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Frederick Royal III:

Martha, thank you for joining us today. You've been thriving for years. I'd love to dig into your personal and professional journeys. 

Martha de la Torre: 

Well thank you for having me. 

Frederick Royal III:

Your Ecuadorian parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s. How did their experiences adapting to a new country and culture shape your upbringing? 

Martha de la Torre: 

Well, my parents came, like so many parents, for a better opportunity. They had nothing in Ecuador, they came with nothing, but they impressed me with their work ethic. They worked so hard to ensure that we had financial security, but also reflecting back, they also made sure that we had a balanced family life. 

Frederick Royal III:

What led you and your husband to start El Clasificado in 1988? 

Martha de la Torre: 

Well, I had never planned on being an entrepreneur. I saw the Hispanic market booming and I saw nothing for free to, especially recent immigrants who were looking for jobs, a home, a car. There was nothing like the penny saver. So I said, someone should do a penny saver in Spanish and people say, I should do it. Out of curiosity, I wrote a business plan and then I got so into it that I launched it. Joe thought it was a great idea. He didn't really want to be part of it, but he was the reluctant angel investor and raised a lot of capital from family and friends. 

Frederick Royal III:

How has your business evolved over time? And has there been a make or break moment for the business? And if so, how did you navigate it? 

Martha de la Torre: 

Well, so many people say what a great idea it was, and the Hispanic market was booming, so it seemed great, except that we were at the tail end of a boom and at the beginning of a recession. We should have gone bankrupt the first seven years. And Joe and I did side jobs and eventually I said, “I will not walk away. I will not go bankrupt, but I will keep the company going until I pay off the debt and the investors.” And fortunately, by the time that happened, we turned around. We started cash flowing, we started having fun, and then we grew. And Joe really believed in the viability. When he got involved, he saw hundreds of people picking up our magazines on the street. He goes, “Wow, magazines are disappearing in one day.” This is a great product and he created a great distribution system that eventually took us from L.A., almost all of California at one point. 

Frederick Royal III:

I think it's fascinating how you've been able to have your business pivot and further evolve from print to digital. Can you share with us about how this allowed you to grow your footprint? 

Martha de la Torre: 

At one point we had 800,000 copies a week, and we wanted to get to all of California; that was our dream. We were one of the first hundred thousand websites in 1996 because my brother pushed us to do it. Glad we did. But it didn't really move the needle, do anything, it was something on the side in those days. But we were always growing it. Once we went mobile, we were a leader in the media world of classified marketplaces. And with digital, we grew everywhere. Eventually we didn't have just one ElClasificado.com; we now have 200 El Clasificados on hyperlocal communities. 

Frederick Royal III:

How do these market transformations alter your approach to marketing to the Hispanic and Latino community? 

Martha de la Torre: 

Well, when you have digital data, which you get a lot of from our website, over a million unique visitors and thousands of people placing ads every day, you learn a lot. You learn about products you didn't know, people were buying and selling on our marketplace. And I shared with one of my English media colleagues, I said, “I have a really good keyword for you: dilers, D-I-L-E-R-S.” I said I didn't know what that was. And everyone's looking for them and we realize it's “auto dealers,” but it's dilers because that's the way Latinos were spelling it. So our SEO was so great and so authentic, and that's what really helped us to grow to one of the top. Now we're one of the top classified marketplaces in the U.S. 

Frederick Royal III:

Oh, that's amazing. And true testament to the business that you've built over the last 35 years. Incredible conversation, Martha, congratulations on all your success. 

Martha de la Torre: 

Thank you. 

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