Ricardo is a seasoned Silicon Valley tech founder (10 years & $10M venture backed). Currently, he is the founder & CEO of ILUMA, the AI for high-performing CEOs to prevent million-dollar problems - backed by Techstars.

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Ricardo is the founder of two of the most influential private communities in Silicon Valley; the YC Alumni (2,000 top tech founders that went through the YC program) and the Top American Latinx Tech Leaders in the US ($16 Billion in founder exits, $120 Billion to invest). He is a founding equity partner of Acrew Capital and active angel investor through his family fund, Nilo Ventures. Ricardo is an Aspen Institute tech fellow and an NYU stern innovation fellow. He was recently recognized as a Silicon Valley Top Diverse Tech Leader.

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Ricardo is a founding governance member of one of the leading and most influential tech DAO funds; the Orange Fund/DAO ($80M & 1,500 YCombinator alumni).

 

Previously Ricardo was the founder of VOIQ ($7M raised) backed by YCombinator.

and other top Silicon Valley investors, building Conversational AI software. ​

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Prior to his two tech startups, Ricardo was an associate at the NYC Mayor’s office under Michael Bloomberg developing the technology roadmap for New York City. He also was campaign CTO to Mayor Angel Taveras; the first Latino mayor of the city of providence, RI.

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Ricardo has an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, and an undergraduate degree in politics from NYU. He is a advisor fellow of the World Policy Institute. Ricardo is also a consortium fellow, a Management Leaders for Tomorrow (MLT) fellow, and a Council of Urban Professionals fellow. He is also the former president of the Scarsdale Alumni Association and was recently a guest at the White House reception for latino leaders. Ricardo is also an Aspen Institute Latino Tech Leader.