Martin Cabrera

Investment banker and venture capitalist Martin Cabrera shares his origin story and talks about how Latinos are breaking into traditionally exclusive wealth building opportunities and changing lives.

Transcript

00:00:07:20 - 00:00:42:08
Gary
All right. I'm here with actually a really good friend, Martin Cabrera, who runs a. Cabrera Capital. And we'll talk a little bit about what that is. But. Martin, you and I had a little bit of an opportunity to chat before the interview. I was sharing with you some of the conversations that I've had to this point and really what the thrust is behind this podcast, which is all about closing the Latino wealth gap in America.

00:00:42:16 - 00:01:03:04
Gary
And this time, we're serious. I have my own ideas and philosophies around it. I know everybody does, and I know you do in particular. I think personally, it's going to take a combination of some government participation. Government has to commit to this and they have to they have to invest more in the Latino community.

00:01:03:12 - 00:01:22:13
Gary
I think that it's going to take a lot of capital. I think there’s one thing people don't talk about enough is that, there's only so much that can happen without capital. At the end of the day, that's what basically governs everything. And then thirdly, I also think it's going to require some kick ass entrepreneurs. I call them gangsters.

00:01:22:13 - 00:01:52:06
Gary
So, the name don't laugh too loud, but the name of my podcast, the particular series, I call it Govies, Plutes and Gangsters. . Okay. And I think I know which category you're in, but I think everybody might, be in one or two categories. So, but we're having fun with it. I've interviewed a number of really compelling people, but I'm super excited about this conversation because I know how committed you are to this, cause I know what a phenomenal company that you built.

00:01:52:13 - 00:02:04:07
Gary
And I just want people to just hear a little bit from you as to what your thoughts are around this. So. MARTIN, let's start off by telling us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your background and a little bit about your business, please.

00:02:04:07 - 00:02:28:17
Martin
Sure. Now, Gary, it's great to be here. Always good to get good to get together and just chat about some of the causes we're passionate about. So I am the CEO of Cabrera Capital and we are an investment banking institutional brokerage firm. So we work with major corporations, private equity firms, pension funds, working on issuing their debt, as well as equity and equity IPOs that deals.

00:02:29:09 - 00:03:01:15
Martin
Also, we have a real estate development group. So we have large real estate projects kind of here in Chicago as well as kind of throughout the country, and working with other kind of local sharpshooters in the respective cities and developing residential as well as commercial. Sites. And it is something we've we've had the business for over 21 years where we like to say the premier Latino financial services firm in the country working with many of our kind of unions and Taft-Hartley and foundations.

00:03:01:15 - 00:03:31:16
Martin
So but really being at the crux of the market, where you're seeing capital kind of come into the market and impact our communities, which we really kind of thrive on and try to focus in on as well. So I've been at this for about about 27 years or so, and I had started off Cabrera back in 2001. But I grew up here in Chicago on the Southwest side of Chicago, La Villita neighborhood, and I knew nothing about kind of investment

00:03:31:16 - 00:03:31:18
Gary
So thats my question

00:03:31:18 - 00:03:40:07
Martin
the stock market or bonds and it wasn't until my senior year of high school that I thought I was going to be an architect.

00:03:40:07 - 00:03:56:23
Martin
And one of my teachers, Jim Ortiz, he knew I love sports, so he knew I love competing. And he's like, Martin, I want to take my econ class and we're going to go over the stock market and the bond market. And I told I was like, Mr. Ortiz, I'm a senior in high school. I'm going to University of Illinois.

00:03:56:23 - 00:04:14:05
Martin
I'm going to be an architect. I've got my whole life figured out. And he kindly kind of put me in a headlock. I want you to take my class. And I was like, okay, Mr. Ortiz. And, he asked us, who knows what a stock in a bond is? And so I quickly raised my hand.

00:04:14:05 - 00:04:28:23
Martin
I was like, a bond is something between a man and a woman. And he's like, No, no, that's not what we're talking about. And and we're a bunch of Mexican kids from the neighborhood that never had exposure to stocks or bonds.

00:04:28:23 - 00:04:30:16
Gary
So you. Didn't grow up in a wealthy Family?

00:04:30:16 - 00:04:35:08
Martin
No, no, not at all. I think we're always struggling. How do we put food on the table?

00:04:35:08 - 00:04:35:17
Gary
Wow.

00:04:35:17 - 00:04:40:15
Martin
How do we get to, the back rent that was owed and try to pay that? So.

00:04:40:23 - 00:04:42:06
Gary
And how many siblings did you have?

