5 Questions for our Experts E-Book by DealGateway

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

A collection of industry insights and valuable peerlearning from leading members of the International Deal Gateway community.

Foreword by Peter Thomas, founder of Thomas Pride International.

Produced by: Yolande Lougheed International Deal Gateway

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Benjamin Franklin

International Deal Gateway is an invitation-only, online global deal community exclusively for exceptional business leaders, vetted entrepreneurs, investors and Family Offices. Deal Gateway brings together a network of over 7000 members from 100 countries plus a partnership with 2400 Family Office investors to source direct investment opportunities, M&A, and global deals not available through traditional sources. Paired with deal flow, our community serves life-long learners with peer-based executive education, including our â€œ5 Questions for our Expertsâ€? series. We hope you enjoy this collection of 20 interviews with global industry leaders. www.dealgateway.com

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Foreword:

Peter Thomas

Founder, Thomas Pride International

What a year we just went through. My heart goes out to everyone who was a victim of the health and economic events that occurred in 2020. While there were heartbreaking tragedies, there also were also lots of signs of strength, team work and hope. I have looked back over my year and want to share some lessons learned. We are resilient and our challenges make us stronger. In 2020 I saw great strengths in the ability of individuals inspiring each other and deepening their relationships with people whom they were aligned. These people tended to be "all in" on everything they commit to do. To help me get through last year I selected special words that inspired me. Words are so important: I would choose my word of the day. I would say "today my word is Happiness". No matter what news I would receive nothing would break my commitment to happiness that day. Other words I used were Patience, Gratitude, Relationships, Friendship, Love, Forgiveness, Respect, Compassion, Focus, Clarity, Execution, Listen. Sometimes I would choose the name of a grandchild. I only need to think "Tasha" and put a big smile on my face and keep it there. My BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) last year were: Be a great leader; Be a great friend; Be a great husband and cheerleader; Be a great father; Be a great grandfather. I think I will keep these same goals for 2021. The people in our life are our most important assets. If you want to see how strong your net worth is take a look at how strong your network is. I believe that your "network is your net worth". Another takehome from 2020 was the realization just how global we are. One person can travel in one day from the most remote village on the planet land in any one of 100 cities and infect millions of people. Also, one person who can invent the cure for these infections can also come from one of those remote villages. We live in a global village. Their problems are our problems. Their solutions are our solutions. In 2021 Deal Gateway can create global solutions bringing capital to opportunity globally. Introducing people who can innovate answers to any questions. Anytime, anywhere. My experience has been that chaos has created my largest opportunities. 2021 is filled with hope and opportunity. It is time to be optimistic, aggressive, and ready to capture the opportunities you will see in 2021. To all you Deal Makers for 2021...Happy Holidays

Peter H Thomas “Doing things others can’t by seeing things others don’t”.

About Peter Thomas Peter Thomas has been a serial entrepreneur for more than four decades, specializing in real estate development and franchising. Peter is recognized as one of the leading developers and lenders of his time in North America. He has developed billions of dollars in real estate projects, from hotels, multi-unit apartments and condominiums to golf courses. Peter is the past Chairman and Founder of Century 21 Real Estate Canada Ltd., founded Samoth Capital Corporation, a Canadian public real estate company now known as Sterling Centrecorp Inc., and developed the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Peter currently spends most of his time with Thomas Pride International, specializing in acquiring multi-family apartments and land to develop housing lots. For his philanthropic contributions to society, Peter was recognized with the prestigious 2010 National Caring Award, an honour shared by Lance Armstrong, General Colin Powell, and Laura Bush. Peter is the Chairman Emeritus of the Entrepreneurs' Organization and the bestselling author of several books: Never Fight with a Pig, Life Manual and Be Great.

