The Bridge Builders: How Gabriel Flores Is Rewriting the Future of Latino Entrepreneurship
- The Shades of Entrepreneurship
- May 15
- 4 min read
Updated: May 18
This article was adapted from an episode of and originally posted by Stories by Penji—Penji’s interview series exploring entrepreneurship, culture, and creative leadership. Watch the full episode below.
When Gabriel Flores talks about Latino entrepreneurship, he doesn’t speak in abstractions.
He speaks in memories — of a tiny Oregon town with no stoplights, of migrant parents who worked the land, of a community that built its own economy long before anyone called it that. He speaks with the clarity of someone who has lived the statistics, not just studied them.
Gabriel is the president and co‑founder of Latino Founders, an organization with a bold mission: help scale 100 Latino‑owned businesses to $1 million in recurring revenue.
It’s not a vanity metric. It’s the threshold where a business stops being a hustle and becomes a livelihood — where founders can finally pay themselves, hire competitively, and build something that lasts.
But beneath the spreadsheets and pitch competitions lies a deeper story: a community that has powered America’s economy for generations, yet rarely sees itself reflected in the entrepreneurial spotlight.
A Childhood Shaped by Entrepreneurs Who Never Used the Word
Gabriel grew up in Mount Angel, Oregon — population 2,500 (currently 3,500). A place where everyone knew everyone, and where entrepreneurship wasn’t a buzzword. It was survival.
There were no big box stores. No corporate chains. Just families running bakeries, farms, repair shops, food stands — businesses built from grit, necessity, and cultural pride.“My parents were migrants,” Gabriel says. “They cultivated the land up and down the West Coast. The community I grew up with? They were all entrepreneurs. They just didn’t call themselves that.”
That distinction matters. Because when you grow up watching people build something from nothing, you learn two things early:
Entrepreneurship is in your blood
The world doesn’t always see it that way
The Community Without a “Moment”
Gabriel has watched other communities rally around defining moments — the Me Too movement, the fight for marriage equality, the national reckoning after George Floyd’s murder. These moments sparked solidarity, visibility, and investment.
But the Latino community? “We’ve never had that moment,” he says. “We’ve been overlooked.” Not marginalized — overlooked. A subtle but powerful distinction.
Despite contributing $3.2 trillion to the U.S. GDP in 2022, despite being one of the fastest‑growing entrepreneurial groups in the country, Latino founders still face systemic barriers:
limited access to capital
lack of representation in tech and venture spaces
cultural and linguistic gaps
generational wealth disparities
geographic isolation in rural and agricultural regions
Gabriel isn’t waiting for a national awakening. He’s building one.
Latino Founders: A Platform for Belonging, Not Just Funding
Latino Founders isn’t just a business accelerator. It’s a cultural connector.
Their flagship event, Pitch Latino™, awards unrestricted grant funding — but the real magic happens in the cross‑pollination. Winners from small towns like Medford or Phoenix, Oregon or Tri-Cities, Washington are invited to pitch on a bigger stage in Portland and Seattle, in front of hundreds of people.
It’s not just about money. It’s about visibility. It’s about belonging.
Gabriel is adamant: DEI initiatives aren’t enough. “I don’t want another DEI program,” he says. “I want to feel like I belong. I want to see myself represented — not just by skin color, but by experience.”
That means farmers at the table. Migrant workers at the table. Rural founders at the table. People who have never stepped foot in a WeWork but know how to build a business from the ground up.
The Power of Cultural Entrepreneurship
One of Gabriel’s favorite examples is a founder who pitched a business built around crema salvadoreña — a staple in Salvadoran cuisine. It wasn’t just a food product. It was a feeling.
“When you walk into a supermarket in the U.S., you don’t see the things that make you feel at home,” Gabriel says. “Everyone knows that feeling — being somewhere unfamiliar, missing the comfort of what you grew up with.”
That’s the heart of cultural entrepreneurship: solving problems rooted in identity, memory, and belonging. And as climate migration accelerates — pushing families from California to Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and beyond — Gabriel sees a wave of new business opportunities emerging.
“What did people rely on in Northern California? What products? What services? Bring that with you. Build around that.”
Why Getting Uncomfortable Creates Innovation
Gabriel believes the best ideas come from discomfort — from stepping into places where the signs are in another language, the food tastes unfamiliar, and the rules aren’t written for you. He laughs as he recalls his own evolution: “I used to tell people I was allergic to onions. I just didn’t like them. Now I love onions.”
It’s a small example, but it mirrors a bigger truth: You don’t know what you love until you try it.
He encourages founders to travel, to taste new foods, to immerse themselves in cultures that challenge their assumptions. “Getting outside your comfort zone creates innovation,” he says. “That’s how Starbucks happened. That’s how global ideas happen.”
A Conversation About Food That Became a Conversation About Identity
At one point, the interview drifts into a joyful exchange about Taiwanese hot pot, Vietnamese pho, Cuban plantains, German cheese, and Portland’s eclectic food scene. It’s lighthearted, but it reveals something deeper:
Food is culture. Culture is identity. Identity is opportunity.
In a country as diverse as the U.S., the businesses that thrive are often the ones that embrace — not dilute — their cultural roots.
Gabriel sees this every day in the founders he mentors. Their ideas aren’t just products. They are bridges.
The Future of Latino Entrepreneurship Is Already Here
Gabriel isn’t building a moment. He’s building a movement. He's building the future of Latino Entrepreneurship.
One where:
Latino founders scale to seven figures
rural entrepreneurs pitch on big stages
cultural products become mainstream
generational wealth becomes the norm
belonging replaces tokenism
And he’s doing it with the same spirit that shaped his childhood — a belief that communities thrive when they build together, eat together, and dream together.
