strive for. It's not about being perfect, it's about being fair. And if you have a fair deal on the table, if somebody doesn't like fair, then, you know, that's very much a them thing, not a you thing. But if you go out there every day and do fair deals and bring a lot of value to your target customer in the way that they want. Right. Then you can do so much and there's no reason you shouldn't hopefully make some money off.

Speaker C: It doesn't matter if it's a, ah, profit nonprofit llc, Inc. Sole, uh, proprietary, it doesn't matter. At the end, please work together uh, with uh, somebody that knows finance, like in my case with Aaron, and find um, the business, the business, uh, the business case. Because if it can be paid by itself, maybe it's not worth uh, the effort 100%.

Speaker D: And Jonathan, you said something uh, before about the social side. It's so funny because it's like I don't know how you could build a startup, you know, a consumer facing startup, B2C any other way. And what I mean by that is when I talk to people and we talk to startups and we have interviews with other founders that we know just to understand, you know, stay focused, the two questions that always come up that people, you know, seem to want to check for their business is one, can I do it? Meaning is it even possible? And then two is do people want it? Because everything else is basically supply chain. Find the right lawyers, find the right operations, find the right team to execute, find the right marketing. But if it can be done and people want it, then it's just a question of if you're the one to do it right. I mean it's like how many thousands of people thought of Uber and then one guy named Travis decided to, you know, get to work. So in that kind of same way, it's very much uh, the action part of it. And that staying connected to your end user from like the social perspective feels, it feels like uh, uh, the elephant in the room that for some reason, you know, everybody wants to talk about marketing but nobody wants to say how many users have we talked to this month? Because if we have no, we know that, then all of a sudden we can just take that and bring that in and use that to inform our value going forward. Which is at least how we want to kind of be as best we can.

Speaker A: Yeah, it kind of reminds me of that quote when people say like, if you love the work that you're doing, the money will come.

Speaker C: That that's right. Mhm M. In fact, in my previous company, when always people ask me, why do you do this? I do this because it's like a hobby. If I like, I like what I do. And um, by the way they pay me, my clients pay me for doing so. It was really my passion.

Speaker A: And then the Second quote, and this one is from E.T. uh, Eric Thomas. I have to give a shout out to him. He's like a motivational speaker. But it's like, you gotta want it as bad as you want to breathe. But there was another part of it. It was like, you will not be successful at what you're doing until nobody has to give you a dime to do what you want to do. That's when you'll be successful. And it's like, at that point where money is not even a thing of value to you, it's just like, wow, I'm changing people's lives. Truly.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker A: I can get money in the future because I need to bring food to the table, pay the bills, right? But for those that are really successful in what they want to do, it gets to that point where you have to want it so bad that you don't even have to get paid a dime to do what.

Speaker D: What you want to do, uh, completely. And I think it's one of those things where you go, are you starting a business to make money or to provide value? Because I can guarantee if you do one of those things, the other becomes very, very easy. And if you pursue the other one, you know, the money first, then depending on how good you are and depending on how well you really know your stuff, it's going to be a lot harder. Right? But value, the only thing you do is it's value first and then send the invoice effectively. But, but, but, uh, a lot of people, you know, they. They want to talk dollars before they talk, you know, customer demand. And for us, it's why we're working very hard for surveys and engagement, because we need to know what they want. And, you know, I'm one of, you know, millions of people that are like me, and I know that my situation could be very unique or it could be exactly commonplace as everybody else. And I don't want to assume one way or the other. I want to assume that these are my customers, these are the people that we want to help. And now let's get to work, you know, in whatever form that takes.

Speaker C: Yeah, because, for example, if, uh, Latinos want to learn about crypto, and they tell us, hey, we want to learn crypto, okay, let's give financial education about crypto, for example, in Spanish, let's create

Speaker D: courses, let's create online stuff, you know, things that are accessible and things that can bridge that early gap. Right. A lot of people struggle to, you know, get the early money for their business or the early this or the early that we want to be that ultra early education where you walk out of high school and you're like, well, I've uh, balanced a few checkbooks, but that doesn't really tell me anything else. It's like, we know, let's get started. Let's take you through the stuff.