00:04:42:16 - 00:04:45:11
Martin
I had an older brother and I have two younger sisters.

00:04:45:17 - 00:04:46:10
Gary
So. Four kids.

00:04:46:10 - 00:05:10:04
Gary
Yes. And but it was great growing up because I think, with all of the, tough times, the struggles, that you go through life, it actually builds that grit in you that you can't learn in a textbook. You can't learn MBA class, but you become resilient and you just you get knocked down a lot, but you also get back up.

00:05:10:04 - 00:05:28:21
Martin
And that's, all the trials and tribulations of growing up in the neighborhood, the gangs, the drugs and the tough neighborhoods, too. You have to get past that and struggle through it. But it did lead me to changing my major from architecture, going into finance and changing the university I attended.

00:05:28:21 - 00:05:53:08
Gary
And I think that's a question that I would have first for you, and that is, investment banking, I mean, we see it in the movies. we hear about it maybe in the news, Maybe those of us that may occasionally read The Wall Street Journal, we hear about investment bankers, but we think that this is these are people that somehow are like at a different level and they operate in the stratosphere and somehow they are groomed for this from day one.

00:05:54:00 - 00:06:09:12
Gary
I have never I certainly didn't know any Latino mortgage. I mean, mortgage bankers, investment bankers grew up growing up. What in the world besides this mentor made you think that you could and should become an investment banker?

00:06:09:21 - 00:06:35:17
Martin
I didn't know I wanted to become an investment banker, and I didn't realize that. Okay, most folks have their uncles and their fathers in the business to give them a leg up. I just knew I really enjoyed it. I love the competition and I love kind of being the best. And you want to be number one. And whatever you did, whether it was in sports or in business, you want to compete and it's taking that mentality and seeing kind of what the opportunities were.

00:06:35:20 - 00:06:58:17
Martin
And I quickly realized once I got into the business that you can do well in business and be an investment banker, but also see how it's financing Hollywood and see how it's financing development projects and see how it's helping corporations as well. So you get to touch multiple aspects of our economy and not just here in the States, in Latin America and Europe and Asia.

00:06:59:03 - 00:07:02:04
Martin
And that was really fascinating and challenging as well.

00:07:02:05 - 00:07:27:20
Gary
It is challenging and it's remarkable. I've gotten involved. I think you know, in venture capital. So I grew up in the real estate business. I used to be a mortgage banker. I now run NAHREP I do the LATTITUDE thing. And venture capital was not anything that was anywhere near my radar, frankly. So and I started to recognize that one of the things that we wanted to focus in at LATTITUDE was bringing more capital to Latino entrepreneurs.

00:07:27:20 - 00:07:46:03
Gary
For a lot of the reasons that I said at the beginning and there wasn't many sources of capital willing to invest in Latino led startups, So we said, we're going to do it ourselves. And Sol, he's a force of nature and he says things and he, like, proclaims that we're going to be on the moon in five years or whatever the case may be metaphorically, and somehow they happen.

00:07:46:11 - 00:08:05:16
Gary
But I've learned in venture capital just really what a clicky business it is. Environment. You said that most people in investment banking and I think it's the same thing as venture capital. They got it because a family member, their uncle, somebody, they come from some sort of pedigree that has created this path for them to get into that business.

00:08:05:22 - 00:08:25:07
Gary
Obviously, people like you and I did not have that. And I think that that really is something that very few Latinos have, maybe not the next generation, but certainly in our generation, there weren't many Latinos that had those relationship now and so that's those are barriers that are tough to break. they're tough. These are these are tough walls to get through.

00:08:25:07 - 00:08:43:03
Gary
These are tough barriers to get through. Somehow. You did it. So I'm impressed with that. Let's talk about the numbers a little bit. So, I'm on this crusade to find ways to close the Latino wealth gap in America. And I think people like you are part of the solution. Capital, The management of capital.

00:08:43:12 - 00:08:47:03
Gary
How much capital is there floating around the economy right now?

00:08:48:01 - 00:08:52:16
Martin
So, Gary, that's a crazy thing when you think about the pension fund space,

00:08:52:16 - 00:08:53:10
Gary
the pension fund

00:08:53:10 - 00:09:08:18
Martin
world, that is a $90 trillion industry and it's one of the most impactful industries that tap into and have impact for major corporations, whether it's housing. So these are like state pension funds.

00:09:09:01 - 00:09:12:04
Gary
These are like state employees. These are Corporate.

00:09:12:04 - 00:09:12:14
Martin
Corporate.

