Delivering excellence & innovation
Ricardo Alvarado has 16+ years of extensive experience in Product, Marketing, Strategy, and Operations in Financial Services, FinTech, and VC-backed startups. Currently, he is the Founder & Developer of Firebrand Venture Companies which is building and scaling multiple ventures in fintech, consumer technology, and consulting for startups and small and medium sized businesses. Ricardo was recently on the Board of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority, appointed by Governor Wes Moore, and a Board Advisor to the non-partisan Institute for American Policing Reform. Recently, he was Co-Founder and VP Head of Product for VC-backed DashAi as well as Director, Head of Origination Products at Caribou, a recent fintech unicorn. Previously, he was Head of Product & Growth for VC-funded startups and Founder of a tech startup and mobile app which he built himself. Prior to his current entrepreneurial ventures, Ricardo spent almost 8 years at Goldman Sachs and 4 years in management consulting. In his last role, he ran Goldman Sachs’ first consumer-facing, fast-paced fintech startup, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, as VP, Head of Customer Marketing and Retention. He worked with the head of the US Deposits business to craft the first 3-year strategy, and championed the marketing sales organization, managing a multi-billion dollar portfolio with hundreds of thousands of customers, and achieving billions in annual growth. Ricardo is a senior leader and change agent, an expert in business strategy, digital marketing, and delivering excellent products as a product manager. Ricardo has the unique ability to see both the forest and the trees, developing long-term strategies based on data, with a knack for execution and driving results.
Ricardo holds two degrees from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, and an MBA with concentrations in Marketing, Finance, Accounting, and Organizational Behavior. Ricardo also holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, which he completed concurrently with his MBA. Ricardo enjoys teaching marketing, entrepreneurship, and presenting, and was a Business Instructor for the Summer College Preview Program at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. He also taught marketing at University of California Santa Barbara PaCE. As a natural innovator and visionary, when he's not in the classroom or ardently working on his latest startup, Ricardo is thinking of new business ideas, products, or services to add to his list of over 500 and come up with the next big thing.