Hugo Sanchez Turns Adversity into Hispanic Ingenuity, Innovation with Moti Chat

Brooklyn entrepreneur built tech platform connecting clients and creators through real-time video and payment after years of personal struggle and resiliency

Hugo Sanchez on the surface sounds like many, a story that begins in Puerto Rico and unfolds across Brooklyn, but the interesting part introduces itself and is proving to have staying power where his life has been shaped by both hardship and reinvention.

Now the CEO and co-founder of Moti Technologies, Sanchez leads one of the city’s most compelling technological startups. Moti is a platform designed to merge live video and payments, allowing creators and professionals to monetize authentic one-on-one interactions.

Before Moti, Sanchez ran a chain of laundromats and dry-cleaning shops, building small businesses through sheer vision and hustle. Even prior to fine-tuning his business acumen, behind his entrepreneurial drive, lies a story of resilience.

Sanchez spent years navigating the aftermath of incarceration – what ultimately became a “10 to life” sentence,” meaning the inmate must serve at least 10 years before being eligible for parole – personal loss, and a complete reset of his life after criminal activity related to selling drugs.

“You start realizing when people you love die – your mother, your father – you lose total footing,” Sanchez shared. “I didn’t give up. I chose to fight for every inch.”

Sanchez lives in Williamsburg with his wife, Liana Perez. The two, who first met at a Puerto Rican festival in 2008 and reconnected years later through social media, a fitting twist for a couple now building a tech platform focused on connection. Perez is not only a representation of his commitment to marriage, but acts as a business partner and confidant for Sanchez as well.

Liana holds a master’s degree in educational psychology and works as an assistant project manager with Union Local No. 3 in New York City. Her influence extends beyond her career.

“I came from a rough background myself,” Perez shared. “So that in itself didn’t deter me from him. For where he was and who he is today, I definitely commend him.”

Perez’s empathy and grounding presence have been essential during the ups and downs of launching Moti. Patience, faith, and shared purpose bind the pair.

“When things get stressful, I lift him up and remind him that tomorrow’s going to be a better day,” Perez said. “God has a plan, but he’s not going to give it to you all at once. This process teaches you to appreciate it more in the end.”

That same persistence fuels Moti today. With more than 15,000 users and over $2 million in funding raised, Sanchez’s company is expanding its footprint across digital marketplaces and receiving significant exposure from strategic media appearances, most recently Go Fund Yourself on Cheddar TV this past August.

Yet, he sees his mission as bigger than business. Moti’s prolonged success is about representation.

“As a Latino, I want to show others that we belong in tech,” Sanchez said. “Even with an accent or a rough start, you can build something that matters.”

For Sanchez, his extended time behind bars was both humbling and revealing, a hard-earned education in the fundamentals discipline, and perspective. Ironically, the business of drug dealing translates if the individual focuses on the positive changes and choosing to do so.

“When you’re taking part in activities like that, you’re constantly making deals. What are you doing in business? You’re constantly making deals,” Sanchez explained. “Somehow you learn to do business with the wrong product. But if I had spent that much energy on the right stuff, I still would have got there.”

Studies show incarceration often fails to deter crime and may increase reoffending. Per the Prison Policy Initiative, harsher sentences have a mildly criminogenic effect, hindering reintegration and second chances. This makes Hugo Sanchez’s transformation and subsequent Moti campaign all the more remarkable.

Today, his focus is on using that knowledge for purpose, not profit alone. His social media presence has expanded, and major industry thought leaders are included in his network.

“Nobody’s coming to save you,” Sanchez said. “Show up. Use your phone as the tool that can change your life.”

Through Moti, Hugo Sanchez has transformed his story from one of survival to one of service. Empowering others to connect, Sanchez also focuses on creating, and carving out the most of his own second chance so that it will inspire others in similar situations and environments to do so.