We recently connected with Edrizio De la cruz and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Edrizio thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
-I’ve started a non-profit, The Founder School. We help ambitious underrepresented tech professionals go from pre-idea to venture-ready in 12 weeks. We invest $40k in top grads. In 2023, our top 6 grads raised $500k in 6 months.
-The next cohort runs from April to June. Giving underrepresented founders access to the room where success happens is a huge difference-maker. We’re the only school that gives underrepresented founders ability to get coached by successful founders who’ve done it
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m the best-selling author of The Underdog Founder.
I’m a former Y Combinator visiting partner. A Dominican immigrant raised in Harlem, I dropped out of college and joined the U.S. Air Force, becoming an aircraft technician to make ends meet. I later returned to college, worked on Wall Street, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School.
In 2013, I co-founded Arcus, a fintech company that raised $20M from Y Combinator, Initialized, Citi Ventures, SoftBank, and a16z. In 2021, Arcus was sold to Mastercard, in its largest Latam acquisition ever.
I’m most proud that was able to succeed not in spite of my circumstances growing up, but because of them. I believe that hard challenges shape and propel us forward.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My first entrepreneurial calling involved street-vending the extra guavas that grew from two trees in our backyard. I’d set up a stand in front of our house along a moderately busy road with mostly motorbike taxis (motoconchos) and other traffic. Occasionally, someone would stop and purchase my wares: 10 cents for green guayabas and 25 cents for the pink, ripe ones. Having researched market prices while shopping with my mom, I knew exactly how much to charge, and I took pride in my 100 percent profit margins. When my brother was old enough—about five or six—I brought him into the business, turning our family’s surplus fruit into pocket change.
Sometimes our profits helped stock candles or other essentials. Since electricity went out so frequently, we spent most evenings under candlelight, and when running water worked, we hoarded it for later. Showers involved pouring bucketfuls of cold water over our heads, but if we were lucky, we could wash off outside in the warm, tropical rain.
I learned that the best way to get started with any entrepreneurial dream is to just use whatever resources you have right in front of you. Stop waiting for things to be perfect and give yourself permission to mess up. That’ll make it easier to just start and continue to grow and learn along the way.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In my senior year in college, I was the fish out of water 🐟
I was 25 when most students were 21. I was working midnights at JFK Airport as an aviation mechanic when most students had internships at banks.
Yet my dreams were still BIG:
To make it to Wall Street, in investment banking 🏦
After many many many rejections (33 to be exact), I landed an internship at UBS Investment Bank.
This was due in large part to the support and guidance I got from my teachers, classmates, and career counselors at Baruch College
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.edriziodelacruz.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edrizio-de-la-cruz-2b8ab75/