Santiago (Santi) Jaramillo

Latino entrepreneurs are driving innovation and growth. You’ve overcome challenges to launch thriving businesses. And many of you have asked . . . "What's next?" The answer to this question stems from what I like to call the "gap within the gap." We hear from countless business owners stuck at the $100K to $200k ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) stage, struggling to break through to the $1 million ARR mark. Here's the challenge in the ecosystem . . . There are several organizations that support Latino entrepreneurs at the idea and startup stages, helping them launch their businesses. Others focus on scaling companies already reaching the $3-5 million mark, propelling them towards $20 million and beyond. The critical gap lies in between . . . and that ‘gap’ is a major barrier to wealth creation. Less than 3% of Latino-owned businesses ever reach the $1 million ARR mark. And, that's where the Latino Leadership Institute's LEAP program steps in. LEAP is specifically designed to help entrepreneurs bridge this gap and increase the number of $1 million ARR Latino-owned companies. We focus on this because building and scaling employer-firms are the key to building generational wealth within Latino families and communities. I will dive deeper and address the key focus areas to reach the $1m ARR benchmark in my next post. In the meantime, what issues or challenges have you faced on your journey to leap over the $1 million ARR hurdle? And, what do you see as the challenges and solutions? Share your experiences or challenges in the comments below. #WealthGap #LatinoBusiness #BreakBarriers #LatinoEntrepreneur #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #LatinosLead

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How do you build meaningful partnerships as a founder? I know I've been guilty of sending partnership agreements in hopes of the best In this episode of How I'm Building This podcast, Alex Witcpalek, the founder of Continuum AI, shares his unconventional path from playing football at the University of Louisville to working in commercial real estate and eventually joining the tech industry. Here are some sound bites from our conversation: ✔️"I'm going to build something on my own and I'm going to build it so that not only do I have a better life, but there's families that don't have to go through what we're going through." ✔️"We have so much pipeline that if we close this, I need to build a team to be able to go deliver it." ✔️"You need to be very upfront and transparent with your partner and have a plan together to cross pollinate your go-to-market motions." ✔️"We became thought leaders and our content now drive sour partner channel." ✔️"I don't think you can silo outbound partner and marketing, because we do a lot of partner marketing together too." ‍ Listen now: Youtube: https://lnkd.in/g5P3nkWZ Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gXUYA_ZF Other episodes as they release: https://lnkd.in/gkxQsmwH #startup #entrepreneurship

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🥪 PB & J, 🦸‍♂️Deadpool & Wolverine, 🦾R2-D2 & C3PO ⚡️⚡️⚡️... Community & Innovation? Yes! I'm back beating the drum about underutilized communities and myopic community strategies. Your community innovation strategy doesn't have to *just* rely on ideas. With so many new community and collaboration platforms hitting the market (more on that soon), don't stay stuck in a rut with your Enterprise platform's ideation features. The trick? Start by matching your desired innovation outcomes with specific community methods - THEN find a platform (or existing tools) to support the needed interactions. #innovation #strategy #community

