Pathfinder Award Winner Aims To Empower Advisors, Advises Challenge And Fulfillment In Life And Embracing Your Identity With Openness To Redefine Yourself
We like to think of ourselves as well-read, exposed to great thinkers in a way that develops both practicality and philosophy. After all, that’s why we spent four years and many thousands of dollars on an education.
Then someone comes along who is so well-read and thoughtful it makes you want to pass all your nights and weekends in the bookstore café poring over volumes, latte in hand, to fill gaps in your knowledge. The Pathfinder Award winner for Hispanic CMO Of The Year, Angel Gonzalez, self-professes an obsession with books – and it shows.
Snappy Kraken’s Chief Marketing Officer and one of its three founders, Gonzalez declares a Latin motto, reads the philosophy of leading historical mathematicians and gives erudite advice on life and business.
Beyond intellectual pursuits, Gonzalez and his co-founders led Snappy Kraken to numerous awards over multiple years, including Best Place to Work in Fintech and Best Overall Content Marketing Software, as the firm grew from a startup in 2016 to serving over 6,000 advisors today. With its acquisition of Advisor Websites in May 2022, the firm continues to grow through expanding its website, search engine optimization (SEO) and branding capabilities.
We sat down with Gonzalez to ask about his motto, his experience founding Snappy Kraken and his advice to people of Hispanic origin who are considering starting a business or entering a career in wealthtech or marketing.
WSR: You say your words to live by are “Memento Mori.” Tell us what that means to you.
Gonzalez: I see it as a wakeup call. It’s Latin and it means “remember you will die.” It’s a reminder that I don’t have all the time in the world. And if “work” is going to take up a signification portion of the time I do have, then it may as well be something I find challenging, fulfilling and done alongside people I like and admire who have similar values.
WSR: How did you decide to found Snappy Kraken? Tell us about that experience.
Gonzalez: My co-founders and I have been marketing in the financial industry for a while. We knew how much thought, planning and moving pieces needed to be connected even for “simple” marketing programs. Founding the company was part of an answer to the question: “How do we make these valuable, yet labor-intensive marketing activities as easy as possible for advisors?”
I love this quote from mathematician Alfred North Whitehead: “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.” We knew if we could help advisors offload the strategy, ideation, content creation and operational side of marketing, they would be empowered to create more meaningful connections with people in need of their services.
WSR: What advice would you give to a person of Hispanic origin who is considering starting a business or entering a career in wealthtech or marketing?
Gonzalez: Be proud of who you are, where you come from and the unique perspective you bring to the table. The industry needs it. Go ahead and embrace your identity, but don’t become a slave to it. If you’re committed to learning, growing and accomplishing things you never thought possible, it’s going to require you to question and redraw the boundaries of who you’ve “defined” yourself to be.
And don’t wait for fear to go away before you “act.” It never goes away – all you can do is change your relationship to it and accept it as part of the process to accomplishing what’s most important to you.
Janeesa Hollingshead, Executive Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at editor@wealthsolutionsreport.com
