The purchasing power of the Latinx community has grown substantially in the past 30 years, from $213 billion in 1990 to over $1.9 trillion in 2020. Yet, venture capital funding for businesses started by Latinx founders still sits below 2% year over year.
Brittany Chavez is here to change that. She built Shop Latinx to create a shopping experience around all the passionate, talented Latinx creatives and makers in the world. Her vision is to amplify the work of Latinx and BIPOC business owners by curating a marketplace that speaks directly to our community. We talk about how she turned a brilliant Instagram handle into a business, raising the first $1MM from VCs of color and her personal growth as a founder. Here are some of my favorite quotes from our conversation.
On raising the first $1MM for Shop Latinx:
2:17 You know, being a founder, raising venture capital is very intimidating. There were a lot of VCs that I met, I think most of which were awesome and great to speak to and very intellectual. But then there are times where I got off the phone feeling really defeated or kind of incompetent, you know? Or, you know, it would make me question what I'm doing with my company, but thank God, I persisted. You know, looking back, I just can't believe that I've been on this journey for, I've been going on six years now. There's been a lot of hurdles that I've overcome, and I think what kept me going was, you know, I didn't make it this far to just get this far. I'm placing all bets into this company.
On finding the right investors:
3:54 And I wasted a lot of time trying to make people who are probably not passionate or don't know too much about this community. And you know what I'm building doesn't excite them, and I try to convince them otherwise. And VCs want to invest in companies that they're excited about. So it's my job to find those people who could potentially be excited about what I'm building and most of which were black and brown VCs.
On the nuances of the Latinx community:
8:10 The Latin X community, I will say that Latinidad it's very complicated. It's confusing, right? Because it's a very in a way almost diluted term because of how expansive it is. It covers multiple countries. It covers multiple ethnicities, generations, races. Even those who identify as Latinx might be under a different archetype than someone who refers to themselves as Hispanic. So I think that there are so many nuances in it, it really takes an expert. To understand that. And that expert inherently has to be a part of the community.
On building the company through an instagram handle:
15:53 And then over time, you know, I've received about 300 DMs and emails in total where people were like, Hey, I'm trying to buy this shirt and I'm on your website during that time, your directory. How do I purchase the shirt or I want to purchase the shirt, you know, and this pot and these earrings that you posted? How do I do that? Oh, you have to go on the respective sites. And it happens several hundred times. You know, I think we'll ship. Maybe there is a business model here and then that's when Shop Latinx the marketplace kind of came to fruition.
On building her partner’s brands:
25:11 And I just think that like, I just do my research and I use that to just leverage connection. And then even in these calls with brands, you know, some people just want to tell their story and they want to be heard and they want to, you know, so if I just allow people to feel seen, their channels will grow.
On growing as a founder:
30:36 I think being a founder, it's like an accelerated course and understanding yourself and emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, you know, from a leadership standpoint. And then company culture starts at the top. So if I'm not in tip-top shape, I'm not getting my eight to 10 hours, yeh I sleep 10 hours a night. So I have to show up for my team every day, you know, and those I would say I learned from them, I'm sure, just as they learn from me. But because we're such a small team, they look up to me. I mean, I hope that any team member would look up to their boss or any boss would have that kind of impact on their team member. But yeah, I've got to show for them.
On growing as a person:
35:51 I think there's been this massive shift in perspective that I now have when it comes to the ebbs and flows of life and just circumstances. If something bad happens to me, it's just kind of like, what can I learn from this? You know? Yeah, how can I make sure that this doesn't happen again or even discipline? Like, there's a lot of things that I do that are trauma response is that if I were to try my hardest to like, revert and pivot away from that, I'll feel better.
Brittany Chavez, CEO and Founder of Shop Latinx