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QUICK PITCH: 
saySquare is redesigning payments in Latin America.  Its trusted platform allows small businesses to accept payments using SMS like a mobile POS.  With their solution, users and merchants won’t need specialized hardware or smartphones to receive payments.

THE BUSINESS:
Small businesses in developing countries have many obstacles that don’t allow them to grow economically or reach their core objectives.  One of those main obstacles is the lack of trust that the banking sector has in the niche; this is reflected in the lack of access to POS devices that streamline small business sales and move them in highly competitive markets.

saySquare is an alternative payment method that will allow small business in Latin America to grow.  Specifically, saySquare offers a mechanism to receive payments through a platform using SMS on any cell phone with any mobile carrier in a country – safely and quickly.

THE “AHA” MOMENT: 
Cristian Espinoza, one of the founders of saySquare, was running late to a meeting back home in Honduras.  He didn’t have time to make lunch, so he quickly stopped at a small taco shop on his way to the meeting.  When he was about to pay, the cashier told him that she didn’t have change for a large bill, so Cristian tried to pay with his credit card. Unfortunately, the cashier didn’t have a POS either.  Frustrated, Cristian had to leave without his tacos and with an empty stomach.  Most importantly, the taco shop missed out on a potential sales transaction.

The saySquare founders realized that this sort of thing happens quite often in Honduras and similar places with many small businesses.  As native Latin Americans, the saySquare team saw that there was a great need to support the small business sector, and saw that they could do so through today’s technology. Consequently, by helping small businesses grow, they would foster the progression of the nation’s overall economy.

This was their “AHA” moment.  They felt that there had to be a better way to use technology and allow anyone, anywhere, to accept payments.  They decided to do something for the sake of hungry “taco lovers” and small businesses everywhere.

HOW IT MAKES MONEY: 
saySquare applies a 3% fee per transaction.

BUSINESS IT COULD DISRUPT:
Financial Services and Mobile Payments for small businesses in developing countries.  saySquare’s SMS platform makes it easy and safe for any merchant to use in their business, as to avoid missing out on potential revenue.

MARKET SIZE:
Small businesses in Latin America represent 90% of companies, and there are almost 4 million small businesses operating over a market of 146 million consumers. Furthermore, saySquare is specifically designed for places like Latin America where 80% of the population uses basic mobile devices.  They aim to partner with merchants who seek a better way to increase their sales but whose businesses are too small to work with traditional credit card networks or systems.  saySquare is well positioned in hopes of tapping into the purchasing power of Latinos within Latin American countries and eventually the US market.

LIKELY COMPETITORS:
In the US, the competition is heating up in the mobile payments market. However, for these companies, Latin America may be viewed as a risky, small market or they wrestle with how to target Latino users effectively.  Solutions like Google Wallet or PayPal may enter the Latin American market to compete.  However, as of now there are no major competitors in Latin America.

PARTNERSHIPS OR COLLABORATIONS:
saySquare is currently in discussion with various banks to explore potential partnerships.  If you are interested in speaking to saySquare with regards to potential partnerships or collaborations, please contact info@saysquare.com.

MANAGEMENT TEAM:
Cristian Espinoza, Leonardo Amador, Armando Alvarado and Wilfredo Guevara

RANDOM QUESTIONS FOR SAYSQUARE:
Who are your role models?
Answer:  As an entrepreneur, we find inspiration for many in the startup world and we try to learn from them as much as possible, both successes and failures. However, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and Co-founder of Twitter, stands out because he did something outside of his comfort zone.  Also, Ev Williams, Co-Founder of Twitter, because he has been an effective leader.  Lastly, Steve Jobs because he always tried to create the best products for customers even when customers did not know what they want.

What’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur?
Answer:  You get to meet a lot of brilliant people and you learn from them.  You learn more from experiencing entrepreneurship than from reading books about entrepreneurship.

What’s the best advice that anyone has given you?
Answer:  #hacelopue – it’s slang that people use in Honduras that means “stop talking about it and just do it.”  When we started hearing this, it motivated us to focus on saySquare and take action to complete it.

