"In the US, there are over 400,000 quinceañeras every year," said Gamez."Globally, quinceañerasare a $49 billion industry and, combined with other traditional celebrations — weddings, baptisms,, and others — create a $400 billion market." As an entrepreneur, she recognized the big opportunity to provide an online service that organized the party-planning and gift-giving process for Hispanics.
"We needed money to scale," she continued. Whether it was because she was pregnant or a lack of understanding of the market potential, when she first started pitching Gamez received a lot of blank stares from investors. When she finally received a term sheet during her last trimester, it brought her pregnancy into the valuation of the company. The investor deemed it a risk for the company.