00:09:12:18 - 00:09:13:06
Gary
Founds

00:09:13:17 - 00:09:17:16
Martin
Union pension funds as well, we’re Latinos are like the biggest group

00:09:17:16 - 00:09:19:20
Gary
contributors

00:09:19:20 - 00:09:24:18
Martin
So that that industry is roughly a $90 trillion Industry.

00:09:24:18 - 00:09:25:14
Gary
Trillion with a T?

00:09:25:14 - 00:09:38:16
Martin
With a T, and it's hard for people to put their minds around. Okay, how can that be so large? But it is. And that is what has been fueling the economy in all aspects

00:09:39:08 - 00:09:40:06
Gary
How? explain that

00:09:40:12 - 00:09:57:21
Martin
The funny thing and so the pension funds are going and investing their dollars and investing in stocks, meaning companies like Home Depot and Amazon and Bank of America and JP morgan and those stocks, when they're investing them, drive the stock price higher.

00:09:57:21 - 00:10:19:05
Gary
So just to break that down a little bit. you have these state employees or working for a big corporation, they pay into their pension fund through their dues or through some contribution. And that money goes into a pool and somebody is in charge of managing that money and getting a return on that money because that's better for the beneficiaries of those pension funds.

00:10:19:13 - 00:10:25:13
Gary
And they decide, I'm going to buy stocks, I'm going to buy real estate, they invest the money just like anybody else will.

00:10:25:13 - 00:10:25:20
Martin
Yeah!

00:10:25:20 - 00:10:29:18
Gary
but only they're dealing with trillions of dollars, not a couple.

00:10:29:18 - 00:10:36:08
Martin
And just to give you a specific example, you could look at California and where the Latino population is.

00:10:36:08 - 00:10:37:03
Martin
40%.

00:10:37:03 - 00:10:37:07
Gary
Yeah!

00:10:37:07 - 00:10:38:08
Gary
almost half

00:10:38:08 - 00:11:05:05
Martin
And so every two weeks, those Latino employees that are working for the government are contributing to their pension fund. So it's their dollars that are going into the pension fund. The pension fund is then deciding who am I going to have manage those assets. It's typically not folks that look like you. And I agree, it's of those assets and they have about just in the one pension fund, about a half a trillion dollars.

00:11:05:05 - 00:11:16:21
Martin
So what they do as far as business with Latinos is about a half of 1%. So not one penny, sort of every dollar being spent. It's not a penny that Latinos are participate in. It's a half of.

00:11:16:22 - 00:11:31:21
Gary
what you're saying is, if I'm a I'm a person who's managing a pension fund, you said the California state. There's there's a big pension fund there. And I'm going to invest some of that money. I don't just invest in individual stocks. I'm going to invest I'm going to actually hire people to manage that money for me.

00:11:32:04 - 00:11:52:21
Gary
Who are experts. So the BlackRock is the world, the big asset managers of the world. These are folks that I give some of the money to to manage on my behalf. And you're saying that less than 1% of the money that's being managed, that's being invested by these pension funds is going to companies like yours, going to companies that are led by Latinos.

00:11:53:10 - 00:11:56:02
Gary
And why is that important? MARTIN Help us understand.

00:11:56:17 - 00:11:57:20
Martin
and it sounds terrible.

00:11:57:20 - 00:11:58:14
Gary
It sounds ridiculous

00:11:58:14 - 00:11:59:02
Martin
It is.

00:11:59:02 - 00:12:00:00
Gary
But tell me why.

00:12:00:00 - 00:12:17:03
Martin
I think I'm the eternal optimist. So that means that there's 99 and a half percent upside as well. So but you think about it and it really sends a message that as Latinos, we're good enough to put our money into the pension fund system and fuel the economy. but we're not good enough to manage your assets.

00:12:17:14 - 00:12:36:19
Martin
And that's not the case because we have qualified Latinos that are out there that are hungry and they're performing. They just never get a shot because they didn't grow up in the industry and don't have those legacy relationships and family members that have been in the business. But tapping into that, that wealth creation does allow you to pierce the veil.

00:12:37:03 - 00:12:51:03
Martin
And I think we spent a lot of time educating our Latino elected officials of how important that pool of money is. So in California, I think it's about $1.7 trillion. So it's not just the CalPERS pension fund, it's all the other state.

00:12:51:09 - 00:12:52:12
Gary
University of California.

00:12:52:13 - 00:12:58:02
Martin
University of California, City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego, City of San Francisco. But, you Look at

00:12:58:02 - 00:12:59:17
Gary
almost a couple of trillion dollars, just California.

