00:00welcome to the a 16z podcast I'm Michael
00:03Copeland there is a wide gap between the
00:06technology industry and Latinos the
00:08fastest-growing portion of today's
00:10workforce and the workforce of the
00:11future say Loretta Sanchez and Ruben
00:14Gallego both members of Congress Sanchez
00:17who represents the central portion of
00:19Orange County California and Gallego who
00:22represents the Phoenix area of Arizona
00:24join this segment of the pod to discuss
00:27how to bring more Latinos and other
00:29underrepresented populations into the
00:32tech industry we have the innovators
00:34it's just how do you how do you move
00:36that Latino innovator into the
00:39mainstream of innovation that is what we
00:42see here in the Silicon Valley finally
00:44why tech entrepreneurs and government
00:47have a hard time working together a lot
00:49of tech companies have really been
00:51operating very well without our
00:52interference and so with the first time
00:54you know when when we meet you know
00:56whether it's tech meeting government
00:58there's like a cultural divide well the
00:59cultural divide exists because we
01:01haven't really needed to interact
01:03Loretta Sanchez and Ruben Gallego
01:05welcome thanks for joining us uh you
01:08guys are out here in the valley on a
01:10sort of fact-finding mission or
01:12information gathering mission and we had
01:14a brief discussion and and one of the
01:15things that you guys brought up was this
01:18idea that you are and your constituents
01:21are this kind of pipeline to the
01:23workforce of the future and I I want to
01:25unpack that both kind of how you view
01:27the work of the future as it relates to
01:29the people in your home districts and
01:32and what we what we mean by work and how
01:35we can get more people involved well we
01:38know that just in a few years one out of
01:40every four Americans will be of Hispanic
01:43descent we know that 9 out of 10
01:46Hispanics in America are actually born
01:49here we know that the it is the youngest
01:54population the Hispanic Americans our
01:56median age the youngest population here
01:58in the United States and in fact we know
02:00that every month 83,000 Hispanics in our
02:05nation turn 18 so we are really looking
02:08at the crux of the workforce of today
02:13tomorrow for certain we will still have
02:15the traditional services we'll have you
02:18know lawyers and doctors and you know
02:21car washes if there's water in
02:23California and things of that sort it's
02:25not funny but we will more importantly
02:29we know that the future is built on all
02:33of this biomed biotech Infotech industry
02:38in particular that California so known
02:40for and so what we want to ensure is
02:43that all children going through the
02:46school system are ready to take on the
02:49responsibility of being in those in that
02:52high-tech world of working of developing
02:56of creating if you will so that's what
03:00we need Ruben when you hear that
03:03description of the workforce of the
03:04future and and that kind of work how
03:06does technology relate to that and then
03:08you know we're in the middle of Silicon
03:09Valley right now does Silicon Valley
03:12need to exist in Arizona the Silicon
03:14Valley need to exist in Orange County
03:16but or do does technology allow for
03:19those jobs to kind of be anywhere look
03:22so kind of alley needs to and the spirit
03:24of Silicon Valley needs to exist
03:25everywhere in this country I mean it's a
03:26very entrepreneurial innovative economy
03:29that I think is one of the
03:31longer-lasting success stories of
03:34America so we want to see this happen
03:36anywhere I mean as a person from Phoenix
03:38and I'm always trying to get Silicon
03:40Valley businesses to move to Arizona
03:42trying to get venture capital to invest
03:44more in Arizona so I you know obviously
03:46we do need to see that but at the end a
03:48it's just a numbers game and this is
03:49what we have to focus on we have a
03:51booming the boomers are retiring and
03:53they were one of the largest most well
03:56educated workforces that the world had
03:58ever seen and they need to be replaced
04:00by somebody and the only population that
04:03equals that population of the boomers
04:05are Latinos and and other immigrants but
04:09Latinos are a big portion of that so if
04:11we want this economy to continue growing
04:13we want this economy to continue and be
04:15innovative and not shipped overseas then
04:17we need to educate the largest workforce
04:20population that's coming up and that is
04:22Latinos so there's very many ways to do
04:26you know partly it's just your k12
04:27elementary school education but some of
04:29it is also just you know connecting
04:31Silicon Valley capital to you know
04:35Latino entrepreneurship we're a very
04:37entrepreneurial Society you know we open
04:40up businesses even the downturns of the
04:42there's these businesses that are very
04:43innovative and can grow with some great
04:45talent but they we don't have capital
04:47most Latinos when they start their first
04:49business they take it out of the equity
04:51of their home well that doesn't work as
04:53much anymore especially if you want to
04:54move beyond just you know preliminary
04:56stages of starting a company
04:58yeah startup so this is why I advocate
05:02you know first for like relationship
05:03linkages right if you are a a venture
05:07capital I recommend you go out of your