Speaker C: And yeah, like a loan for your home. You need uh, the credit score. I didn't know that I need a credit score. So how I build my credit score if I just arrived to us. Okay, so if you see, you have to go back to understand all of this so you can move forward. That's our main objective here.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think providing that foundational knowledge is the way you empower the Hispanic community. Right. It's, let's take a step back, see what maybe misconceptions you have about investment and finances and let's just rework that and then uh, that will inform the next steps you take. So I wanted to segue and ask what does the future of uh, financial education and investment look like for the Hispanic community on a global scale and how will dinerazo shape this future you have in mind?

Speaker D: I was going to say it looks like dinerazo. In just a couple years, I was going to say. But I think just to kind of kick off. I think it's distributed. That's the easiest one. I think it's, you know, we're the, the artificial lines that a bunch of people that we don't know drew on a map, you know, hundreds of years ago has very little to do with how people live today. Right. In terms of, you know, how they want to connect different cultures, different this. But the reality is, you know, we're one people and you know, uh, as you know, globally, but also within our communities, you know, the Hispanic community and this and that. And I think for us it's really about working in as many markets as we can and offering as specific a, ah, solution and a specific uh, education as we can with those. But that kind of distributed nature of it all is going to make education specifically, but also, you know, finances broadly. I think just way more distributed and accessible for the, especially the, the Latino market, which seems to be leaning in as much as they can, partly because they're curious and also partly because there's a lot of turmoil. You know, there's a lot of turmoil in our culture and in our countries and that's, you know, some of it's our fault and some of it's not our fault, but either way it's there and it's Driving people to, you know, do what they do, what they can.

Speaker C: And now you can say, I don't know nothing about finance because at the end everything is finance. So when you decide, okay, uh, am I going to use this gas station or this other one? Uh, you're thinking in saving money if uh, you say okay, electric uh, car or gasoline? Car. Now you have to make the calculations and say ah, okay, I'm going to spend uh, this in electricity against this in um, gasoline. So everything, if you think about it, it's uh, finance. But uh, we don't want to call it finance. Do you see?

Speaker A: I think that's, that's great. And one thing I want to bring up for our listeners especially because they come from all different backgrounds, shapes and sizes. I want to uh, I want Richard, if he can, or whoever feels comfortable, uh, the difference between a Latino and a Hispanic because that's obviously something that we're throwing around back and forth.

Speaker C: Hispanic is from uh, Spain. Right. It means that uh, it's from the other continent and Latino is from Latam, from Latin America. And remember Latinx is because in that way you don't have to say Latino or Latina.

Speaker D: Latinx is for the Americans.

Speaker C: Exactly.

Speaker D: Because all the Hispanics and Latinos just go. As long as you don't assume we're all Mexican. That would be awesome. If you could just start there, that would be amazing.

Speaker A: That's funny.

Speaker D: Just take a guess. Just say I'm Venezuelan just for the hell of it, you know, Might as well.

Speaker A: At least you got the right continent this time.

Speaker C: And Miami is uh, full of different cultures and from uh, different countries. So it's a very interesting um, combination of different Latam, Latin American people that uh, we are creating uh, a ah, different uh, environment.

Speaker B: Yeah. And something that I think folks may not uh, may not seem as obvious because we tend to generalize about other ethnic and racial groups is there's a lot of diversity within Latin America, within Espana, if you go across to Europe. So how does that inform maybe how you prepare content for your audiences? Because someone who's living maybe in Lima, Peru may look at something and be viewing it differently from someone who lives in Guadalajara, in Mexico. So what do you have to keep in mind when you're designing your information?

