Strengthening our Startup Community with Danea Ramos and Anahi Abe-Brower

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos Tacos and tech you know we got tacos and tech is on smash border green guacamole keep accountants counting beans Contador Quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a crappy beer and coffee my coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos El gordo the taco stand in pesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean watch the sunset la Hoya shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded when San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana esti be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders who who believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon SDTechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Startups get the party. Startups get the.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech podcast where we discover cutting edge San Diego technologies and the builders making it happen. I'm your host, Neil Blum, San Diego's tech ambassador and together you're going to put a face to the name of today's tech leaders with our own blend of local lifestyle.

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And welcome back to the Tacos and Tech podcast. I'm your host Neil Bloom and I'm really excited to be talking to two friends here, both representing the early stage startup space with Connect all, the business resource center, the Jacobs Center. With us we have Danae Ramos from Connect all and Anahe Abe Brower, founder of Worthy Picks. Thank you guys both for being on.

Thank you for having us.

Absolutely. So Connect all and the accelerator that you run with the Jacobs center in the city of San Diego, we've had Alex Waters on previously and so we know our audience knows a little bit about it but what we want to do is have a conversation on what's it like on the inside and so bring a company to in on what's the accelerator like, what's the cohort like and also we've got some exciting news on what's coming up soon. Within the week we're going to be presenting a demo day. So I'm really excited to have you both on to talk about that. Dan, do you want to quickly give us an overview of Connect all the program there and set us up?

Yeah. So Connect all at the Jacobs center is a partnership with the City of San Diego, the Jacobs center for Neighborhood Innovation and the Connect Foundation. And so it's been around for about a year and a half. And the whole purpose of this program is to create jobs within the City of San Diego. So it's broken down into two parts. You can think about the Business Resource center and then the accelerator program. The Business Resource center is really open to anybody that has started a business or wants to start a business and just needs a little bit of assistance. And there's no real criteria to being part of the Business Resource Center. It is also a funnel into the accelerator program. So people that don't get into the accelerator program, actually we work with them through the Business Resource center so that eventually they can be a part of the accelerator program. Then the Accelerator program is a four month program where we help businesses grow and scale and hopefully at the end they can create jobs.

Awesome. That's exciting. So how many cohorts now have gone through and how many companies from both the Research center and the accelerator?

So from the accelerator program there's been 39. And through the Business Resource Center, I mean we've helped out probably over 100 businesses from each cohort. So from the second cohort we had 25%. The people that were part of the second cohort, 25% came from the Business Resource Center. And then from the third cohort, 20% came from the Business Resource Center. So we're hoping for that number to increase more and more.

Awesome. That's super smart. To build an even higher level of the funnel to get companies ready and set up to go through the accelerator. So I think it's really ingenious of you guys to offer even more resources to the community.

Yes.

So we also have Anahei here. Thanks for being on and why don't you tell us quickly about your company.

Thank you for having me. So Worthy Picks is my company. Worthypix offers a curated selection of eco friendly products. I specialize in bamboo and organic cotton to inspire a sustainable lifestyle. I believe that the big change starts small and we all play a part. So in a nutshell, that's what Worthy Picks is all about.

That's awesome. Well, we love People who are passionate about their businesses, obviously. And so can you tell us a little bit about kind of the inspiration for this and how you actually got started?