05:10way and go to some of these accelerators
05:12somebody startup labs that are known for
05:15helping Latinos please hire more Latinos
05:19on your staff because they will be able
05:20to introduce you to more more projects
05:23and more and more startups and then also
05:26getting involved with the nonprofit's
05:28that are very important than Latino
05:30community so just what we're here with
05:32the Congressional Spanish Caucus looks -
05:34I was gonna say can you be specific what
05:36are some of those groups that people
05:37should pay attention to
05:38well the Congressional Spanish Caucus
05:40Institute which is what me and Loretta
05:41help out as much as can it's really a
05:45pipeline training program for young men
05:48and women of Latino descent to get into
05:51politics and business and it's a great
05:53way for them to get mentorship into you
05:57know fields that the Muslim were never
05:59available to you know I come from a
06:01background my mom was a secretary I
06:03didn't know what was capable and what
06:06kind of workforce was out there until
06:07basically it was a little too late for
06:08me you know I did not know the idea of
06:11startups that know anything about
06:13venture capital know anything about
06:14Messam banking if I had known about the
06:16stuff at a younger age through the kind
06:18of mentorship program such as what we
06:20have with C HCI I think you're opening
06:22up the minds of a lot more and you know
06:24thousands of more young young men and
06:26women so I really encourage live people
06:27to be looking at those kinds of profile
06:29of organization describe the gap and
06:31that I think that you guys are talking
06:33about that exists between the Latino
06:36community by and large and the
06:39sort of innovative technology world that
06:41is really obviously dominant here in
06:44Silicon Valley but I think that our
06:45belief is as software eats the world
06:47technology becomes more and more of a
06:48part of every industry so describe the
06:51cabin then maybe it's interesting
06:52because if you really take a look at
06:54what is happening in the Hispanic or the
06:56Latino community whatever you want to
06:58call it the we're we're fast adapters of
07:02technology right I mean I can go into
07:05some of the poorest homes that I
07:06represent and and it's amazing that
07:09their kids have iPhones and that they're
07:11working and that they're texting and so
07:13we are very good assimilators of the
07:16technology that happens and even more so
07:19we're probably pretty creative about
07:21what's the next step what what do I want
07:24what do I don't want with a
07:25communication device what do I want when
07:27I'm looking at TV or actually not TV
07:30anymore right when I'm looking at trying
07:31to get some sort of content in whatever
07:34manner I get it probably the Latino
07:36community has ideas on that but somehow
07:39we haven't gotten from being saying you
07:43know you see it used to be in the old
07:45times you saw something on TV he said oh
07:47I had that idea five years ago and I
07:49said oh I should patent it or whatever
07:51and you know I mean we have the
07:53innovators it's just how do you how do
07:55you move that Latino innovator into the
07:59mainstream of innovation that is what we
08:01see here in the Silicon Valley when our
08:04fathers and our grandfathers and our
08:06moms and stuff haven't been present here
08:08I mean we haven't been the innovators so
08:10how do we move how do we move our kids
08:13into this space well I would argue that
08:16more and more are moving the space
08:18ribbon you were one more more I'm moving
08:21the space but if we want you know the
08:23the the reason we want more Latinos and
08:26startup work and and in finance is
08:28because it's true wealth creation and we
08:31don't want this generation of Americans
08:33to also skip out in wealth creation
08:34because it's very important for you know
08:36the whole American economy that you know
08:38prosperity share it as as white as
08:40possible the the gap that we have is is
08:43is in two areas relationship and
08:46education so there's a lot of young men
08:48and women that are coming out of college
08:49with the wrong degrees that don't put
08:51the pipeline to be to be effective in
08:55the startup business so for example they
08:57may they may not be getting the computer
08:59science background the mathematics
09:00background they get to get them into the
09:02pipeline of a really good tech company
09:05and when they're at the tech company
09:07that's where they meet other people that
09:08are gonna help them innovate they're
09:10gonna help them become more disciplined
09:11they're gonna help them you know think
09:13of new grounds and most then what
09:15happens they break off in their circle
09:17of friends and they leave and they start
09:18their company right and they're reaching
09:20back to the networks that they use and
09:22made through the during you know during
09:23either college or at that company to
09:25find their funding and to move on now
09:27when a Latino student does not even get
09:29into that basic first step which is that
09:31the first job at that Google the
09:34Facebook whatever company you can think
09:36of that's gonna impede almost any other
09:40future progress that we would want to
09:42induce they could end up having a very
09:44successful startup career so you know
09:47what we are looking for and what we're
09:48recommending are steps for you know