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Table of Contents

UNDERSTANDING HOW FAMILY OFFICES INVEST

by D r . M i chael J. Oliver

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN JAPAN

by Y o s h i t o Hori

INNOVATION, EQUALITY & GROWTH IN THE CONTENT PRODUCUTION INDUSTRY by J e n n i f e r McCarron

SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE NAVIGATING THE COVID-19 CRISIS by S u n n y Vanderbeck

IMPACT INVESTING

by E l i z a b eth Funk

ENTREPRENEURSHIP JOURNEY & BUILDING THE TECH ECOSYSTEM IN MIAMI by J u a n P ablo Cappello

OPPORTUNITIES IN AUSTRALIA

by N i c k B ell

COMMUNITIES IN THE WORKPLACE

by C e c i l e M oulard

COMBATTING COVID-19

by J i t h i n V G

UNLOCKING MAXIMUM POTENTIAL IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE by R o b F o llows

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Table of Contents

BUSINESS GROWTH & STRATEGY

by A n d r e w J. Sherman

INVESTING IN FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA by S a r a h Dusek

PRIVATE CREDIT, PRIVATE EQUITY & SECONDARY INVESTMENT by B r e t t Hickey

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, TRENDS & LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

by B r i d g i t Lombard

THE GOLD MARKET AMID COVID-19 AND THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS by D r . J o r d an Trimbl e

OPPORTUNITIES IN TRADE FINANCE & EUROPE by A n d r e a s Schweitzer

MARKETING & ENTREPRENEURIAL INSIGHTS by M e l l i s s a h Smith

OPPORTUNITIES IN SINGAPORE & ASIA

by C a l l u m Laing

BOOSTING MOODS & BUILDING BRANDS IN NORTH CAROLINA by L a u r a McCann

MARKETING & LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

by A l a n M cLaren

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Understanding How Family Offices Invest Dr. Michael J. Oliver

Co-Founder: Global Partnership Family Offices

Dr. Michael J. Oliver, co-founder of Global Partnership Family Offices (GPFO) shares his insight into the world of Family Offices, and how Family Office investors differ from traditional venture capitalists.

Can you share a definition of a Family Office and what makes Global Partnership Family Offices unique? Traditionally a Family Office was a private office set up to manage a family’s investment, tax and personal affairs. It stood either alongside, or occasionally inside, an operating business or subsequent to divesting. The structure and structures taken and used by Family Offices vary greatly. By its nature, the Family Office is established to find a bespoke solution to managing wealth in alignment with the specific family interests. Each Family Office is unique in formation and objectives, although one underlying element is a multigenerational timeframe for wealth transfer and preservation. More recently, with the emergence of multi-family offices (some would argue these are micro wealth managers) and the adoption of certain technological solutions, the functions of traditional Family Offices have become available and affordable for lower wealth brackets. This has resulted in a recent boom in the use of the phrase ‘Family Office’. Global Partnership Family Offices (GPFO) is the eyes and ears of the global Family Office community. Members of these families are highly discrete, secretive individuals and earning their trust takes a great deal of time and patience. With over a decade of trust built with many of the constituents of our community, spanning every continent, we hold an unrivalled position as the association of Family Offices, their principals, executives and appointed advisors. We address many of the issues that ‘keep a Family Office up at night’.

How do Family Offices investors differ from traditional venture capitalists?

Each Family Office will have different investment processes, ranging from the principal being the sole decision-maker to outsourcing a lot of the due diligence to third parties. However, nearly all have a similar ethos on long term, multi-generational capital preservation and do not have external investors/shareholders to answer to. They are therefore often more mission-driven than other investors and more founder-friendly/patient investors however they do not need to deploy cash, unlike funds. When they do deploy capital they are often a more permanent source of capital contrasting to many venture capitalists who are often found to push to ‘exits’. Page 1

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Understanding How Family Offices Invest Dr. Michael J. Oliver

What are the top five sectors that currently appeal to Family Office investors?

A very difficult question to answer as Family Offices are a heterogeneous investor group (institutions and retail all trend towards herd thinking to some extent). Family Offices are better able to block out external noise and go their own way. There are some general themes we see that are popular – some are always popular and some growing. Property – Family Offices are often large property owners (both residential and commercial) so always interested in the sector. Venture Capital – Family Offices are very cognisant of the growing trend of companies to stay private for longer and that venture is the best way to access these companies. Thematic – with a very long-term time horizon Family Offices are always looking at emerging trends. ESG – With inter-generational dynamics, the younger generation is having a growing influence on where their money is invested. Impact – Similar to the above, the next generation often wants to know their investments are making a real difference.