00:12:59:17 - 00:13:15:12
Martin
Yes, but you look at Texas, you look at Florida, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, and those numbers are the same. New York's a little bit better. Illinois probably has the best numbers for Latinos and African-Americans. But this is where you start to pierce.

00:13:15:16 - 00:13:17:05
Gary
Where that big money

00:13:17:05 - 00:13:35:09
Gary
let's follow the money a little bit and let's talk about why that is so important, not just for the money managers. So obviously, if you get to manage some money for a big pension fund, you get to collect fees on that. You get a percentage of the upside. I mean, that's how that game works essentially.

00:13:35:15 - 00:14:02:03
Gary
that being able to manage a lot of money benefits, certainly the managers of that money. But there's more to it than that, Because you and I have talked about this. what people don't understand is if if an investment banker like yourself is investing in AT&T or investing a lot of money in Microsoft or a big corporation, you're also going to have a bit of influence when it comes to that corporate.

00:14:02:03 - 00:14:18:18
Gary
They're going to they're going to care about you because they're going to want you to continue to invest in their company. But if you said something like, hey, we want to know how many Latinos you have in your C-suite right now because that matters to us or how many Latinos you have in your boardroom, because that matters to us.

00:14:19:05 - 00:14:28:21
Gary
They're actually going to listen to you as an investor a whole lot differently. They're going to listen to some association or some advocacy group who's just sort of picketing or whatever,

00:14:28:21 - 00:14:29:09
Martin
Am I wrong?

00:14:29:09 - 00:14:43:03
Martin
No, you're absolutely right. And if you could look at the biggest corporations in our country, their biggest shareholders, their owners of their company are the typical pension funds from California and Texas, New York and Florida and Illinois.

00:14:43:03 - 00:14:47:17
Gary
And people don't understand the influence that those investors have over those corporations.

00:14:47:17 - 00:15:08:08
Martin
And it's that rule that he who has. The money can make the rules. The pension funds have the money so they can make the rules. And what we're asking is that let the assets be reflective of the people that you represent. You're representing those individuals in those states that are contributing the money. And we'll take the real estate example.

00:15:08:16 - 00:15:37:08
Martin
So, Gary, you're in real estate. If a pension fund came and told you that, you know what, Gary, you really know these markets well and real estate and you know how to go and develop. So we're going to give you $500 million to go and invest. And you knowing that Latino community, you know what the needs are, the growth areas are the amenities that they need, the housing that they need, whether it's for homeownership or even for rentals,you know that you can tap into it.

00:15:37:20 - 00:15:41:14
Martin
But if we're not giving it to the Latino community that knows those areas.

00:15:41:14 - 00:15:43:22
Gary
So that market trickles into communities as well.

00:15:43:22 - 00:15:44:00
Martin
Yes!

00:15:44:00 - 00:16:02:18
Gary
Not just investing in big corporations. You can invest it like your company actually invests in real estate projects and they you're more likely because you're Latino yourself. You come from the community, the neighborhood, you know the people, then you're more likely to understand the business opportunities that exist in those communities.

00:16:02:18 - 00:16:04:01
Gary
It's not just doing the right thing.

00:16:04:01 - 00:16:04:11
Martin
No

00:16:04:11 - 00:16:05:03
Gary
you understand it.

00:16:05:03 - 00:16:07:22
Martin
It's about making money. And performing.

00:16:07:22 - 00:16:08:02
Gary
Of course

00:16:08:02 - 00:16:36:07
Martin
And you can get great returns in those communities in our Latino communities where they're vibrant and they're spending money. So you couple the housing with commercial amenities as well. And that's where you really kind of see the incremental value start to kick up. But it's not just, when we're out there developing a project, we are using our Latino contractors, Latino architects, engineer lawyers, lawyers, as well as black and white firms, too, so that those dollars are circulating.

00:16:36:16 - 00:16:37:18
Martin
And it's a multiplier

00:16:37:19 - 00:16:40:13
Gary
We do business with who we know. All of us.

00:16:40:13 - 00:16:41:09
Martin
And there are good.

00:16:41:10 - 00:16:57:07
Gary
All of us. it's not it's not just a matter of, hey, I'm going to do it with Latinos because it's the right thing or the folks that are, the white money managers or Jewish money managers, they're hiring people that they know. It's not that they're just trying to screw us over.

00:16:57:10 - 00:17:17:23
Gary
They hire who you know. And so if we're managing more of that money, we're going to invest in communities that we know we're going to hire people that we know. Right? We're going to we're going to talk to companies that we invest in and say, hey, I got some good people that you guys should look at hiring and so forth, that people just don't understand how that works and how important.