09:51startups and the tech company in the
09:52tech industry in general to be able to
09:55find those students or find the places
09:57where they were where they come from the
09:59feeder schools and making sure those
10:00feeder schools are actually training
10:02these students to be ready for the
10:04modern workforce because they might not
10:05be an Ivy League school but there's
10:08still great universities where they've
10:10learned the skill set that they need to
10:12be able to compete well in the new tech
10:15companies yeah III think you guys are
10:19speaking to the Latino community but but
10:21you know globally in a vision can happen
10:23anywhere and like you say technology has
10:25this way of if something's good if
10:27something you know is popular it finds a
10:30way to find an audience or customers
10:32yeah but success is never a mistake
10:34people aren't successful by mistake or
10:36by chance and and innovations zones such
10:41as you know the Ron here in San
10:43Francisco right here in the Bay Area
10:44didn't just pop up then I just pop up
10:47overnight they were created because
10:48there was a concentration of education
10:52wealth and opportunity all at the same
10:54time so even though we are spreading
10:57technology and education you know across
11:00the globe in order for you to actually
11:02fully take a hold of it and make
11:05career out of it and be successful with
11:07it in in terms of an entrepreneurial
11:09business that is not going to happen by
11:11chance and and circumstance that's gonna
11:14happen by relationship-building
11:16educating yourself and learning from
11:18other peers the reason you know this
11:20area is so innovative is because there
11:22are already innovative people here and
11:24they feed off each other I would agree
11:25with all of that I I think my point is
11:27that increasingly and believe me Silicon
11:30Valley has not done a very good job of
11:32this but that increasingly Silicon
11:33Valley is worried about missing out on
11:35this fantastic person this fantastic
11:38idea that's happening someplace else
11:39right because it can but and so it's
11:42trying to find ways I think we're trying
11:45to find ways to build those
11:47relationships better and haven't done a
11:49good job the best way to build a
11:50relationship better is to make sure that
11:52you're diversifying who you are talking
11:54to you can't you don't have to pod in
11:57one place I mean and that's the beauty
11:59exactly the technologies that we have
12:02now allow people in South Dakota or
12:06people in Orange County to be a part of
12:09what's going on a pair of vice versa or
12:11around the world so you don't have to
12:14necessarily pot in one place you can
12:16still find all of those innovations but
12:19I would agree with my colleague I mean
12:20the fact of the matter is where you have
12:22creative people gathering you have more
12:25of a quantum leap if you will an ability
12:29a platform in just you who move up where
12:33you have money possibilities it's it's
12:36much easier to do having the resources
12:40available at your fingertips becomes
12:44and traditionally Latinos have not been
12:48in that network they haven't been in
12:50that place they might have been there
12:54they're certainly all here they're the
12:56plenty of Latinos here in the Silicon
12:57Valley but for some reason there's this
12:59sort of you know bridge they can't walk
13:02across to get into the googles so so one
13:06of the things that we're advocating is
13:08for the future of our country they need
13:11to we need to we need to have the
13:14innovative companies build those bridges
13:17and I think you're gonna see not just
13:20Latinos but plenty of other folks walk
13:21across those bridges like you say and
13:23and we'll be all stronger for that I
13:25mean that's that's the you know I think
13:26that's what makes our economy a very
13:28vibrating economy is that you know we
13:30continue to innovate but you know the
13:32people that are gonna be doing the
13:33innovation in the future are gonna be a
13:35very diverse background that's gonna be
13:36you know reflective of the United States
13:38yep let me let me shift gears here a bit
13:40you guys obviously spent a lot of time
13:43in Washington Silicon Valley has not a
13:46great track record working with
13:47Washington and I think technologists
13:50often go to Washington wanting to change
13:52government and get things done and come
13:55back you know bruised and and somewhat
13:57disillusioned what as entrepreneurs do
14:00should they understand or don't they
14:03understand about the US government and
14:04how can kind of sort of the tech world
14:07and and the US government work together
14:09better well I think the most important
14:11thing and yet just talking to I have met
14:14those tech people like one government is
14:16not the private sector and it's not
14:20supposed to be we're not supposed to
14:21switch quickly on a dime that's what
14:23causes a lot of problems and instability
14:24in the world too we are we are not the
14:27government we are a representation of
14:29people and it's not up to us a lot of
14:33times to make decisions you know we are
14:36here deciding on behalf of who we
14:38represent this were not CEOs of some
14:41corporation and the government should
14:43not run like a corporation we have
14:47liabilities that we have to take care of
14:49we have the Defense Department and a lot