For sure. And yes, I do have a lot of passion for sustainability and eco friendly products. So I started my journey late 2016 when I discover a bamboo straw. I was served a drink with a bamboo straw. And that's right around when the media and everywhere, you know, the straw, the disposable straw became like a poster child of disposable plastics and how bad they are for environment, how they're finding our oceans, how they're destroying our animals in the ocean. And when somebody put a drink in front of me with a bamboo straw, I was like, wow, what is this and where does it come from and how do we make it? And how innovative, right, to make a straw out of a grass that is super sustainable. Actually, bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world. It's in the Guinness World Records. There's types of bamboos that grow up to 25 inches a day, which is almost like magic to me when I found that out. So I discovered these, this bamboo straws in Indonesia, in Bali. And I was fortunate enough. I'm that curious person that I always want to know how things are made and who makes them and how do you make it? I've always been really interested in makers. I'm originally from Mexico and I grew up just watching our beautiful artisans, how there's a lot of handmade things, right? Handmade products, handmade everything. And when I was in Indonesia and this little restaurant, the owner spoke pretty good English and I say, can you tell me where these come from and who makes them? And could you take me to these people? And they're like, oh, it's in the hill or just right here, do you want to go? I'm like, yes. So she was kind enough. She took me. I met the people who make the straws. And there was something, there was an energy about the straws, something telling me I have to take them to California. I think people in California would love them. And I'm a designer by trade. I'm a graphic designer. And I was already creating the packaging in my head. I was creating the look and feel. I was imagining that people in California really love them at that point. My job was to do branding for small companies, for entrepreneurs here in San Diego. But I've always wanted to have something of my own. And so I brought them back. And in early 2017, I launched what I call Bulustras. It was A single product. Have the package into here. Here it is. Bulustras. And I call it Bulustras because in Indonesia, they told me this is what they call the type of straw that the straws are made out of, Bulu. And I just thought it was just a sweet name. And so it was a passion project I started. I opened an account in Amazon and as a platform to see if people would welcome them, if people were interested. And it started selling. So that's how I got started, basically.

That's great. That's a really cool story of how to go in. So are you still in touch with the original Indonesian makers?

Yes. So now they are my growers. There are two Indonesian families that grow the bamboo for us, mainly. So that is just, I guess, my biggest way of giving back. And these bamboo straws are made by hand, and there's so many steps that go into it, right? So we grow the bamboo in about five months so that we can cut them. It grows back in five months. We dry the big stacks of bamboo, we cut them to size, we polish them, clean them, then boil them, then dry them again, and then they're ready to be shipped. And it's been really wonderful from a sustainability point, working and learning from them. I'm very fortunate that I work directly with the growers because I have the owner of the restaurant, Putu, who's my friend now and sort of business partner. At the beginning, you know, they wanted to put all the straws in little groups and little plastic bags or roll. And I was just, no, no, no, no, no. No plastic at all. They're like, you know, they wanted to be efficient. They wanted to be clean and perfect for the California customers. But I just said, no, no, no. The simpler the better. No plastic bags and how the bamboo just have to be clean, how they have to have soft edges. We've worked together, but now my little first order was like 2,000 straws became like 10,000 straws, right? And then that's when we had to get a second family to start growing more bamboo. And I also had to learn how their community works, because there's a lot of people within the community that come and help. And first I started thinking, oh, should we have a certain amount of money, like a little salary? So people in. And the people in the. No, no, no. That's not the way it works. People come as they need and then depend on your demand. So we just work more fluidly like that. And I said, okay. So I had to learn how to respect, how to Work with a community like that. And then, and then I had to teach them how we needed the product so it could be successful here in California.

Wow, that's so cool. What a cool relationship to have all the way to your sourcer and all the way back to manufacturing. In a sense. Not a lot of people know where every piece and the whole story of where their products come from. So it's pretty special for sure.

Thank you. Yeah, I feel very privileged and I always tell I'm working now on really telling the story through video. I'm producing a little video so people get to see my growers and get to see that this is a handmade product.

So tell us a little bit, you know, kind of how the. As the company grew, at what point did you feel you needed kind of outside help and when did you come in contact with Connect All?

So as my passion project started growing in 2019, I decided to launch relaunch worthy picks, you know, worthy of you and worthy of the environment. That was the inspiration. I started taking courses online. I studied design and I studied international relations, but I don't have an mba, so of course, always learning and looking at the resources. And my really good friend Macio Rivaldi, who teaches courses at the San Diego Community College, introduced me to the Jacobs center, to the Connect All Jacob Center. He actually invited me to their open house, to the beautiful facility. And I was like, wow, I had no idea this existed. And when I was, you know, they told me about the accelerator, I met Alex Waters for the first time and I said, what an amazing opportunity. I had no idea that our beautiful city was sponsoring such an amazing program and that it was free. That was just. I couldn't believe it. That it was free. And now, through all the help that I have received, have truly helped me focus on the parts of my business that are not easy, you know. Right. We tend to focus on whatever comes easy to us. So the design, Yes, I like it. The creative, I'm a people person. The numbers, not so much. Right. Or the sales. So the mentors that I've had through the Connect Toll Jacobs center have been phenomenal and just helped me focus on one thing at a time and how to scale little by little. So I couldn't be happier, especially through this pandemic where we all were knocked off our feet. Right. Having this program online to know that every Tuesday I'm there with my virtual community, learning something new to become a better entrepreneur has truly helped me, I'm sure.