Speaker C: Yeah, that's why we're going to begin with uh, the financial um, American system. And then uh, we'll go to other countries and make a partnership also with uh, people that um, know about local financial system. Okay. That's how we are going because I

Speaker D: think There's a lot of content out there and a lot of knowledge that's, you know, evergreen in the sense that budgeting is budgeting. You know what I mean? Yes. The tax bracket and the this and the that and the whatever, it's like, fine, but to think through, to plan ahead, to understand forecasting, to understand expectations, to understand life goals and segments that are going to change needs, there's a lot of those things. Whether it's, you know, budgeting, savings, understanding the financial institutions of your country, not necessarily even the specifics. But hey, you should know the banks, what your version of a credit union is. If there's out there, what level of government assistance for financial education and whatnot is available as well. You know, there's different things that are kind of universally relevant or kind of checklists that can be used to engage. So for us in the beginning, you know, we have a very targeted focus within the US and Mexico because we don't want to go and shotgun blast and do like everybody else does and assume that, oh, they're Hispanic, you know, rice and beans, I'll be fine. Like, we're good. Like, like it's, it's, it's, it's one's black and the other, it's good, it's like. No, that's not true. There's very specific needs to every single culture and so much diversity within the culture. I mean if, even if you look at the genre of Hispanics in the US we have Hispanics here that are, you know, very dark skinned. We have very, we have Hispanics here that are, that look like white people, that are like blonde hair and blue eyes. So um, even from a visual perspective, which of course plays into a lot of your life experience, there's totally different avenues that Hispanics who could have lived miles away from each other locally could experience much less spanning continents, the equator, you know, different, different, uh, governing systems and everything else.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think this is a great segue to our next form of questions which we talk about leadership and this is for, for both you and Aaron. Uh, so what strengths do Latino entrepreneurs bring to the startup and fintech space?

Speaker D: I think the easiest one is we are an innovative people there. Somehow we're all born MacGyver's, it feels like, because the ability for us to try to experiment, to see what works and really to whether we do it publicly because of course Latinos have a big thing of peer pressure in the family and the this and the that. Whether we do it publicly or privately, there's a lot of Innovation. I think of someone like my dad. My dad was somebody who used a Cricket wireless phone and did tile work all his life. And then one day he shows up, um, with like a 9 inch wide screen of uh, an Android and I'm like, what is that? He goes, I don't know, the kid at the store sold it to me and he learned how to use it. This is a guy that didn't know how to have an email, but he knew how to use all parts of his Android phone because he was willing to be foolish. He was willing to sit there and mess with it enough until he learned what he needed to. And I think just it's such a small little thing, but that ability to try to risk, failing to risk looking silly, that's where the growth happens, right? And that's where I think it's a huge kind of just a latent thing that it seems like the Latin culture broadly has within us that that little bit of the hell with it, I'm going to give it a go and all of a sudden things start happening.

Speaker C: And I also think that because of our economies in Latam, we have less resources. So for example, in Mexico, in my case, I used to drive a little two door car. So if something failed in the car, in the motor, I will open the hood and try to solve it. But uh, here it's like uh, ah, no, the dealer can solve it. No, no, no, that's very expensive here. And in Mexico I used to fix my own car because you don't have so much, uh, resources. And that's why we bring this entrepreneurial new innovation to the system.

Speaker A: A lot of Latinas, since we came out of the womb, we were bred to be innovative, you know.

Speaker C: Exactly, yeah, uh, had to be had,

Speaker D: had to be clever. And it's also, you know, not to get too meta, but it's also you guys as well. I mean you're starting a podcast and you have so many people, you're already on your second season, like you're moving through things and it's like, I don't know if you took a course, but I don't think you took a course. I think you guys just got after it and you started trying and you were willing to look a little silly because guess what, who cares? And now you're on Epic, now you're on whatever episode. And here we are and hopefully the audience members and the listeners are getting true value because two people were willing to struggle to Google mics, to understand video setups, to get things done. So that they could benefit and, oh, how thankful they are, or they should be that two people were willing to, to feel a little silly at times, I'm sure. And it's like that little, that little thing. I just think it's so valuable.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: Yeah, because that's the, uh, that's the easiest way to empower yourself, essentially. Right. If you know that whatever it is, I'm going to figure it out. Yeah. I'll struggle through it. Yeah. I'll, I'll, uh, hit a few walls. But I'm eventually going to get to a point where I know what I'm doing. So that's how we empower ourselves. And as an entrepreneur, what are some ways you stay inspired? Think of new and exciting business ideas.

