Ricardo “Ricky” Mora was born in El Paso, Texas and raised in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. He is an entrepreneurship evangelist, pioneer and has launched over 10 startups, ranging from telecomm, investment funds, IT services, FabLabs, and restaurants. 

Ricky transformed the former U.S. Consulate in Juarez into the a Silicon Valley styled innovation park spread across a 1.8 acres.  It has tailor-made programs for the manufacturing industry, entrepreneurs and companies. It is a certified incubator by Mexico’s National Institute for the Entrepreneurship (INADEM) and includes an early investment venture capital fund as well as a Fab Lab. 

The Technology Hub is also part of TechSpark’s signature project in El Paso and Juarez as the lead partner in The Bridge Accelerator.  

The Bridge Accelerator Program was launched in the summer of 2019 with the goal of expanding connections between local supplier companies and manufacturers/maquiladoras in the Paso del Norte region. The Juarez – El Paso region has one of the largest concentrations of manufacturing output in North America. However, according to data from SIDE and COPARMEX, only 2% of current suppliers contributing to the region’s $39 billion USD manufacturing supply chain are locally based.

To date, The Bridge has graduated 33 companies through 3 cohorts, and help secure $8,370,000 in new purchase orders, generate $780,000 in equity investment opportunities, and create over 150 jobs.

Ricky also serves as the Fund Manager for Saba Investments.

Technology Hub: https://t-hub.mx/en

The Bridge Accelerator: https://tb-xl.com

Natalie Littlefield is the Vice-President of Strategy for the Borderplex Alliance, a 501c3 organization that is responsible for economic development in the El Paso, Juarez, and Las Cruces Communities.  Since 2013 they’ve helped bring over 15,000 new jobs and over $1.2 Billion of investment to the region.  Beyond the work of sourcing and landing company expansion or relocation efforts, the Borderplex Alliance plays a key role in crafting policy and strategy to support business and quality of life improvements in the region.

The Borderplex alliance just recently released their strategic plan, Ascend 2025, that was the result of a year long collaboration with several stakeholders in the public sector, private industry, and with a broad range of educators to identify actionable items for the community to pursue.  Natalie was the primary author and project supervisor.

The report does mention some policy recommendations around supporting digital transformation in the region, highlights some of our talent assets, and outlines some next steps the community can take to support tech enablement, entrepreneurship, and the unique assets of a binational and tristate area.  

 Natalie’s journey from the arena of international conflict resolution to workforce development to an economic development strategist is also super interesting. 

Startups are a great place to get experience and optimize for learning with higher levels of responsibilities as opposed to established businesses. But finding and landing an opportunity to work at a startup can be a bit challenging.

In this episode,  Erik and JJ share their experiences as hiring managers and founders and outlines the pros and cons of working at a startup.