It’s Time to Disrupt Your Life with Tony Delgado, Latino Wall Street, Founder, Ep #108

I am excited to introduce you to my good friend Tony Delgado, who is a Latino American computer programmer, an investor, a businessman, and is known for his work in Puerto Rico as an entrepreneur investing in the start-up ecosystem. In 2017, after Hurricane Maria, Tony quit his job at an investment firm, moved to Puerto Rico, and funded Disrupt, a movement focused on bringing technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to Latin America. He’s also the founder of Latino Wall Street, the #1 educational platform in Spanish to learn about the stock market.

The last time I saw Tony was a few years ago when I had flown to Puerto Rico to see a TEDx event there. So much has changed since then in the stock market, the financial world, and in Latino opportunities to create wealth, business, and success. I can’t wait for you to hear Tony’s experience on all of these topics.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

  • Why Tony is passionate about being a humanitarian (1:21)

  • What inspired him to head to Puerto Rico to help with the humanitarian effort there (9:31)

  • How necessity has driven entrepreneurship in the Latin community (18:46)

  • How to adapt to entrepreneurial tech spaces (26:32)

  • The tax advantages available in Puerto Rico (34:21)

  • What to understand about investing in Bitcoin (41:53)

  • How virtual worlds and digital transactions are shifting culture and opportunity (49:21)

How disruption can be healthy and progressive

Tony learned to question the system as a kid and he hasn’t stopped. Educational opportunities weren’t designed for him and he started to see the potential of doing this differently even in grade school in New Jersey. As Tony points out, the school system was designed for factory workers, not business leaders. The iPhone disrupted the entire cell phone system when it came out, and those who excel in business and life follow a similar path. When he started making more money in a month selling things online than his teachers made in a year, Tony realized that his earning potential was unlimited.

Why Tony left his investment firm to move to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

After years working his way up the corporate ladder as a computer programmer for major brands, Tony started to re-think the kind of money he was making. He invested in going to an event in Silicon Valley and met all kinds of innovators raising money for their startups. While there he heard the founder of Twitch say, “There’s more people that want to make things than people that know how to make them.” In that moment, he realized that using the internet as a tool was the way to wealth for him. When Hurricane Maria hit years later, Tony visited shortly after the storm and realized that if he didn’t do something about helping rebuild it, he would regret it forever.

How the internet has made immigration non-essential

Immigration to the U.S. scaled so massively at the turn of the 20th century because the opportunities to make money were so much bigger here than in other countries. Since the internet has become the main tool for building businesses in this century, physically being in the U.S. is no longer a requirement for making good money. This shift is a massive opportunity for people in many countries to be disruptors in their own economies without having to immigrate.

The importance of investing in yourself

Every time you invest in yourself, you have an opportunity to level up. Once Tony started investing in events and getting around different people, he started thinking differently. Even though he was often the only inner city Latino person there, he knew how to mind his manners and soak up all the knowledge like a sponge. After going to the same event many years in a row, he was made an ambassador for the event and started getting invited to private dinners and getting comp tickets.

Resources & People Mentioned

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