What is a traditional investment range and strategy for Family Office investors? This is almost impossible to answer due to the differences between Family Offices. They will often have a core/satellite approach with the core being a normal portfolio of liquid investments (often outsourced) and the satellite consisting of more esoteric investments (including Venture/PE/Direct Investments/Hedge Funds). We have seen increased interest in the following areas for different reasons: Liquid strategies, particularly those that have operating businesses or portfolio companies which may require support. Uncorrelated strategies, this includes precious metals and alternative asset classes eg. Art, cars, wine. Recession resilient industries, from consumer goods to infrastructure and utilities. Many leaning into the particular thesis of technological solutions will become an accelerated presence in our day-to-day lives. Market neutral strategies, this comes in many different product forms however we have seen an increased interest in hedge fund and quant strategies that generate returns irrespective of the market direction.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Since Covid-19 struck, have you seen any difference in Family Office investor behaviour? Are they still active or sitting on the sidelines? With a very long-term time horizon, most FOs realise that now is the time to be active as many assets are available at distressed prices. The big question is whether Family Offices have the ability to adopt this strategy â€“ those with cash/booming investments (e.g. tech) are being active whereas those with significant exposure to assets/businesses that are suffering (e.g. commercial property, retail) do not have the ability to be active elsewhere. One underlying truth is that Family Offices do not need to invest, they are not bound by mandates to deploy capital like many institutions.

Dr. Michael J. Oliver

Co-Founder - Global Partnership Family Offices Michael J. Oliver was a co-founder of Global Partnership Family Offices in 2009. He has spent 27 years teaching at various universities in the UK, US and France and has combined this with a practical application of economics to offer executive education, workshops and a broad range of consultancy for family offices and high-profile corporations. Dr. Oliver is also a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the Open University and has published extensively on monetary history, exchange rate regimes and macroeconomic policy. He has also been an economic adviser to the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, and a member of the Migration Policy Development Board on the island of Jersey where he lives.

About GPFO The hub of family office interests and affairs, GPFO offers a suite of events, forums and clubs designed to ensure our members have access to the information and intimate peer-dialogue required to stay one step ahead in our quickly evolving world. From discrete and impartial forums to private investment clubs and a range of content-rich events that are as enlightening as they are entertaining, GPFO membership is the key to success in everything that matters to your family office. www.gpfo.co.uk

Family Office Global (FOG) Published since 2009, FOG is distributed exclusively to family offices and UHNWIs worldwide. Published on a quarterly basis and overseen by our Advisory Board, it provides thought leadership on the key issues of the family office community. Contributors to the magazine include family office executives, principal wealth owners, tax and legal professionals and industry leaders in the financial services market. To request a copy of FOG please contact hko@gpfo.co.uk.

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International Deal Gateway Member Event Melbourne, Australia

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Investment Opportunities in Japan Yoshito Hori

Founder and President of GLOBIS Corporation

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Yoshito Hori, Founder and President of GLOBIS Corporation, discusses investment opportunities and entrepreneurship in Japan.

Can you speak to what you'd want entrepreneurs and investors from around the world to be thinking about Japan right now? If they think about the market and the economy outside the US, Japan should come first. In most cases, global entrepreneurs and investors cannot get into China, so they think about Japan (and maybe the EU) as a next destination. Google, Facebook, and Amazon cannot be used in China, but Japan is a single market that’s bigger than Germany and the UK combined, and everything is free access. In Japan we use Google for search, we use Facebook for social media, and we use Amazon for eCommerce. The legal system, the society, the intellectual level, the R&D technology — all of these also make Japan a good market to enter. It's good to invest in Japanese companies. It's good to start companies from Japan. There are quite a few non-Japanese entrepreneurs who started off from Japan and became successful. Korean companies, especially, are coming to Japan, both to expand globally and to invest. For example, a company called LINE and quite a few Korean game companies are here. Japan is a larger market, and it’s becoming like a hub for Asia in terms of market, wealth, available capital, and the IPO market. It's a very good place for anybody to come in.

