"Maria, you are one of the most impressive people I’ve ever seen in the carpet here. I’m in!" ~ Lori Greiner, Shark Tank

I agree 100% with Lori; in fact, I said those same words while watching Maria Luna, the co-founder of BRAVO, pitch the Sharks. She was so outstanding, I had to hop on Twitter and share my awe and wonder! Click this link to read the Tweet: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons/status/957323290577694720

I was delighted to hear right back from Maria, and we’ve been online friends and fans ever since.

Maria is an energetic serial entrepreneur with over 22 years of experience in marketing and managing consumer and healthcare brands at Nabisco and other top companies. Maria excels at lean operations and is a firm believer that blockchain and cryptocurrency will disrupt many industries as we know them.

Her expertise in business planning, organic growth and building functional teams has kept her in demand from the United States to Central and South America.

Maria holds an MBA from the McCombs Business School at the University of Texas as well as a B.A. in Public Communications from the University of Puerto Rico, where she graduated magna cum laude. She is fluent in several languages, including English, Spanish, and Italian.

BRAVO is the easiest way to provide a cashless gratuity or payment to artists, service professional or any micro-merchant seamlessly from your mobile device by connecting users without exchanging information.

BRΛVO is transforming the way to pay with cryptocurrency. Making cryptocurrency seamless and mainstream by enhancing the user experience.

Be sure to go to 17 minutes in the podcast to hear Maria's REMARKABLE story about how BRAVO was chosen out of a thousand startups as the Wild Card company at the San Francisco Tech Stars annual pitch event. The Wild Card company wins the opportunity to pitch to the crowd... with only TWO HOURS to prepare!! Maria and her co-founder were just exhibiting at the event and were not prepared to pitch. This opportunity is what led to BRAVO's appearance on Shark Tank!! A perfect example of Luck = Opportunity + Preparation!!

It was pure deliciousness to finally speak with Maria after years of sharing life and business on social media. I know you'll enjoy the candor and insights from her startup journey.

Please visit BRAVO's website: trybravo.com, and follow BRAVO on the following platforms:
Twitter @Bravo_Pay
Instagram @bravo_pay
Facebook @bravopay
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mlunaceobravopay/

If you’re ready for startup mentoring – please visit my website, http://andelyons.com where you’ll find all the ways I can add value to your startup journey: strategy calls, pitch deck and one page business snapshot coaching, WBENC application support for women business owners - I’d be honored to mentor you through whatever you’re going through – so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

If you’d like to receive an alert whenever I post a new episode, please follow me on Spreaker, Stitcher, iTunes, Spotify or Google Podcasts… and let’s connect on social media!

Listeners - thank you so much for tuning in - I am genuinely grateful for your time and presence. Stay strong, stay focused – and please remember – you’ve got this – Cheers!

Ande ♥