Danita, do you want to talk through what Was that, like, because you've been in person this whole time, how was it like bringing a cohort in virtually?

Yeah, it was a transition for sure. It happened right in the middle of our second cohort. And so we thought, okay, this is only going to be a month. We're going to be back. No big deal. So we slowly started transitioning stuff to virtually. But then when we realized this was going to be a longer thing, we were then, like, oh, no, we got to make some moves. And so we made sure that we got zoom. We upgraded our zoom. We made sure that we did coffee time every week. We wanted to make sure that the cohort members didn't feel alone. And then we moved all of our workshops virtually, which everyone was, you know, okay with, all the speakers were okay with because, you know, they also had to, you know, move virtually. So there was a little bit of a transition period. We were kind of, like, struggling. So I kind of feel bad for the second cohort because they're the ones that really went through it. But by the time we went to the third cohort, we were getting things aligned better. And we learned from the second cohort. And, yeah, now the third cohort is fully virtual, and we just want to wear. Basically, we make sure that they know the expectations and they know, like, what is due and what we expect from them and just have a lot of communication with them. But now it's better. And I mean, I don't know, Ani, you can say how. How it's been if you like, but I would say it's a lot better now that we've been in it for a couple of months.

Yeah. I'm curious, Ani. How are you? I'm just curious how the connections have been with your cohort members. Usually you get the kind of random bumping intos where you get to know each other, but what are some things that you've gotten to know about other cohort members that maybe have helped each other, each other's businesses?

Well, we also have our accountability groups, so I've gotten to know my accountability partners better because we have a weekly phone call. So that's great. And also, even through when we have our class every Tuesday, you know, we get to comment and Commodore, you know, with each other. So we've sometimes private message each other. I always see, like, we're sending, like, little notes. I was like, hey, would you like to have a phone call? Or zoom, you know, because when other. Other members that you feel curious about their business. And so I've connected with A couple outside of, you know, our class to just talk about business and to inspire and support each other. Because honestly, as you know, like, you know, having your small business and especially at the beginning, is lonely. Right. And you feel like you're the only person who doesn't know how to organize your project, your sales, and then when you get together, you're like, oh, I did it this way, and how about you? And just cheer each other on. One of my co members said, you are my people. Yes. You know, sometimes we just have our partners, right. Our husbands, our wives, and they're kind of looking over and they don't know, like, the daily, hourly struggle of how much pressure we put on ourselves. And when you have another person who's going through the same is really nice.

Yeah.

Even in virtually, it's been great. I mean, I think Dana and Alex have done a great job making sure we show up for class and making the mixers. Danaa did an incredible mixer. Remember, at the beginning, you invited all three cohorts.

Right, right, right. Yes. Yes. Yeah. That's some of the stuff that we try. Try to do. Just because one of the things that we've realized, we actually did a focus group a couple of weeks ago, and one of the things you realize that a lot of the people that come into our program really like that sense of community. So not only do they want to get help with, like, you know, with financials or maybe they make a connection, but more along the lines of like, hey, you're struggling. I'm struggling too. Let's struggle together, you know, so that whole sen has been a really big impact. And I know because it's virtually. It's not the same, but yeah, we've tried as much as possible to make sure that they still feel that sense of community.

I'm curious, because all. All the companies coming in are at sometimes different stages. Right. It's not all everyone at the same spot. So do you have, like, individual specific, like, metrics or key performance indicators that you say, this is what we want to make sure that we track something so that coming out of this, we move the needle. Is that something you do with every company?