What is the best way for entrepreneurs that want to invest in startups, or invest in Japan? Would they use their network, or through investing in a venture capital fund, or perhaps through travelling to Japan and meeting different startups? Any ideas you could share? Coming to Japan is the same as going into Silicon Valley. People don't know how to do it. Should we attend conferences? Should we go to networking events? Should we talk to investors? You have to be there, and you have to be there for a while. You have to show your flag to prove to people that you're capable. At the same time, you have to build trust with the people who are in Japan and prove that you are worthy of being invested in. You have to be there to meet people, build trust, and network. You have to get trust from stakeholders, and gradually build the foundation of your business. Page 5

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Investment Opportunities in Japan Yoshito Hori

I think for many people there is still the perception that Japan is all about the big company, and 20+ years ago, that was true. But today there are more entrepreneurs and more of an ecosystem for entrepreneurship. How did this come about? First, I think the biggest change happened in terms of mindset and people working for big corporations. I worked for Sumitomo Corporation, and it was taken for granted that smart people would join big companies and contribute to society that way. However, now people see that there is value in contributing to society by building something new and forging a new path. Entrepreneurs have become more respected in Japanese society. They are becoming heroes and heroines by adding value and making things more dynamic and vibrant. This has changed Japan’s whole mindset, especially for younger people. Second, the ecosystem has changed. We have more venture capital, more angel investors, more role models, more educated people in the workforce, and more mentors, as well as advisors and consultants. Public markets have become much easier to access, and that changes the mindset, too. Third, education has changed. Entrepreneurship cannot be taught because it's a spirit. How to create a company, however, can be taught. That’s what we do at GLOBIS University. So those three things: mindset, ecosystem, and education. They’ve allowed great changes to happen in the past 20 years in Japan.

How has COVID impacted innovation and entrepreneurship? COVID-19 has had a strong impact on accelerating Technovate — technology and innovation. Of course, we had many restrictions in 2020, such as not being able to travel or meet face to face so often, but entrepreneurs are finding new strategies and solutions to deal with the pandemic disruption. The world was already accelerating very fast before COVID-19, but now it’s moving even faster, even though it feels like many things have stopped. That means visionary leaders who understand technology can bring their organizations success. People will also need to find new ways to build trust because of social distancing and travel restrictions. So at GLOBIS, we are teaching people to be disruptors, instead of being the ones who are disrupted.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

What are you most excited about for the future? COVID-19 has created new kinds of challenges for every country in the world. Not only for business, but also government policy, social issues, economics, and education. When Japan declared a State of Emergency in April, we moved all of our courses online basically overnight. Our teachers and students had to adapt. And they did a great job. I’m very excited to see what will come out of this time because it’s forcing people to innovate. Japan is one of the countries doing this very well. We have a long history in Japan of excelling at AI and technology, and we’re advancing in those areas now, too.

Yoshito Hori

Founder and President of GLOBIS Corporation Yoshito Hori is the Managing Partner of Globis Capital Partners and President of GLOBIS University, which he founded in 1992 and built it into one of Japan’s leading business schools. Mr. Hori founded Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization (YEO) Japan Chapter and was the first Board Member in charge of YEO Asia Pacific region. Currently, Mr. Hori is a trustee of the Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives), and serves as co-chair of WEF’s Global Growth Companies. In 2008, he launched the G1 Summit – a Japanese version of the WEF’s annual Davos forum. This led to the foundation of G1 Summit Institute in 2013, which Mr. Hori serves as Representative Director. Mr. Hori received his BS in Engineering from Kyoto University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He has authored several books including Six Dimensions of Life; Personal Mission Statement; The Case-Method Approach to Strategic Entrepreneurship; and Venture Management Revolution.

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Deal Gateway and Global Partnership Family Office Investor Event London, UK

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Innovation, Equality & Growth in the Content Production Industry Jennifer Twiner McCarron CEO, Thunderbird Entertainment

Jennifer Twiner McCarron, CEO of Thunderbird Entertainment shares her insight into innovation, equality and growth in the content production industry.

