Latino mogul Daniel Lubetzky has made a career out of turning a simple idea into a billion-dollar business. The Mexican-born founder of KIND Snacks took the healthy snack bar from a windowless basement to supermarket shelves around the world, then became one of the most recognizable investors on ABC's Shark Tank. But when he speaks about the Latino community, his focus is not on the next great product or the perfect pitch.
It is about responsibility.
"I'm not doing it to help anybody," Lubetzky told this reporter in Spanish. "I'm doing it to create a better world so my children can live in a better world."
The entrepreneur, philanthropist, and chairman of Camino Partners, the investment firm he founded to back consumer health and wellness companies, will bring that message to AVANCE Global 2026, the Latino leadership, business, and capital conference taking place September 14 through 16 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
For Lubetzky, who was born in Mexico City and whose father survived the Holocaust after leaving Lithuania, supporting Latino founders is not charity. It is self-interest, in the best sense of the phrase.
"There is so much division, hate, and dehumanization in the world," he said. "It is so important to support the people who want to be builders, because if not, the extremists are going to win."
That word, "builders," is central to Lubetzky's current chapter. After building KIND into a global wellness brand, he has expanded his work through Camino Partners and social initiatives aimed at pushing people to work across ideological and cultural differences. His career began long before snack bars, with PeaceWorks, a business created to promote economic cooperation in the Middle East. He later co-founded the OneVoice Movement, which supports Israeli-Palestinian civic engagement.
Now, he is taking the same belief in practical optimism to a new project: Build or Break, a podcast launching this week that explores the failures behind some of the biggest success stories. Guests include Matthew McConaughey, Mark Cuban, Kendra Scott, Kevin O'Leary, José Andrés, Chris Paul and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, Lubetzky said, is one of his favorite examples of a creator who seems to do everything. "He is a filmmaker, editor, he does it all. He is somebody fascinating," he said, laughing.
The conversations, sometimes in English and sometimes with a little "pocho" Spanish mixed in, are not meant to offer empty motivation. Lubetzky wants them to provide tangible advice for people starting businesses, creating schools, building careers or looking for a way forward after a setback.
"Take inspiration from people who have achieved a lot, but also from their defeats," he said. "How they handled them, got over them and used that as fuel to keep moving forward."
At AVANCE Global, a conference designed to connect Latino executives, investors, entrepreneurs and emerging leaders, Lubetzky sees an audience already equipped with the instincts needed to succeed. He identifies four qualities in every builder: curiosity, compassion, creativity and courage. In his view, Latinos have all four.
"Creativity is a huge strength," he said. "We have had to find ways to solve problems. The computer can solve many things, but to create something that has never existed, that takes creativity and the ability to dream."
He believes the Latino community's cultural fluency, resilience and sense of connection can become an answer to the country's growing polarization. "The Hispanic and Latino culture can solve many of these problems," he said. "It brings society together."
And yes, he has some thoughts on the industries where Latinos should be especially bold. Food is the obvious one, he joked, because "we have the most delicious food." But he also pointed to art, jewelry, music and beauty, categories where Latino creativity already shapes American culture and consumer habits.
Lubetzky knows that success does not come from pretending failure never happened. It comes from making something useful out of it. For the Latino founders listening in Las Vegas, that may be the most valuable lesson from the man who made KIND a household name: build anyway.
Other confirmed participants of AVANCE Global are chef and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés, actress and producer Roselyn Sánchez, actor Xolo Maridueña, Mexican soccer star Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa, former SBA administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman and comedian George Lopez. The broader lineup also includes NFL executive Marissa Solis, Las Vegas Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan, Vogue Mexico and Latin America editor-in-chief Karla Martinez de Salas, New American Funding co-founder Patty Arvielo and business leader Nina Vaca, reflecting AVANCE Global's mix of business, culture, sports, media and entrepreneurship.