00:17:17:23 - 00:17:36:17
Gary
So when I hear you going back to the first statement you made, which is Latino fund managers, asset managers like yourself, investment bankers are only managing less than one half of 1% of the money that's out there. The cascading effect that that has is extraordinary. I see it a little bit in venture capital, right? I'm starting to learn that.

00:17:36:17 - 00:17:59:10
Gary
We have a $100 million fund, which is pretty decent size for a first time fund, but still a drop in the bucket when it compares to all the venture capital that's floating out there. But already entrepreneurs are calling me that have startups, Latinos that probably would never have had even a meeting with one of the big venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.

00:17:59:10 - 00:18:22:17
Gary
And a lot of them are really smart. MARTIN These guys are brilliant and gals. A lot of women, a lot of Latino women that are so smart tech savvy. They have, incredible educations. They hire engineers from Latin America. They're building great companies. And hopefully we're going to be a source of liquidity for them. And a lot of people will follow it.

00:18:22:17 - 00:18:26:21
Gary
I mean, that's the goal, right? But capital, again, is so critical

00:18:26:22 - 00:18:41:12
Martin
that's where even for those businesses, the pension funds fund private equity venture capital as well, and real estate. And those are the probably the three biggest areas where you have the multiplier effect. And I also it is and says venture capital and real estate.

00:18:41:12 - 00:18:42:06
Gary
And real estate,

00:18:42:08 - 00:19:04:11
Martin
Those are the areas that you're going to see a snowball effect taking place wherever they're putting those dollars to work. So when you look at even for a cardinal's marketing network, concert promoter happens to focus in the Latino space. He is number three in the country, so he is causing waves. So I represent. Yes, Representing bad bunny.

00:19:05:00 - 00:19:19:16
Martin
Yes, Bad bunny. Maluma kind of Marc Anthony, all the big names. But it's turning the heads of all of the major kind of Anglo businesses like this is a good business and that they're making money and they're making great profit.

00:19:19:16 - 00:19:37:12
Gary
My son goes went to a high school that was, I don't know, 90% white. And those kids at his high school were singing songs in Spanish because they love Bad Bunny, they love Nicky Jam. And, so you're right, It's not just Latinos buying Latino music. It's starting to spread and becoming major.

00:19:37:13 - 00:19:57:18
Martin
You're seeing it. you see even some of the African-American rappers that are doing cameos with some of the Latino kind of big names as well with Bad Bunny, because they're getting an exposure, then they're expanding. It's a whole other market in South America as well. So it is tapping into that buying power. And as consumers, Latinos, we are fueling that growth.

00:19:58:01 - 00:20:26:12
Martin
We have to be on the other end as well we're creating the wealth and we're participating. So when we're out there buying the Nike gym shoes and Adidas gym shoes and, the shirts and the sweatshirts, like we are creating wealth for other folks in the market because that's driving the stock price higher. We need to be the owners and the money managers that are actually deploying that those assets and being the owners and creating that wealth in our community and then circulating it within our community.

00:20:26:12 - 00:20:48:16
Gary
There's a whole world out there that people just don't understand, and they don't give it much thought. And it's kind of one of the reasons why those numbers are as bad as you said at the very beginning. So I threw a number out there and it's arbitrary. I admit it, I said we need to see the an increase of capital flowing into folks like yourself and our communities by a factor of ten by a factor of ten.

00:20:48:16 - 00:21:02:14
Gary
And that may not be enough or that may be just the right amount. I don't know. But you tell me what sort of impact an increase of by a factor of ten into our communities would have in Latino wealth in the United States.

00:21:03:00 - 00:21:15:15
Martin
That would have a significant impact, Gary. And it really boils down to that factor of ten. It's not going to just stop there and be captain in that. And that was numbers.

00:21:15:15 - 00:21:16:08
Gary
It flows,

00:21:16:08 - 00:21:34:19
Martin
it's going to flow. And right now we're dealing with shortages and employment. It's like all of those kids that are going and graduating from high school, graduating from college, they're going and taking the higher paying jobs engineers, doctors, lawyers, investment professionals, and they have more discretionary spend.

00:21:35:00 - 00:21:51:18
Martin
So there are going to be going out and Latinos are the first ones to run out and buy the iPhone, the latest iPhone. But we have to not just be the consumers. And that's what I think corporate America thinks of us as consumers, which we are. But they have to think of us as entrepreneurs and business owners. Yes.

00:21:51:20 - 00:21:52:22
Martin
And that's why.