Your business was already growing, but COVID-19 has accelerated this further. Can you tell us a bit about the factors at play here, and how your business has adapted? I don’t think there is a single business that could say it hasn’t been impacted by COVID-19. And while many companies have been able to shift their operations to keep their people working remotely, I would also like to acknowledge that lots of people around the world have lost their jobs – at least temporarily. We must always remember to do our part to help out friends and neighbours who may be struggling right now. In the entertainment industry, in particular, in content development, the pandemic has resulted in a major increase in demand. This is largely because most of us are spending more time at home and looking for ways to keep our families entertained. This increase has been particularly significant in the kids & family and factual spaces, where demand was already very strong before the pandemic because those types of content are suitable for all ages and families can watch them together – a trend known as co-viewing. The more co-viewing content a platform can offer, the more likely it can attract and retain subscribers from month to month. At Thunderbird, we worked quickly to provide our crew of 1,000+ people with the hardware and software tools they needed to shift from working in the studio to working from home – all without missing a beat. We also implemented new security protocols, new remote-production techniques to keep filming crews safe, and new mental health resources to support all of our workers. A lot of the credit for this quick, and relatively seamless, transition goes to our tech teams. They saw what was happening around the world and had the foresight to recommend we get started well before we needed to. And when you factor this in with the exploding demand for content around the world, not only has our business at Thunderbird survived, it has thrived. We have secured a number of new production deals and been able to welcome dozens of new crew members across the company. We’ve been very fortunate to be working in a pandemic resistant industry with so many new buyers like Disney, Apple, HBO Max etc. coming online. Personally, I am extremely grateful. We’ve also unlocked new ways to work in the future because our crews are no longer limited the four walls of our studio spaces. We can now tap into talent wherever they are located because we’ve proven that a pandemicresistant, work-from-home model can be highly successful in our industry. Page 9

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Innovation, Equality & Growth in the Content Production Industry Jennifer Twiner McCarron

Last year, you were named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) as Presented in partnership with KPMG. Who inspired your style of leadership and which key leadership qualities do you believe have helped you be successful? I’ve been inspired by so many people in life, and my mom and dad would definitely be at the top of the list. Not only did they teach me the importance of hard work, being confident about my abilities and being kind to others, but they also showed me that being successful in life was something to be earned, not handed to you. Both my parents were successful leaders at work, and also highly engaged parents at home. They set the bar high! Needless to say, the lessons I learned from both of them are ones that continue to inspire me today. In my role at Thunderbird, I always try to cultivate a culture of openness, collaboration and kindness. I want every single member of my team to know that I value their efforts and contributions, and I also want them to feel comfortable coming to me with input – whether it’s something they love, or something they think could be better. I also encourage members of our leadership team to allocate time each day to meet with crew members to discuss their personal career goals, education and development opportunities, and ideas to contribute to company projects, culture and well-being. I also believe it’s important to promote an environment where people know they can take think outside the box and take risks, because taking that is often where the greatest innovations come from. If it succeeds as planned, that’s amazing, but even if something doesn’t quite work out, it usually helps us learn something important that will help us succeed next time around. This supports individual growth and development within the company, which strengthens its collaborative community. Nothing is more important to me than nurturing the talent we have across Thunderbird. I might be its CEO and chief spokesperson, but it’s the individual members of our teams – in all divisions – who are the real stars of this company. Not only do their countless achievements contribute to Thunderbird’s thriving bottom line, but without them we would be little more than just aging buildings and computer systems.

Can you speak to diversity, equality, and inclusion at Thunderbird? Both in your content and in your business? Telling stories of diversity, equality and inclusivity are what matters at Thunderbird, and we have intentionally built a culture of people who align with this mission. We recently worked with KITH+Common to ensure we have the most robust possible strategies in place to ensure that teams working at Thunderbird reflect the true diversity of our communities. Our VP Human Resources also has a specific responsibility for overseeing diversity and inclusiveness initiatives across the Company. Thunderbird is proud to have programs specifically designed to improve the representation of visible minorities, members of the LGBTQ2+ community and Indigenous People. We also recently updated the anti-racist policies in our employee handbook to ensure the studio is an inclusive, respectful and welcome environment for everyone. To address gender representation, Thunderbird also has a company-wide pledge to reach a 50/50 balance of male and female staff by 2025.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Innovation, Equality & Growth in the Content Production Industry Jennifer Twiner McCarron