Well, in the beginning, we do, like, an entry survey. And so we ask these questions like, what is your revenue now? How are you feeling as a business owner? As a business owner, do you have any jobs right now? And then towards the end of the program, we see how much the revenue has increased, if they've hired anybody, and then also if they feel confident as a business owner, because A lot of the times, you know, people come into our accelerator program not feeling confident, not feeling knowledgeable, not thinking that they can succeed as a business. But towards the end of the program, they feel like, yes, I am ready to move forward and continue this. And so one of the metrics that we also do, I mean, the reason why we got funded through the city is because we want to create jobs within the city of San Diego, specifically low to moderate income jobs. And so something that we keep track of is we do like monthly surveys as well, saying like, hey, have you hired an intern? Have you hired someone? Have you paid yourself? Because a lot of the times business owners don't pay themselves. Right. But if you do pay yourself and you become a W2 employee, that is creating a job. And so we want to make sure that they understand that as well. And then once they're done with the program, we do quarterly surveys and talk to them and call them and make sure that we're in constant communication with them.

Got it. That's awesome. Wow, what a cool program. I've been a mentor, so I've been part of it and seen it from the inside. But what I love seeing is a whole bunch of businesses come out and say, here's how we've grown. So do you want to kind of talk about what the demo day is coming up, the dates and what to expect from that?

So we have our pitch Competition demo day, December 6th through the 12th. It's going to be virtual, so it's not going to be in a live event how other pitch competitions have happened, but instead the cohort members will be recording their pitch, their five minute pitch through loom and they will be sending us the pitch competition video and then we will be uploading it to our YouTube channel. So connect all at the Jacobs Center YouTube channel. So we also have this really cool thing where it's called the Audience Choice Award. And so what that means is that the community has the opportunity to vote for their favorite video. And whoever has the Most likes by Dec 12, 11:59pm is the winner of the Audience Choice Award. And the Audience Choice Award comes with an iPad. Some products of the different cohort members that we have from Cohort 1, Cohort 2 and Cohort 3. Yeah, so that's for the Audience Choice Award. And then the first place winner gets 7,500, the second place winner gets 5,000, and the third place winner gets 2,500. So it's a week long process. It's really exciting. And we have four judges that are Going to be watching the videos and going to determine who is going to be the winner of the business grants.

Awesome. Well, not to be. I am competitive, but my mentee last time won second place two cohorts ago. Pre nursing smarter. I was proud of that. Nothing to do with me. She's just incredible. CEO. And so I'm excited to participate and watch this round. Anahi, what are you excited about in relation to kind of telling your story and getting judged by your peers and the audience there?

I know it's, you know, having the opportunity to do this pitch. I know it's a big part of an accelerator program and, you know, of course, part of me is like, oh, my God, you know, I started practicing. Well, I'm still working on it, but, you know, five minutes goes by really fast and then just, you know, I'm like, I'm talking too fast. Oh, it was. I didn't say it. I didn't say my main points and it's over. But I'm really excited about just telling the story of worthy pigs, showing my community the passion that I have specifically on the change that we can make with disposable plastics, how we all can make that change, because it's something that we come in contact with every single day. And all of my products right now in my collection so far is an easy swap for a sustainable, like straws, a utensil set, even toothbrushes. And they're all bamboo. It's 100% compostable. Just bring awareness, show off my skills that I've gained at the Connect All Jacobs center and really practice, because I know that this won't be the first time I have to pitch in front of, like, an audience, so hopefully get better at it. And this opportunity is great because once it's real, right, we're doing it for a real audience and for judges like yourself, then we just put our. Our best effort. It's not. It's not like when we're practicing when we're starting our, our company. And it's not, you know, it's not real, but this is. It just feels and it's a great opportunity to. To just grow as a business owner, as a person. So I'm excited.

Yeah, it's a good cap to a bit of a tumultuous year. Right. At least just not what we would have planned at all. But we also don't really know what 2021 is going to look like too. Right. So how are you? What are you doing to forecast and just plan for your business? For the next year.

Well, two of the great things that I've learned at the Connect All Jacobs center is really how to organize my numbers, like my finances and how what I'm doing influences these numbers. Mission Edge was one of the companies they invited. Super knowledgeable, great people, great presentations and also sales and communications with Concilio, another wonderful company, have really showed me like where to focus on. So I've found here, even in San Diego, some niche market. So I'm going to focus. For example, a quick example I can give you. I started a relationship with Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. They have a sustainability program. They have an amazing composting program because of the garden. Now my products design is Japanese influence. I am part Japanese. And so I gave a talk. This is the utensil set. I gave a talk on some sustainability and bamboo specifically. And now the utensil set is part of their gift shop and it's very successful. So my mentor through the Connectable Jacobs center has pointed me, see this, this is something you've tried and it's working. So how can we scale that? How many Japanese gardens are in the United States? And I'm like, oh, okay. So right now I have that one focus where thanks to my mentor, I was able to see my ability to try different things. So for 2021, I want to focus on those focuses that I've found through this year. And even the talk on sustainability was in zoom too for the Japanese garden. But it's like I found a match, so I'm going to focus on that. I've also been having some success with small co ops such as the OB People's Market. So they are my vendor and they've managed to keep ordering straws and utensil sets. Now they're going to order bamboo toothbrushes. So strengthen those. I guess my mentor, I guess said, well, this is something that is working. So let's explore more co ops throughout the United States and throughout California. So that's the plan.