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📣 A challenge to the impact inspired innovation community❗ Many have spent years trying to figure out what's next after NPSP. The best way to create the next generation of impact technology after NPSP is to collaborate around turning GitHub's powerful platform, now free for nonprofits, into the next generation of what Salesforce was for nonprofits years ago... In 2008, Salesforce made free licenses available to nonprofits. They flocked to the new free tool, inspired to approach it from a "free" perspective. They got creative, had sprints, built metadata to convert Salesforce into a Nonprofit CRM, and shared it all on... GitHub! to create what became the Nonprofit Success Pack, used today by tens of thousands of nonprofits around the world. The largest open-source managed package on Salesforce. Still today, GitHub is where Salesforce openly maintains* NPSP: https://lnkd.in/gSV_6NFb 🎉 GItHub for Nonprofits GitHub recently announced GitHub for Nonprofits which includes a free Teams account for qualifying nonprofits and a 25% discount off Enterprise (~$15.75/user/month, nice round number!). ⚙️ So what free platform do you get with Teams? 🏢 Organizations Teams: Connect users and repositories with roles Repositories: The core of collaboration around modules or implementations Secrets: Shared across repositories for secure use by Actions Projects: Track work across many repositories with customizable Kanban, Roadmap, and Table views, integrated with Issues and Milestones 📂 Repositories Files/Folders/Code: The stuff in git version control Actions: Workflow automation runtime and tracking Pages: Run static websites built from the repository's content on GitHub Codespaces: Cloud based feature development collaboration environments Packages: Package repository for npm, Docker, etc Environments: Store secrets and variables per env with deployment rules and approvals Issues: Track issues with owners, labels, and discussions Pull Requests: Track requests to merge branches including collaborative review of line by line file changes Discussions: Threaded discussions and voting, including support for diverting Issues to discussions and promoting a discussion into an issue. Best of all... a really robust API in front of all that functionality, allowing you to build any user experience you can imagine. So, What don't you get with GitHub's Platform? 1. Data storage, unless as static data in a repo, and still not intended lots of data or PII. However, lots of "configuration as data" patterns could just be yaml 2. Persistent or on-demand production web runtime. Static sites only on Pages. But, you can do a lot with a static site these days! That's the thin layer of nonprofit solutions we should focus on creating in a repeatable, open source, platform agnostic way to ensure the next wave of nonprofit on-platform (whichever platform) innovation doesn't end like Salesforce Foundation ;)

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Here’s your chance. Learn the step by step on how to find, apply, and claim grants! Or is there a better way? Join me as I share the secret of Grant Angels.

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🎙️ Had a blast joining Michael Sacca & Ryan Truax on Leadpages "On The Record Podcast!" We explored what a banana 🍌 (yes, that Andy Warhol banana) can teach us about bold branding and the future of design 🔮 🎧 Full episode 👉 https://lnkd.in/gCF4P9B4 #UXDesign #Branding #Innovation #Podcast #Leadpages

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"It's almost like it's accidental at a small scale and it has to be really intentional at a large scale." - Joel Burleson-Davis on how to build accountability. I had a fun conversation with Joel Burleson-Davis, SVP of Engineering at Imprivata, about the critical competencies for people managers. We dove deep on the importance of accountability to team performance.  Here are a few key takeaways: 🧭 Accountability as a Compass: As Joel noted, “Accountability is one of the most pivotal competencies, because that's the only way that you get to the place that you were intending on getting.” Having clear goals and accountability to those goals is key. 📈 Intentional Accountability is Needed as Organizations Grow: As organizations grow, the natural accountability that exists in small teams must be replaced with intentional systems. As Joel said, "In small startups—you know everybody so well and everyone is highly accountable to each other because of how intimate it is. But as you grow, that implicit accountability starts to fracture, and if you don’t find another way to maintain it, things just fall apart." 🗣️ Sharing Goals Publicly Builds Accountability: One way to build accountability is to share goals publicly within a team and organization—on Slack, in internal knowledge bases, and in team meetings. It’s also critical to own up to it when you miss key goals—that transparent communication builds trust and greater accountability. These insights from an experienced engineering leader provide a playbook for people managers to build high-performing, accountable teams. Follow The Savage Leader for exclusive previews, expert interviews, and actionable leadership tips to elevate your team and impact. #thesavagemanger #accountability #engineeringleaders

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Jay McBain is always dropping gems! 💎 On the latest episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering, Jay dives deep into how 2025 and the future of partnering will continue to evolve dramatically. This shift underscores the importance of business ecosystems moving towards platforms that emphasize gravity, integration, and partnerships to attract services and technologies. How will you set up your organization for success and ensure you are achieving your greatest results in 2025? It is why we started Ultimate Partner & Ultimate Partner Experience (UPX). We don't claim to have all the answers, but we provide the best of the best who do! Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e4BCMxQ3 Check Out UPX: https://lnkd.in/e-ZpX3pB LISTEN ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST APP: https://lnkd.in/ejU4Tr4z #Partnering #BusinessEcosystems #FutureOfWork #UltimateGuideToPartnering

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The latest episode of the Disciplined Troublemakers Podcast is now live on your favorite platform. Managing Partner Daniel Sweet and I talk about buying profitable businesses and a lot more. Thanks again to Daniel Sweet and Sweetview Partners, Inc. for a great chat. #entrepreneurship #profitability #podcast