How have technology innovations & 5G impacted your industry? How have technology innovations likelike AI &AI5G impacted your industry? 5G is bringing an unprecedented transformation to our entire industry, because once it rolls out, people will have the ability to download or stream whatever content they want in just a few seconds, on any device they choose. That means they will consume content faster than ever, and companies like Thunderbird will see an even greater demand than we already do. While true 5G is still a way off for many communities, once it becomes widely available, shifts in the way people are going to access content will be like going from a garden hose to a fire hose. We all need to be ready for that. AI has allowed us to develop algorithms to predict hits – what is keeping audiences engaged, which type of characters and story narratives will they relate to? The success of our AI technology can be seen in the incredible renewal rate at our Factual Division, Great Pacific Media – which is going into its 9th season with Season 10 already renewed.

Since Covid-19 struck, have you seen any difference in Family Office investor behaviour? Are they still active or sitting on the sidelines? Thunderbird has an exceptional reputation with more than 200 trusted partners around the world. We are rapidly growing, and our management team includes some of the best in the business, bar none. As a Canadian domiciled company, we are uniquely positioned to produce high-quality content by leveraging tax incentives that are only available to Canadian producers. These incentives help us to reduce expenses and enable better cashflows. They also mean that we have the capacity to produce the highest quality content for our global partners while presenting them with compelling budgets that are very difficult to say “no” to. As we look ahead, we are looking to further expand our IP pipeline through strategic acquisitions which will greatly diversify the revenue streams we can access. You can see the initial steps of this strategy in how we’re developing The Last Kids on Earth. We started with a Netflix series that premiered in 2019, and since then, a merchandise line has launched, a T-shirt line has launched, and a video game is in the works for next year. Thunderbird has more than 40 IP-related projects in various stages of development. Thunderbird is also looking to expand our presence in Los Angeles, where we recently opened our company’s third animation studio. Because Los Angeles is the heart of the global entertainment industry, having a base there provides Thunderbird with direct access to the best talent in the business. And because we produce our content in Canada, that gives us an incredible competitive advantage in terms of production costs. In addition, we are looking at opportunities to enhance our core business through strategic acquisitions and to expand our presence internationally, particularly in Europe and Asia where streaming platforms are making big investments to capitalize on the fastest-growing subscription markets. We are also expanding into the production of animated feature films, which are becoming increasingly important in the home theatre and SVOD markets.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Bonus Question:

Could you tell us 3 life lessons that you live by?

Don’t be afraid of picking up the phone. If you want to share something important that needs to be discussed, it’s always best to pick up the phone, or even better yet arrange a video call. While email can definitely seem more efficient, it’s so easy for what you intended to get lost amongst the words on screen. Email was definitely my preference when I was getting started professionally, but I quickly learned that it could actually make certain conversations more complicated than they needed to be. It’s always better to have a quick conversation so that all sides are understood, and all people can move forward on the same train. Embrace your mistakes. Lots of people, particularly leaders, tend to feel like its weak to admit a mistake, but I don’t agree. In fact, when you show the other members of your team that it’s OK to make a mistake, you open the door to new ideas and new ways to get things done. Cultivating a culture where it’s good to take risks usually starts at the top. Even when something doesn’t work out, there are usually lots of lessons to be learned as you stand up and dust yourself off. Always be on time. In order to prevent people from showing up late, I once had a boss who would close (and lock) the door once a meeting got started. Needless to say, we learned quickly to be on time. Excluding yourself by being late not only denies you the opportunity to share your ideas, but it can also suggest to others you don’t really care about theirs.

Jennifer Twiner McCarron

CEO, Thunderbird Entertainment Jennifer Twiner McCarron became CEO of all Thunderbird companies in June 2018. Under her leadership, the studio grew from 25 artists to more than 700 today. She has lead production on multiple titles including the Emmy-winning Beat Bugs for Netflix, Cupcake & Dino for eOne and 101 Dalmatian Street for Disney+. She is also an executive producer for The Last Kids on Earth, as well as the upcoming series Princesses Wear Pants. Over the past 20 years, Jennifer has produced or executive produced dozens of animated series, video game cinematics, and direct to DVD features, including the popular Barbie Princess franchise with Mattel Filmed Entertainment. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and a degree in film studies from the Vancouver Film School. In 2019, she was also named by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Speaking from Experience Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis Sunny Vanderbeck

Managing Partner at Satori Capital

Sunny Vanderbeck, Managing Partner at Satori Capital and author of the book Selling without Selling Out, shares his thoughts on what he has learned from past experiences and how to not make the same mistakes while navigating through the current COVID-19 crisis.