14:51of times I hear tech CEOs like well you
14:53should run this like a business I'm like
14:54okay well let me explain to you how this
14:56would run if this was if you want to run
14:58your business like government you would
15:00have to spend a lot of money to make
15:02sure your competitor didn't eventually
15:04get strong enough so you could overtake
15:05you you would have to pay the outgoing
15:08costs of every way they're already
15:10retired from your company and at the
15:12same time make sure that you're still
15:13putting enough resources into educating
15:15that people are coming into your company
15:16that's what government does and there is
15:18a there's a certain amount of hubris
15:20that occurs with you know tech companies
15:22CEOs come in and talk to us now
15:24there are a lot of good things they can
15:25learn from and we can learn from them
15:26but it's not usually as simple I think
15:30a lot of people seem to think but the
15:32other day we're here because we are a
15:35customer service organization and that
15:37is representing the citizens of this
15:38country or at least our localized area
15:41the government is supposed to be
15:42democratic right I mean that's what we
15:43all believe in the United States so the
15:45democratic process is that everybody
15:47gets their day in court
15:49everybody gets their chance to petition
15:51that everybody gets their redress of
15:53government everybody if you want to
15:55participate you get your ability to
15:58participate so if that's what we believe
16:00democracy is when we end up allowing
16:04people in the process to have their
16:08chance to participate it slows things
16:10down slows things down and so it's not
16:16efficient the way our government was
16:19created was that everybody gets their
16:22day it gets the day to come in and say I
16:24don't like that freeway I don't like how
16:27you spend that money towards that
16:30country I don't you know and and we have
16:33to have a process and that's the process
16:34the process so we have the other reason
16:37I think white tech companies home is
16:38successful because they haven't really
16:39needed government either and that's
16:41something that's a lot different from a
16:43lot of other in other industries a lot
16:45of tech companies really have been quite
16:47successful without the regulation or
16:49interference from government that you
16:50know that's a good thing we don't really
16:52want to come in and regulate something
16:54unless we absolutely have to and that's
16:55usually to protect the consumer or
16:57national security and so a lot of tech
16:59companies have really been operating
17:00very well without our interference and
17:02so with the first time you know when
17:04when we meet you know whether it's tech
17:06meeting government there's like a
17:07cultural divide well the cultural divide
17:09exists because we haven't really needed
17:10to interact and that's not necessarily a
17:13you know if companies can continue to
17:14innovate and continue to play the
17:16workers as well as they do you know and
17:18continue expanding and and without it
17:20causing any prompts to consumers or to
17:22other citizens you know there's no
17:23reason why they should very you know
17:25interact with us it seems that it just
17:27as an observation that technology and
17:29government will interact more and more
17:31as you know it moves again as technology
17:34moves into different industries whether
17:35that be Airbnb right and or uber and
17:38lyft and transportation etc and so Terry
17:44that's where we regulation talking about
17:46persons person's personal safety
17:48contract in that spirit though what I'm
17:51trying to get at and I think you guys
17:52have done a good job of explaining so it
17:53is like we are going to be talking to
17:56each other and interacting more so we
17:58need to figure out a language and a
17:59common ground that that works direct
18:01forward yeah and so I mean you see this
18:04in the interplay between uber and cities
18:06Airbnb and C's and regulations and I
18:09think it really is a it's a cultural
18:11mismatch but doesn't mean that we can't
18:13get over it but it does frustrate I
18:15think the tech company that we can't
18:17move as fast as as innovation so uber
18:20was basically created a couple years ago
18:22and has been able to overtake you know
18:24some very strong you know markets you
18:27know cab markets but we've had cab
18:29regulations now for more than seventy
18:31years right and so we would love to be
18:34able to change and some of us have I was
18:36involved in some of the changes in
18:37Arizona and some of us are involved in
18:39in the changes I would have move in that
18:41fast but the fact that you know
18:43sometimes it doesn't happen doesn't mean
18:44that we're trying to destroy that new
18:46innovation just means that we're trying
18:47to cope with this change in technology
18:50its disruptive technology they describe
18:52it as 2-0 optic technology if it's
18:54called disruptive technology it's going
18:55to be disruptive to government
18:57technology is changing so quickly on a
18:59day to day basis and well while we're
19:02trying to address what happened with
19:04technology you know just yesterday I
19:07mean now technologists are past - next
19:10month and and so we're you know a day
19:13late and a dollar short in in having
19:16something that actually addresses the
19:19new concerns that are popping up every