What advice would you give to others?
Answer:  Don’t be afraid of taking a leap of faith.  Don’t be afraid of failure, because you learn more from failure than from following the risk-free path.

Quick Pitch features most innovative early-stage startups founded by Latino entrepreneurs from the Manos Ventures program.  It profiles company pitches, interviews and guest columns by experts in the startup scene. 

QUICK PITCH: 
MakeMyQuince is the first to bring online event planning and crowdfunding to Quinceaneras.

THE BUSINESS:
Users will be able to sign in to Make My Quince website/app using their instagram account where they can brainstorm ideas for their quinceanera by creating “dreamboards” from the most popular quinceranera hashtags. Once they are ready to begin planning, they can create a custom planning check list and budget that fits their Quince needs. Make My Quince will provide recommendations on items they have chosen on their checklist. They will also have the option to have “Madrina crowdfunding” where they create a custom page and invite family and friends to contribute to various items needed to have the perfect quinceanera.

THE “AHA” MOMENT: 
Our team met at StartUp Weekend Sacramento in November 2014. Co-founder Fatima Ruiz pitched the idea of “crowdfunding for Quinceaneras” and as a team we developed a business plan, revenue streams, brand identity and won 2nd place that weekend. We have continued as a team since November 2014. We have had three focus groups and each one lead to big “AHA” moments – these have shaped our direction and validated the need and desire for our service.

HOW DOES IT MAKE MONEY?: 
The company will make a money from two distinct revenue streams. The first is through a percentage of the crowdfunding for the quinceaneras (5% of the money collected for the event through the site), and the second is through vendor advertising.

BUSINESS IT COULD DISRUPT: 
Make My Quince brings Quinceanera planning to the digital/mobile age and provides an empowering tool for our users to plan a once in a lifetime event all in one place at any time.

The business could have a negative impact on event planners, as girls and their families take more control of more details involved in putting on the event.

The business could have a positive impact on many of the local businesses that serve quinceaneras. Families may have more money for the event as the financing for the event is confirmed.

MARKET SIZE: 
We look to provide a service to anyone planning to celebrate a Quinceranera.

The market size is determined in part by the population we serve. It is a niche market consisting of girls from Latin American backgrounds in their early teens, and their families. The primary markets include the U.S. market (market size estimated at 400,000 quinceaneras per year), as well as girls in Latin American countries (approximately 6,500,000 fourteen year old girls).

LIKELY COMPETITORS:
WeddingWire, an online marketplace, connects event planners with merchants and creative professionals servicing weddings, reunions and more.

Pinterest is a social bookmarking site with a virtual pinboard interface that visually showcases the user’s interests.

Latina Magazine, Quinceanera Magazine

Indiegogo is a global crowdfunding platform empowering people around the world to fund projects that matter to them.

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform for creative projects such as movies, music, art, theater, games, comics, design, and photography.

Instagram is a free photo sharing application that enables its users to take photos, apply filters, and share them on social networks.

Wedding.com.my- We are a visual content discovery & social commerce platform for wedding industry, bringing bridal community and vendors together. (Malaysia)

WeddingLovely is a collection of wedding tools and directories for promoting small business, local and independent wedding vendors. (US)

WeddingPlz.com is an online platform designed to find the best wedding vendors in town ! It’s a one stop solution for all the wedding needs. (India)

Wedding Channel is a wedding portal, including planning, checklists, dresses, photos, etc.(US)

The Knot (www.theknot.com) is the Internet’s most-trafficked one-stop wedding planning solution. (Pre-launch: The Knot provides a number of resources for couples looking to plan their weddings) (US)

PARTNERSHIPS OR COLLABORATIONS: 
Manos Acelerator & Google for Entrepreneurs

MANAGEMENT TEAM:
-Fatima Ruiz: fatima@makemyquince.com
-Chris Cacciatore: chris@makemyquince.com
-Ramona Maurer: ramona@makemyquince.com
-Laura Gonzalez: laura@makemyquince.com

WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS?: 
As a team, we value time for our families and sharing our family history. All of us honor our families in pursuing this start-up and making Make My Quince a successful service that our users enjoy. Our role models are our families, youngest to oldest, all supporting our dream.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR?: 
In entrepreneurship, there are no limits to making your vision become a reality. It takes continuous commitment (hour by hour) and the ability to bounce back from every failure and roadblock. Ironically, at these lowest moments is where a vision is reignited with energy, hope, and the passion for executing better.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE THAT ANYONE HAS GIVEN YOU?: 
Fail Quick and Fail often. Failure shapes your vision, deliverables, experience, and execution.
People will tell you what they want, all you have to do is listen.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHERS?: 
Be open for all feedback and learn to get comfortable asking for feedback, advice, time, and money. Do not be afraid to ask for things your team needs to create amazing products and services – be fearless in your asking. You will get turned down, but you will also meet people who believe in your vision and will help you see it through.

Interview with DreamTuner

Quick Pitch…
Dream Tuner is a music platform that combines data analytics and music discovery in order to empower unsigned musicians.

The Business
Dream Tuner is a technological platform meant to help independent and unsigned musicians achieve their dreams. A main issue for musicians is getting their music heard by the right people, obtaining instant feedback and at the same time having specific analytic data to help them achieve their dreams/goals. Dream Tuner is combining an online radio with detailed metrics so that musicians will be able to not only get their music out to the public and receive instant feedback, but also have substantial data that can be used for planning tours and marketing campaigns, identifying new fans and acquiring leverage when dealing with key industry players.

The “A-ha” Moment
It started while I was doing my MBA in the University of Texas at Austin. I was visiting my family in Miami and was giving my youngest brother a ride to the University of Miami radio station where he was dropping his band’s demo hoping that the DJ would like it and maybe play it sometime. That is when it came to me, why are there so many tools for musicians and yet they are still getting their music out there the same way for the past 40 years. I got back to Texas with the idea of empowering musicians with all the information that can help them. I talked to my other brother and a couple of friends and we started devising what would become Dream Tuner.

How does it make money?
Dream Tuner will (after beta) have three revenue streams. Advertisement,corporate accounts and membership accounts charged to musicians for detailed metrics.

Businesses it could disrupt…
It will have an impact on the music industry and all that derive from it. From record label companies to the corner bar where musicians hope to play on a week night.

Market Size
The idea of Dream Tuner is that unsigned musicians will learn to use this tool in their favor when negotiating, be it a small bar, an indie festival, a new record label or going up to a local radio station to get their art out there. Also, there are many early adopters searching for new music,we want to bring them to our platform to discover new music and promote it.

Likely competitors
Currently there are huge competitors such as Spotify and Soundcloud where artists can upload their music and hope to get discovered. However, when you are a small pop band and U2 is in the same genre as you, it is pretty hard for you to get discovered. We want to clear the noise and let the unsigned bands showcase their art on a leveled playing field.

Partnerships or Collaborations
We have as an advisor Dae Bogan, have collaborated with InfinixSoft, and have been part of the Made in the LAB Miami program.

Management Team
Alejandro Carrasco – Cofounder and CEO; Gabriel Carrasco Co-Founder

Contact Information
info@dreamtuner.com; alejandro@dreamtuner.com

Who are your role models?
Our role model was our grandfather, a person who had to support all his family as a teenager and who taught us that honesty, loyalty, perseverance and family are the most important things in life.

What’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur?
The best part about being an entrepreneur is not knowing what the next day, month, year will be like. Every day is an adventure, which can be overwhelming but at the same time makes life a whole lot more interesting.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Don’t be like someone else, inspire others with your actions so that someday they will want to be like you.

What advice would you give to others?
Don’t be a lion, a fox or a shark. Be the salmon swimming against the current.

 Click here to watch Dream Tuner’s official video.