The Impresario
Investing in Himself
Its Friday afternoon, the end of Esparzas 70-hour work week, a rhythm he has maintained for two decades. He sounds remarkably cheerful, considering his own money is at risk here.
From the start, before Moctesuma Esparza was a major player, before he acquired the franchise for Buenavisíon, the first Latino-owned cable company in Los Angeles, or launched Esparza/Katz productions, before he had deep pockets, he was first in line to back his own business ventures. Esparza declines to give exact figures, but says he also has relied on private equity.
You attract investors not only by creating a compelling business plan and
model, but by being willing to invest in yourself, the producer affirms.
Sometimes the only pay-off is a learning experience, but for Esparza, who came out of the film program at UCLA in the 1970s and never went to business school, education is part of the entrepreneurial game. A few years out of grad school, he invested $100,000 in his first feature production, and nearly lost his house in the bargain. But Esparza says he hasnt worried about money since the early 1980s.
In fact, he professes not to worry, period.
A Valuable Lesson
He relates a story from earlier in his career, when he found himself $250,000 in debt. For advice, he turned to a mentor, Fernando Flores, the former Chilean finance minister and corporate guru.
Esparza recalls: I shared my woes with Flores, who chuckled and said, A quarter of a million? Thats all? I thought you were going to tell me something serious! At the moment I understood it was my interpretation of the debt that was the problem, not the debt itself. I also understood that debt, within responsible measures, was a very powerful tool for accelerating growth.
Esparza understands the value of money. His father, Francisco, one of 17 children, only 13 of whom survived, immigrated to Los Angeles from Jalisco, Mexico.
Francisco Esparza worked his way up to executive chef of a fashionable Beverly Hills restaurant. Im still trying to be the kind of human being he was, says Esparza, who inherited his social conscience from his father, whose formal education came to an end in the fourth grade.