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Did you miss the Startup Funding event last night? Gregg Armitage and I were joined with Tobias Walter and Joshua Diver who shared their wonderful insights. Here are 3 key aha points to ponder over the weekend. Overall theme: Much more optimistic than I was expecting to hear. 1. While I'm a big fan of bottoms up market potential, when you show your Market Size slide, there are investors who may pass on 😲 you if they see your TAM is too small from their perspective. Takeaway 1: Solve a problem that has a big market potential. 2. No founder wants a flat or down round. Investors know if you are trying to finagle with convertible notes or SAFEs to create the illusion that you are running flat or down. Swallow your pride, take the money, and grow the business. Takeaway 2: Terms matter but are secondary. 3. Pedigree matters but it shouldn't. "Past performance is no guarantee of future results." Pedigree gets you in the door. Who is the founder now? Are they still coachable? Can they still build amazing teams who can buy into their vision? Are they solving fundable problems? Takeaway 3: Fluid intelligence and founders who have a need to win matters most. Bonus: Remember, VCs have to raise funds too. So they feel your pain. We have more Founder Institute NC events coming up. The next one is on June 18 at Cary Founded. In the meantime, I hope to see you at GrepBeat's Grep-a-palooza next week.

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The most common question I get since starting Madison: "Does Authority Marketing actually work?" Yes. But maybe not in the way some folks want. Madison | We Market Professional Services Firms started in January. In 4 months we've written over 30 proposals, starting from zero. ALL inbound. 90% from LinkedIn. I can't tell you which post did what. Calls to action are either nonexistent or very light. I just know that if a) you are super clear on what you do and for whom, and b) you continually show up for people in ways that are genuine and helpful... people WILL raise their hands when they're ready. It's a lot more like brand vs. direct response. It's not "30 days to a full pipeline." It's a long-term investment in your firm's brand, and in your personal brand as a Trusted Advisor. This year's content is next year's pipeline.

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If you're curious about the work we do at Ally Lab, check out this short video from Ghadeer Garcia talking about what makes Ally Lab special. #allyship #allies #deib

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If you have a podcast and are looking for a guest, let's connect and see if there's a fit with your audience. Thank you to Michael C. Bertoni for having me on his great show The SaaS Pulse Show and if you are a startup founder or in tech with an interesting story then maybe you should reach out. If you know of anyone who would be a great guest including yourself, please add in the comments. #podcast #saas

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Hey friends! ✨ I’ve got some exciting news to share! On September 12-13, I’m heading to the massive awwwards. Conference in Valencia for Digital Founders & Leaders. This is a super important event for me and for the life of my digital agency, AZ Agency. We’ve been submitting our projects to Awwwards for years now, and have even won several awards for them. Speaking of which, our AZ Agency website recently received an Awwwards recognition! Check it out: https://lnkd.in/drcCcW4P I’ll keep you posted on my experience at the conference—I’ve got high hopes for it, and I’m really looking forward to it. So, stay tuned for a post next week about how the conference went, what insights I gained, and what I learned 🔥 Who else is going to be at the conference in Valencia? Let me know, let’s meet up and network! Looking forward to connecting ⬇️ #webdesign #digitalproducts #digital #design #web #website #designstudio #digitalmarketing #branding #webdesigner #shopify #webflow #figma #sitedevelopment #designdevelopment #tilda #founderofagency #layout #websitelayout #digitalpromotion #promotion #Italiandesign #Italian #Italianmarketing #italiandesign #italianwebsites #italiandigitals #europedigital #europemarketing #europewebsites #nocode #nocodedevelopment #uidesign #uiux #uiudesign #uxuidesign #digitalagency #digitalservices #awards #CSSDA #startup #web3 #web3marketing

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OttoQa is now offering a FREE Proof of Concept for up to 500 interactions/calls! You can ask up to 10 custom questions as part of this trial. (we can have this up and running in 2-3 days!) Curious about agent behaviors, customer trends, reasons for cancellations, or whether your agents are using the right rebuttals? We’ll provide actionable insights for zero cost or obligation. Let me know if you're interested, and we’ll get started! We want as many of you out there to see the amazing power of using AI to enhave your contact center quality and analytics! DM me, if you are intersted and we will set up a meeting! #callcenter #contactcenter #callcentergeek  