00:21:52:22 - 00:22:11:09
Gary
They're changing the narrative. That's part of the campaign that you and I are on. And I do think that the impact can be tremendous. Right now, as you probably know, Latinos have roughly one sixth of the wealth of the average white family in the United States. And that's that's a big difference. That has an impact on quality of life.

00:22:11:09 - 00:22:37:01
Gary
It has an impact on where our kids go to school. It has an impact on a lot of things that are immeasurable as well. And this won't be an easy thing. How let's go to the how. If you had a couple of magic bullets, Martin, how would we increase the flow of capital into our communities, to managers like yourself, to venture capitalists like Sol and I by a factor of ten?

00:22:37:01 - 00:22:42:16
Gary
What would it take for that to happen? Do we have enough talent? There's not a lot of Martin Cabrera out there. There's not a lot of Sol Trujillo out there.

00:22:42:23 - 00:23:07:19
Martin
But but there are more that are coming and that are grooming. As those opportunities are created. There will be if there is opportunities here, you'll see the pipeline grow and that's going to come with time. And we're just like every immigrant community, the Jewish community, the Irish community, the Italian community that came over, they understood they were getting educated and then they started digging into financial services and politics and other areas as well.

00:23:08:00 - 00:23:28:16
Martin
But that created a swelling of all these business owners that understood that this is going to help our community by creating wealth and buying homes and being investors and putting into the stock market. So I think that's the key part of it. When you think about some of the solutions, I mean, you can look at Los Angeles as an example.

00:23:28:19 - 00:23:57:20
Martin
It's like, do your pension funds and what they're allocating out there even reflect your demographics, and it doesn't it's probably maybe 1% on the pension fund side. But if you start to put some policies in place that are competitive, where you bring the best to the table, but you give them opportunities, some will do well and some will not, and those that don't, you fire them just like everyone else, but it gives them opportunities.

00:23:57:20 - 00:24:24:20
Martin
And usually those smaller companies are going to fight more to keep that account and do well. But if you start getting maybe 5% of an allocation to some Latino own money managers that are in real estate or VC or private equity, you're going to see that numbers significantly grow and they're going to know those opportunities, whether it's in Miami or Houston or San Antonio or Chicago or New York, to tap into those areas where they can make money.

00:24:24:20 - 00:24:29:11
Gary
So you don't buy the notion that there's not enough Latino talent out there.

00:24:29:11 - 00:24:29:20
Martin
No,

00:24:29:20 - 00:24:30:23
Gary
you don't buy it

00:24:30:23 - 00:24:37:07
Martin
It’s out there. People are hungry. They'll go through brick walls to prove themselves. They just need that opportunity to get the assets.

00:24:37:08 - 00:25:00:17
Gary
I was speaking to a woman who lives here in Chicago. Her name is Oralia Herrera, who's on the national board. I think she's just an amazing woman, very humble, came to this country as an immigrant when she was eight years old, helped her family buy their first home by translating, the documents for them today.

00:25:00:17 - 00:25:12:07
Gary
And she's still a young woman. I don't know how old she is. I won't say, but she's still like you and I in our in our generation. She owns something like 60 properties, free and clear Martin,

00:25:12:10 - 00:25:12:21
Martin
Good for her

00:25:12:21 - 00:25:32:10
Gary
And she was just lucky that somebody mentored her a little bit, gave her a chance. Exposure to how the business works and this is what she's done with it. And not only that, she shares her investment philosophy with the agents who are in her office because now she owns the brokerage that she, operates under.

00:25:32:16 - 00:25:48:15
Gary
And every one of her clients, she doesn't just sell the house. She sits down with them and says, now we're going to create a 20 year plan for you. And they come back to her and come back to her. She has 450 clients that she not just has sold homes to, but has helped them build a portfolio of real estate.

00:25:48:16 - 00:26:07:19
Gary
All of them Martin,and they're all Latino. So that's just a little anecdote, A woman who had no reason to believe that she could do such a thing that's doing it. So to your point to say that there's not that talent out there or we just don't know what we're doing or there's this big, lack of pipeline is just B.S..

00:26:07:20 - 00:26:24:21
Martin
it's they'll ask for a track record and it's like even the rules. You can be at Goldman Sachs for 20 years and they have a great track record. But when you leave there, you can't take it with you. So you have to start from scratch. And that hurts folks. And it's a deterrent from people starting their own businesses, right?

00:26:24:21 - 00:26:45:11
Martin
They can be great at what they do. They need the opportunity. They need the access to capital. And without that, it's going to like inhibit just the growth and some of the opportunities. But I think government has a part to play. I think the corporations as well as many of the corporations are doing well and have record profits.