Speaker C: You have to love what you do. Basically. It doesn't matter what it is. If it's, uh, going, uh, every day to your restaurant and fix some pastor tacos, or if, uh, it's a tech, uh, company, you have to love what you do. And if I can give an advice to your, to your audience, Try it, try it. I can assure you that you will fail maybe 5, 8, 10 times. But keep trying, don't stop trying. Because, uh, maybe in the 11, 12 try, you will achieve it.

Speaker D: I think that's a big one. I think it's also really important to stay kind of grounded in your community. And that doesn't mean, you know what I mean, go back to your old neighborhood every single weekend. But it just means stay true to yourself in whatever form that is, in whatever way that is. You know what I mean? Whether it's, you know, true you today or true you, you know, from years ago, but being in an ivory tower, you know what I mean? Whether it's because you think your startup is great or you think that, you know, your business is so complex and so fantastic, it's like that doesn't help anybody. Right? What helps is community. What helps is learning. What helps is helping each other get through it. Because getting to the top of a mountain and having nobody else around doesn't really seem like that much of a fun time to me. You know what I mean? So I think there's, there's tremendous value in kind of being a part of the community and that kind of reciprocity that happens naturally with entrepreneurs to inspire each other, help each other through a problem or, you know, make a connection that we otherwise wouldn't have had. Because so much of it is an accountability push almost where it's, you know, it's hard to do the thing it's way easier to not do something than it is to do something. Right. So having people around you that are constantly doing things is a great way to be like, you know, you're the sum of the five people around you. Well, if every time I walk into a room everybody's launching companies, it's like, well, soon enough I'm going to start getting busy and all of a sudden, you know, things start moving forward.

Speaker B: Yeah. Thank you for saying that, Aaron, because I think a good message to our audience as entrepreneurs is show up as yourself. Right. Don't show up being someone that you think everyone wants to see you in this slide or be this. Because everything, who you are is going to inform those decisions. So you just need to tap into who you are and be proud of that. I think as Hispanics and Latinos, you just have to go in and be proud of who you are because that's what people want to see. It does. No one's any service if you're showing up as someone else, you're not.

Speaker D: Absolutely. And it's.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: And it's like, it feels like a little superpower that we have. But it's like it feels like most Latinos that I meet, you know, I mean, and obviously every, every culture and every group of people has their introverts, but we're social friendly people. Even the introverts are well liked within their own groups. So it's like use that skill of, you know, engaging, whether it's culture and food, whether it's interests and friendship, whether it's jokes and laughter, like it doesn't really matter. It just matters that you're showing up. And it sounds so silly, but showing up really is like, I wouldn't even say it's half the battle. It's more than half the battle because the fantastic things that can happen just because you bump into somebody, you have no idea, but you have to be there first in order for it to happen.

Speaker A: Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you both for being on the show today. Tell our listeners how they can reach out to you if they have questions on being an entrepreneur in this field and what support or, and resources are available in financial education.

Speaker C: Well, uh, you can reach us, uh, through email. Obviously in my case it's Israel only the name at Dinerazo with Z. Dinerazo, uh, dot com. Um, Aaron?

Speaker D: Yeah, I was going to say my email is aaronarosso.com and by the time this goes up, we invite everybody to check out the website, send us some feedback. We'll have a contact form up there, reach out. If we can help, if we can connect, you know, we want to help. We want to be of value to our community. People have ideas or they wonder, hey, I wonder if they're going to do this, send us a message, let us know. Because if you tell us, then we just might. So, you know, we really just want to keep the door open for communication. And there is no ivory tower here. There's just a group of people, you know, looking to help as best we can.

Speaker A: Wonderful. And for the people listening, it's going to be on the notes section of wherever you're listening to Podcasts. I'll be there to drop their website and also their, uh, their contact email, uh, contact information so you all can find it there.

Speaker B: Yeah. Thank you once again, Israel and Aaron. Thank you for telling us all about Dinerazo and for our audience. Try, try, try. That was one of the main takeaways. And for those tuning in, make sure to follow and subscribe to us on all streaming platforms, including our socials at. Goentrepreneur yourself and leave us some honest review on Apple Podcasts. Come on, it doesn't hurt. Leave us some feedback. We love to read about it.

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Speaker C: We love feedback.