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Are you a #startup #founder prepping to talk to VCs? An #investor preparing for your VC #interview? Considering #MBA to #Pivot into Venture? As part of our mission to break down #knowledge barriers in #venturecapital, Madison and I are teaming up to create an interactive, generative #AMA experience. This innovative tool is designed to help both founders and investors who are eager to break into the VC world. Our *LLM* is trained on Ayushi’s comprehensive guidebooks and Madison’s insightful podcasts, ensuring it is packed with valuable knowledge and resources. We are offering **early access** to the product ! To get involved, simply #comment below with a question you want the bot to answer. Your feedback will be invaluable in refining its capabilities. 💡 **Bonus points if you repost!** 💡

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Zack Price often found that his brainstorming sessions left his team thinking they needed to implement ideas immediately, leading to confusion and overwhelm. C12 Business Forums provided an unexpected solution by offering a space to workshop ideas with experienced leaders. Within C12, Zack received honest feedback, sometimes being told "that's a terrible idea," before presenting concepts to his team. C12 Business Forums offers the clarity and perspective needed to process ideas with high-level thinkers, helping to refine your leadership approach without creating chaos. Imagine the benefits of having access to such insightful discussions that significantly enhance leadership and decision-making. Imagine what that could do for your business. ➡️ Grab your FREE 2025 Strategic Planning Guide here: https://bit.ly/3CACWE8 #BusinessOwner #Entreprenuer #BusinessCoaching #christianbusinessowner #FaithDrivenLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #BusinessGrowth

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“It’s about doing things for your community, not taking from them.” Jared Robin ⏭ A long-time friend comes to the Revenue Reimagined pod this week!! I first met Jared when I was working for a startup company in LA. He was looking for the next step in his journey. We scheduled a time to talk, and a day before, he called me and said, "Dale, I am thinking of starting something, and I do not want to waste your time because I do not think I want to go back to work full time." What was this "thing"? - it is a small community called RevGenius!  Jared and I have stayed in touch over the years and become good friends!   I was excited to have him on the podcast! For anyone that does not know, Jared here is a bit of insight: Jared Robin, co-founder of RevGenius, is a community-building expert with deep insights into leveraging relationships to drive business growth. Known for his innovative approach to creating movements around communities, In this episode, Jared discusses how he built RevGenius into a thriving community. He emphasizes the importance of building genuine connections, solving real problems, and creating a movement rather than just a network. Jared also shares strategies for using community as a catalyst for business growth and innovation. 5 Key Takeaways: • 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁:   - Don’t just create a group—build a movement.   - A community should solve real problems for its members.   - Genuine connections drive long-term value.    • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴:   - Networking is about making friends, not extracting value.   - Focus on how you can help others before asking for anything.   - Relationships built authentically will provide ongoing opportunities.    • 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘃𝘀. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹:   - Community is not just a marketing or sales channel.   - It’s a holistic part of your go-to-market strategy.   - Build trust and provide value to unlock growth.    • 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆:   - Community building takes time—focus on the long game.   - Success isn’t immediate but compounds over time.   - Think in terms of category creation, not just short-term wins.    • 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴:   - Stay ahead by creating unique, differentiating factors.   - Serve your community by providing opportunities for education and growth.   - Empower members to be advocates, helping to scale your efforts organically. Full episode here:  https://lnkd.in/ekRiKAHk

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When you hire someone in a new state, do you need to register to do business there when you use a PEO? If you ask most PEOs, they would say, "Yes - you should also register your entity with the state if you have employees there." But why? Technically with a PEO you are "co-employing" people. Typically PEOs don't handle foreign registrations or secretary of state filings for your entity, so that's on you. If you're not registering in a new state is because you don't know how or don't have time, Discern makes it extremely easy. You can complete your foreign registration filing in a few minutes directly out of our product. I don't know if I fully realized it when we were building the product, but it is by far one of our biggest points of value add for companies growing across state lines. Registering in a new state is a shockingly annoying process to do on your own. You typically need to get a certificate of good standing before you can even file, and sometimes the filing involves publication requirements where you need to advertise your foreign registration in an actual newspaper. We handle all of that behind the scenes. All you do is complete the digital form in Discern. IFYKYK

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