00:26:45:21 - 00:26:49:19
Martin
A lot of that growth is coming from the U.S. Latino growth and

00:26:49:19 - 00:26:50:01
Gary
Of course

00:26:50:10 - 00:26:51:13
Gary
the data is there.

00:26:51:14 - 00:27:05:20
Gary
So they think that we all have immigration problems and we all have financial problems and we're basically, living off the government when in fact the opposite is true. Now, we're driving economic growth in this country.

00:27:05:21 - 00:27:37:01
Martin
It is it's not just our public pension funds, even our union pension funds, where some of them are 72% of the paying dues members are Latinos. Other unions are 63% and 54% are paying dues. Members are Latinos, and they are contributing to the pension fund. But those pension funds aren't doing business with those Latino firms. And so it goes back to that, that statement, we're good enough to put our money into the pension fund system, but we're not good enough to manage those assets.

00:27:37:11 - 00:27:55:04
Martin
And that's what needs to change. And given those opportunities, most of those companies are going to do well because they're going to compete and do everything they possibly can to perform and keep that account. There's some that won't. And those that's when those individuals get fired, too, just like the Anglo shops do and everyone else does in the business.

00:27:55:04 - 00:28:03:10
Gary
one of the things that I've got to take my hat off to you, Martin, for, is that not only have you built a great company and how many how many employees do you have?

00:28:03:19 - 00:28:05:09
Martin
We have about 86

00:28:05:10 - 00:28:33:09
Gary
For investment banking firm. That's a pretty good size investment banking firm. You are a big advocate for the community. You speak out sometimes when it's not comfortable to do so. You open doors for other Latinos and you put your money where your mouth is. You invest in projects that are also in Latino communities and so forth. I don't want to say that other Latinos don't do that.

00:28:33:09 - 00:29:01:16
Gary
I don't think they do it enough. Frankly, I don't think that we have a Latino cabal like maybe we need and we should. And I see that with with an absolute respect for the Jewish community who have done that as a community, we need to do more of that. I think that, the returns that you're getting for your investors is going to open doors not just for you, for other people as well, but we kind of have to work together a little bit more as well, don't you agree?

00:29:01:23 - 00:29:31:05
Martin
Yeah, I think at the end of the day, as our Latino firms can show success, it kind of does away with some of the perceptions. Oh, Latinos aren't in this business. They're like, okay, she's been successful. She's opened up another business, he's been successful. And that feeds on itself. And I think even for the Jewish community, I give them so much respect because they help each other, they work with each other, they support one another, and they support people outside of the community.

00:29:31:05 - 00:29:46:12
Martin
and even I've had to sit down with some leaders that are Jewish and Irish and Italian just to pick their brains where they're kind of sharing some of their thoughts and business to help me along so that I don't make mistakes along the way. And when I do, I kind of turn to folks as well where they can help me.

00:29:46:12 - 00:30:09:19
Martin
But I think if you were to look at like if the Latino community could emulate the Jewish community and just be a sliver of what they do and how they help one another and promote one another, we would grow a hundredfold as Latinos. So I think it's great to see kind of how they do it and then learn how they support one another and their business.

00:30:09:22 - 00:30:26:22
Gary
I guess I guess the point of that is that we've got we've got to hold each other accountable as well. I think it's fair for us to say that we need to do more of that. And, I think those are the types of things that are tipping points down the line. Let me let me kind of close by asking a couple of additional questions a little bit off the beaten path.

00:30:27:06 - 00:30:29:17
Gary
Tell us about your family. So your siblings, what do they do?

00:30:30:15 - 00:30:54:19
Martin
So my sister Tanya is a recruiter at university here at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and she also was chairing the Dream Fund for undocumented students. That's really her passion, is helping undocumented students kind of get in and then get through college and then providing other kind of opportunities for them afterwards. My other sister, Sophia, she is in New York.

00:30:54:19 - 00:31:03:22
Martin
She's actually a global chief marketing officer for Tik-Tok and she's one of the few Latinas in technology. But she's probably she's got some really senior role.

00:31:04:04 - 00:31:05:16
Gary
TICK-TOCK And like the big thing right now.

00:31:05:16 - 00:31:06:14
Martin
Yes. Yes.

00:31:06:14 - 00:31:06:21
Gary
Wow.

00:31:06:21 - 00:31:08:17
Gary
And she's in the epicenter of that.

