Who is Pedro David Espinoza?
Pedro David Espinoza is a TED speaker, entrepreneur, AI investor, and author. In 2014, Pedro became the founder & CEO of SmileyGo, an app that helped companies invest smarter. SmileyGo indexed the data of 1.3 million NGOs in addition to having users in 30 countries. Incubated at SkyDeck, his software startup gained funding from 1517 Fund, Frank Baxter, Jack Larson, and Berkeley Haas Seed Fund. In 2017, Janet Napolitano awarded Pedro The University of California Entrepreneur Winner. In 2018, Pedro founded Pan Peru USA, a venture that empowers women to become entrepreneurs. With the support from Fortune 500s, Pan Peru has scaled from empowering 1 to 100 women. In 2019, Pedro wrote a book with Jorge Titinger with contributions from Eric Schmidt, Reed Hastings, and Dan Schulman. Pedro’s book – Differences That Make A Difference – attracted 100 CEOs as contributors such as Pat Gelsinger who wrote the foreword. His book received the 2020 Best Business Book Award by Latino International.
Educated at Berkeley Haas, Stanford Engineering, and Harvard Business School, Pedro began his career as a mechanic during his summer breaks as a high school student in Peru. In 2010, Pedro launched his music singles on Apple, Spotify and Amazon. Pedro is a venture investor in startups such as KiwiBot, MoCaFi, NadineWest, Noyo, Paladin, Feed.fm, Classavo, Praava Health, Rasa, Report to Earn, and Happioh. He is also a limited partner at venture capital funds such as Cortado Ventures, GoodLight Capital, and 1Flourish Capital. In 2021, The Silicon Valley Business Journal recognized him as a Latin Business Leadership Honoree.
In 2016, Pedro became a distinguished keynote speaker. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta are some of the companies he has given speeches. Pedro has given 300 keynotes on grit by sharing his entrepreneurial immigrant story. In 2021, Pedro became a Special Advisor to Blue Shield’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Cruz. That same year, he became a lecturer at Tecnologico de Monterrey. In 2024, Pedro’s second book – The Real ROI: Return on Inclusion – attracted 50 CEOs as writing contributors such as Michael Dell, John Hennessy, and Shellye Archambeau.
Pedro has been profiled in Nasdaq, Univision, Telemundo, Hispanic Shark Tank, Times of Israel, KRON-TV, Hispanic Executive, Latin America Reports, Al Dia News, Latino Leaders Magazine, and Forbes. In 2017, The Voice of America named Pedro “The Robinhood of Technology”. Pedro serves on the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Tech Academy, ActAware, LoyalCard, Inkas Rent A Car, Autoespar, Lunahuana River Resort, and GESA.
In 2017, Pedro gave his TED Talk – Build the Bridge – sharing his American Dream story having 21,000 views. In 2020, Pedro joined the Silicon Valley Leadership Group as the Vice President of Business Development to lead the Launch Circuit to support 100 startups. In 2021, Pedro was elected as the Vice Curator for Global Shapers in Palo Alto by the World Economic Forum. In 2022, Pedro got accepted to the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program as a Technology & Innovation Awardee having 20,700 followers. That same year, he became the Chief Revenue Officer of Ever Technologies to manage the business development and revenue teams. In 2023, Pedro received the NextGen 30 Under 30 Award presented by Goldman Sachs. That same year, Pedro was appointed to the Advisory Board of 1t.org of the World Economic Forum. In 2024, Pedro received the Silicon Valley 40 Under 40 Award by Negocios Now. Pedro’s Pan Peru has given 3,000 children access to STEM education and reforested 15,000 trees. Pedro has received recognition for his success, he has received the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 HITEC 100 Awards – which features the 100 most influential Hispanics in technology.