That's great. Great focus, you know, and being able to scale on things that are working. It's exciting. Danae, what is there a kind of a change of focus at all for the Jacobs center going into 2021? Connect all I mean, or is it really kind of riding the virtual program right now?

Well, virtually is definitely a focus. We're trying to be more streamlined. And so for instance, for the little homework that we have our cohort members turn in, like, how can we make that more accessible? And the workshops, you know, how can we provide the video and the presentation to them in an easier way. Our fourth cohort is going to start in January, most likely the end of January. And so one of the things that we're going to try to focus more on is how can we get more people to apply to our program? Right. How can we get more people to really understand what it is that we do and what makes us different in the community in San Diego? And so because we have to, we're most likely going to launch the fifth cohort application February, March. So that's why we're kind of like, oh, no, we have to like, really start figuring this out. But another thing is how can we create, like, relationships with the different organizations that are around San Diego County? There are so many resources out there and at times, you know, it feels like we're doing things alone, but we're not. There's so many other communities out there that we need to reach out to and really build relationships with that hopefully can potentially become a funnel to the accelerator program or vice versa. You know, the accelerator program can be a funnel to another program. So we're really focusing on relationship building and how to, you know, make this connect. Delta Jacobs center bigger and better.

That's awesome. Do you want to give us the details again? What's the date and everything for people to watch the demo day?

Yeah, it is December 6th. That's a Sunday all the way through Saturday, December 12th.

Okay, got it. We'll make sure we have the links in the show notes. But last but not least, we are all lucky to be living in San Diego these days, which gives us, you know, being blessed to have fantastic tacos. So the people want to know, what are your favorite tacos? Dana, you first.

Okay, well, I personally love tacos El Gordo. Are you guys, I'm sure you guys are all familiar with that, right? I love, love those tacos. I specifically, specifically love carne asada and adobada. But more importantly, I am Mexican. So me and my family cook some amazing tacos so that that doesn't beat, you know, the outside taco shops for sure.

I totally get that. How about you, Anahi?

So for me, I am mostly plant based, but I do eat fish and you know, living in California, I love fish tacos. So I'm also Mexican and even though I'm from a different part of Mexico, I've fallen in love with Baja style fish tacos. So for the, for vegan option, I love the vegan taco truck that it parks outside Target in South Park. Then I love city tacos that have a good fish taco, but I'm also rooting for my new favorite right Los Brothers Tacos. They are part of my cohort and they were in my accountability group, so it's called Los Brothers. Marco and Manuel are the founders and I can't wait. I actually went to a tasting, socially distancing and wearing masks, but Manuel, who's the chef, made me a vegan taco with jackfruit, which was really good. And their home, their handmade tortillas were amazing. You know, kind of like my grandma made tortillas too growing up in Mexico.

Okay, we'll definitely make sure we give them a shout out in the show notes.

Yay.

Thank you both so much for being on and congratulations on both the program and your company on all the growth. So thank you guys and we look forward to seeing the pitch in a week.

Thank you so much for having me and showcasing my company and this amazing program.

Thanks for joining us on the Tacos and Tech podcast with Neil Blum. Thanks again to Cox Business for helping make this possible by expanding the reach of the San Diego tech ecosystem. Big shout out to School of Rap for our rad intro music. And thanks as well to Nest Podcast Network where we are recording live inside their studio at Nest coworking in Bankers Hill. You can find Neil Bloom on Twitter Eelblum as well as Fresh brewed Tech and Tacos and Tech Pod on Twitter too.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, Tacos in tech. You know we got it.

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