 Hi guys, how are we doing? Good to see you. My name is Andy Lowe. I'm the founder of eight app We're an early-stage seed investment fund a different approach to poverty And we're going to be talking about getting it done the four-hour due diligence process So eight app has two entities We have the capital fund which is a small early-stage seed fund with a million dollars and working with ten deals We've done ten deals in the last year, which is our first year We have a second entity which is the eight app advisory services LLC that provides intellectual capital to these early-stage Entrepreneurs, and we have an associate program that we run with that Two things about me firstly, I Love tacos. How many loves tacos? Yeah Secondly, how many you like getting stuff done? Yeah, few of you well, we're all about that I am sick and tired of the amount of time that has been wasted in early-stage deals Entrepreneurs time is being taken up going through the due diligence process for multiple investors Before investors are able to make a decision to invest in the early-stage entrepreneurs when I hear stories of investors spending 11 months to make a decision on a $25,000 investment It raises a lot of questions one of it is whether that's the most effective way to get stuff done There is bundles of money Waiting to be deployed in early-stage impact investing and there are a lot of deals waiting to receive that money But so many Investors spend so much time going through the pros and cons Dithering in being able to make a decision because their investment decision process is driven by fear rather than reality of getting stuff done And it becomes a cost-benefit analysis question when you're spending so much time of your time as an investor as well It's so much time of the entrepreneurs So I want to keep the entrepreneurs calm and I want to take up only four hours of their time for our due diligence process in my mind There's three things that I need to see before I can make an investment decision Firstly, do I trust the entrepreneur? Do I feel that we have a rapport that I can trust them and that we can get it done? Secondly, does their plan make sense and do I understand it if I can't understand the business plan Then it's not going to be a good relationship and the third one is me just being entirely honest I want it on my obituary if I don't care enough about what the entrepreneurs doing Then I'm not going to be motivated to be getting up in the morning They can be making as much money as they want they can having as much social impact as they want But if I don't care as an investor, then I'm not going to be able to get motivated to work with them And then the next step is action Now at eight app I manage other people's money So I have my first screen which we talked about the trust the plan and the obituary Then I have a second screen that takes up my time and my team's time rather than the entrepreneur's time And that is me to some extent reassuring myself of the investment decision I've made It's also making sure I fulfill my legal and my fiduciary obligations to making wise investment decisions The key thing is values. Are we aligned with the entrepreneurs on the values? Do we have a commonality of what we're trying to achieve that we can be able to work together? If we don't then it's a deal-breaker Pretty simple, huh? So I live in the one and only El Paso How many of you have had the privilege of ever being and going to El Paso? Quite a few of you represent. I like it El Paso was a very unique part of the United States of America on the border of Texas, New Mexico and Mexico And I've been living there for the last two years and every Tuesday I have the privilege of walking across the bridge and going and getting the best Mexican food you can which is in Mexico And having my taco Tuesday in Mexico It's awesome But it's an integral part of the due diligence process that we do at ADAP All of the entrepreneurs that I have invested in I have asked to come and stay at my home They have the opportunity to spend a concentrated amount of time with me Which may or may not be good for them, but I think it's helpful for the relationship They also get a chance to experience my cooking or more likely my wife's cooking and to read the bedtime story to the kids The key thing is it establishes a trust relationship and it's all part of my due diligence process after the deal is done After the deal is done when they don't need to be putting on a front they can be honest with me We can establish the trust relationship and so of the 10 deals that we've done seven of them have been to stay at my house They've been across the border with me to enjoy taco Tuesday as part of the experience They spent time working alongside us so we can build their companies together in a collaborative manner Before we do the duty before we make the deal. It's a very slow process So I deliberately reduced that down to only four hours of the entrepreneurs time after the deal is done We're ready to start moving and we're trying to get a lot done We've got to get the right balance between our head and the heart Which is why I asked them to come and stay with me so they can get to know me as a real person They can get to know me is what my investment decision has been and we can also be vulnerable with each other So many investors make a fear driven decision-making process I mentioned I want to be vulnerable with the entrepreneurs once we have already made the decision to be working together I've been told I'm insane. I've been told I'm irrational with this four-hour due diligence process That's my vulnerability, but I'm focused on getting it done And I want to challenge investors to be more vulnerable to be more honest to align your values with the entrepreneurs that you're working with Jump out of the pool or jump into the pool depending on which way you want to look at it So many investors swimming around looking at how nice it might be Looking around all that's a good deal We'll have a look we'll spend a bit of time and they're too scared to jump on in So I'm encouraging invest in the room to jump on in have fun. Enjoy the process enjoy working with the entrepreneurs It's a time for action These entrepreneurs have a very small window to make their businesses businesses a success and if my money is spent For the entrepreneurs spending more time trying to raise money from you going through your months and months of due diligence process Not really fair on me. Definitely not really fair on the entrepreneurs So let's try and think about how we can be getting action and how we can be driving towards the business building process rather than due diligence process So the last point taco Tuesday all comes back to the tacos. I Want to challenge the invest in the room you might not have the privilege of being in El Paso But I want to challenge you to think through what is your taco Tuesday? What are you doing to be able to spend time with your entrepreneurs to establish a trust relationship after you have made the investment decision and As part of your due diligence process and for the entrepreneurs in the room Have respect for yourself if an investor is messing you around taking up hours of your time have the courage to walk away There's other sources of capital that are available that will be more valuable for you So get your sunglasses on come and visit me in the sunniest city in America in El Paso If not get stuff done. Thank you all very much