00:31:08:17 - 00:31:48:22
Martin
But I think part of that growing up in the neighborhood and going through difficult times, it allows you to to really appreciate family and our values and what it means to work and how hard we need to work to do well. But it's not just us doing well. It's all the folks, the Latinos coming behind us. We have generations of younger Latinos that we have to set the example for and working with one another, helping one another, giving them opportunities and for the businesses to be civic minded so that they are giving back and giving scholarships and internships and job opportunities and being philanthropic as well, because that's where we can kind of start

00:31:48:22 - 00:32:02:20
Martin
to to spread kind of our values and how we help one another as opposed to some. They just want to keep everything for themselves and that they think they made it on their own. And I definitely didn't make it on my own. I had plenty of people help me along the way, and.

00:32:02:21 - 00:32:06:17
Gary
I've always said that anybody who says they made it on their own is a liar.

00:32:06:22 - 00:32:08:14
Martin
Yeah, I agree. I totally agree

00:32:08:23 - 00:32:37:09
Gary
I had the opportunity to be the commencement speaker at UC Irvine's School of Business this past year, and I talked about a new version of capitalism that we need and the fact that that Latinos and other people of color in the United States that if they're not thriving economically, it's going to impact our entire entire economy, that our economy can't grow, it can't be prosperous unless the Latino community and other diverse communities are also thriving.

00:32:37:09 - 00:32:41:12
Gary
that's a message that we are both putting out there. Kids?

00:32:41:23 - 00:32:43:14
Martin
Kids. I have five kids,

00:32:43:14 - 00:32:44:08
Gary
Holly!

00:32:44:08 - 00:32:48:15
Martin
Yeah, it's a small Mexican family. It's a small Mexican

00:32:48:15 - 00:32:50:20
Gary
that’s a basketball team.

00:32:50:20 - 00:33:10:16
Martin
And but they're great. My daughter's 19 and she's at Holy Cross, and another daughter's at Saint Ignatius. She's going to be a senior. And my boys are nine and twins that are eight. So. And they're active with soccer and basketball and a bunch of sports. So it's a lot of fun. It's a crazy household, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

00:33:10:16 - 00:33:34:19
Gary
It's awesome. My daughter now works at Morgan Stanley in New York, which is great. And my other daughter works in our up and she's in the policy side. And then my son is just graduated from college and he's going to grad school. But my point in bringing up family is that the next generation is going to have access and opportunity and relationships available to them that our generation didn't have.

00:33:35:02 - 00:33:53:11
Gary
And that's part of kind of passing it along and spreading the wealth. I've always said that success is a factor of two things, Martin. It's what and it's who you know. And I don't think people in our community really understand how important relationships are in business and how much they're going to continue to be moving forward.

00:33:53:11 - 00:34:13:08
Gary
So I love what you're doing. You and I are buddies. We're brothers. You know that I'm always here for you. And I know that whenever I need anything, I pick up the phone, I call you and you call me back within minutes. And that's really why I respect you so much and why I have a great deal of faith in the future when it comes to the Latino community.

00:34:13:08 - 00:34:32:13
Gary
So let's work together and let's make that that flow of capital reality and not just something that we're talking about on podcasts. let's dig in. I know that you're going to be at LATTITUDE You're going to bring together a roundtable. We're going to dig into some of the that the real nuances of this business. We're going to bring some of the biggest players to that event.

00:34:32:13 - 00:34:40:16
Gary
It is becoming a marketplace like we always envisioned four or five years ago. And you're one of the key components of the entire process. So thank you, my brother.

00:34:40:16 - 00:34:48:15
Martin
No, thank you, Gary. You keep doing what you're doing. And even on the VC LATTITUDE side, it's funny. So many Latino business

00:34:48:15 - 00:34:48:23
Gary
it is

00:34:48:23 - 00:35:01:14
Martin
that never had an opportunity. You never thought there was an opportunity to get funded. So there's a sense of excitement out there from the VC world and all those Latino businesses that are going to be coming to you to give them an opportunity.

00:35:01:14 - 00:35:06:14
Martin
Some you'll take, some you won't, but you kind of mentor them as well. I know that there's a player

00:35:06:14 - 00:35:07:04
Gary
a 100%.

00:35:07:04 - 00:35:19:20
Martin
If you're not there, then it's totally different and the landscape changes. So it's important for you to be successful and to grow the fun and have fun too. And Fund three, that's creating wealth and creating a lot more Latino businesses.

00:35:19:20 - 00:35:20:20
Martin
So that's great.

00:35:20:20 - 00:35:31:00
Gary
That's it, man. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, brother