19:21single day so we you know it and that's
19:24the nature of technology the technology
19:26is changing so quickly that government
19:29is trying to catch up to what is
19:31happening the the question is that we as
19:35people who want to ensure that things
19:38are safe that that new that you things
19:40work in the general order of keeping
19:43civilization alive and going etc
19:46national security concerns privacy
19:48concerns in particular hit this industry
19:51this this Tech Valley a lot we we have
19:55to address those issues
19:57unfortunately the process is slow in
19:59addressing them for because it's built
20:01into the process but you know we're not
20:04here to stymie business I love it when I
20:07see something that works I love it when
20:09someone comes up with an idea and I and
20:10I get to use it which you know here we
20:14are you get to talk to entrepreneurs via
20:16the podcast what could you know if you
20:18could wave your wand and get something
20:20made for you to help you in your job and
20:22with your constituents what kinds of
20:24things or what sort of what what what do
20:26you want more of I would like a pill
20:31invented that would get me over jetlag
20:33because I go back and forth every week
20:35from Washington DC to California every
20:38three to four days and you know that's
20:41that's very very hard on the body why I
20:44was gonna be a little more serious I
20:46hope you guys don't mind I think one of
20:48the best things that could happen is
20:50that sometimes government across
20:51different levels does not share in
20:54prosperity whenever there's success
20:56so here's I'll give you a good example
20:58if you're a police officer and you
21:01continue continually you know grab
21:04something throw them in jail because
21:05they're homeless you're counting you're
21:07costing taxpayer dollars right to that
21:10property to the property tax of that
21:12area but if you're the governor or
21:15government and somehow you come up with
21:17an innovative program just to get that
21:19person off the street they're not no
21:21longer homeless you just save the county
21:23a lot of money but actually the only
21:26area that's going to show the prosperity
21:27of it which is you know diminished cost
21:30is going to actually be the the feds who
21:33actually created the program if at all
21:35that's so the feds actually don't
21:36receive it I'm sorry it's the city that
21:37receives it so there's there's that's
21:39where you get ended up seeing very a
21:40little stronger sorry less innovation
21:43when it comes to some areas because even
21:45though it being in the best interest of
21:47the federal government to take care of
21:49homeless issues it doesn't actually at
21:51the end the day bring down the bottom
21:52line for some of these agencies it only
21:54ends up helping the the local
21:56governments agency but they don't
21:57somehow shared the funds up or down well
21:59so it's interesting thing we talked a
22:01little bit in a podcast about
22:02distributed computing but this idea of
22:04big data and how right if you can see
22:06that if you can see these interactions
22:08and these kind of you know the input and
22:09the output and the cause
22:10if we don't see that now the problem is
22:12is there like the funding behind is the
22:14difficult thing so right the the big
22:16thinkers in politics and policy right
22:17now are trying to figure out we know
22:19where the the interconnection is we know
22:22you know how this will affect you know
22:24the the future output or the future cost
22:28of that particular citizen and the
22:30action towards them or against them but
22:32if they're if nobody actually is somehow
22:35you know on the somehow emphasized or
22:39push to do it then why then why would
22:42you do yeah I may be interesting again
22:44we were talking about modeling social
22:46kind of science things and so if you
22:48have this you know real world and right
22:52here's the variables and you change them
22:53what happens to homelessness what
22:56happens to the cost we see that in every
22:58every aspect I mean you know we're again
23:01I go back to water in California we're
23:03seeing that happen with respect to this
23:05fight of somehow you know we're we're
23:08down water and people are saying well
23:09you know because of the EPA regulations
23:12and the endangered species we have to
23:13worry about the fish and somehow that's
23:15against the people or what have you I
23:16mean there are all these simplistic
23:18ideas about what's really happening with
23:20the water in California the reality is
23:22that water rights in history and
23:27environmental issues and the way people
23:29use water and agriculture raising food
23:33that actually feeds the rest of us it's
23:35a very complicated model and it would be
23:38interesting to see if somehow we could
23:41actually build a model I mean I'm a
23:43former model builder you know and if we
23:45could build a now an algorithm that
23:46would really take into account some of
23:48what's going on so that we might have a
23:51more mathematical way of looking at this
23:54water distribution arena because I think
23:56if we can bring it down to a
23:57mathematical equation we might be able
24:00to solve it easier I want to thank
24:03congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and
24:05congressman Ruben Gallego thank you guys
24:08so much thank you for having this
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