What is one thing that has really changed for you since the pandemic began? For a leader, a clear head is worth more than anything else, and I have personally been getting far more sleep than ever before. With a clear head, you are more likely to be able to see through the noise. At Satori, we developed a set of “Guiding Principles During Crisis,” and one of them – a big one – is “Calm Amidst the Storm: We do whatever is necessary individually and collectively to remain calm and grounded, knowing that we make better decisions from a composed and centered place.” That has been on my mind a lot – trying to act from a centered place – and good sleep really helps with that.

Are there any mistakes you made during a past crisis that you don’t want to make again this time? In general, I have made the same mistake twice – moving too slowly coming out of the last two recessions, for all the reasons you would expect. Post 9-11/dot com crash and after the Great Recession of 2008, I should have been “risk-on” and looking for opportunities, but I was looking at all the things that could go wrong. As much as I was an entrepreneur, I kind of went the other way. Currently, I am still using caution as we are still locked down, so trying to temper things a bit until the mass of uncertainty clears. But when it is time to go, you have to go – tune out all the reasons not to and take your opportunity.

What do you think entrepreneurs and investors need to be thinking about right now? They should be thinking about second- and third-order effects. While it is a bit late to go out and buy Zoom stock now, what we noticed with our portfolio companies was that those that had Slack or Teams or channel organizations already in place for their team – in contrast to the ones that only had email, the so-called “Sneakernet” companies – they are doing a lot better right now. So, second-order: what other tools does one actually need to work effectively from home? There’s opportunity there. Third-order: Most leaders have offices at the house – good chairs, etc. – but our employees don’t. People are sitting at the kitchen table – no decent chair. Which is fine for a week, but moving forward that isn’t enough. We have dislocated our locations, and these things start to matter a lot. Maybe office chairs that are built to work from home are a real thing, or could be. Look into it. Keep going down the line to see what opportunities present themselves. Page 13

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Speaking from Experience - Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis Sunny Vanderbeck

AsHow a leader, advice innovations do you havelike for AI others through this crisis? have what technology & 5Gleading impacted your industry? The first bit of advice I would share is to ask yourself: Who do you care about? Who fits in the bucket you care about, and can you make that bucket larger during this time of crisis? How can you help care for your people when they are at home or at the grocery store? Can you send protective masks and sanitizer home with them to help protect them when they are not at work and to help protect their families? Take whatever steps you can to envelop them in care. We are helping our employees with PPE and sanitizer at work – for those who need to come in – but also in their home lives so they and their families can be healthy and feel safe. This is less about doing a specific thing and more about pushing the boundaries of common practices, or what you would normally do – we are not in normal times. As an example, one of our portfolio company CFOs normally commutes a long distance to work and used to fly in regularly. And in his particular case, work-from-home is not optimal. Once flights were stopped he started driving very long distances and literally had to pull over and sleep on the way just to make it in. So we decided to pay for a driver to go pick him up, so he could arrive safely and rested. In the past, you would say that’s a silly expense, but in the bigger scheme of things, these things make a massive impact on people and pay dividends in other ways. Enveloping people in care is also a way of aggressively conserving our resources. Keeping everyone safe and healthy. Secondly, because we’ve been through a few of these things and have gained experience in how to manage through them, one of the biggest mistakes I have made as a CEO in the past was not raising money when I didn’t “need” the money. Raise capital anyway. Better to have excess cash and flexibility than to be stuck later when you need it.

Are you personally doing any deals right now? We are absolutely deploying capital right now into good businesses where we can take calculated risks on how we can be constructive. We are, however, far more likely to make a minority investment than a majority investment right now.

Book by Sunny Vanderbeck: Selling Without Selling Out: How to Sell Your Business Without Selling Your Soul In Selling Without Selling Out, Sunny Vanderbeck offers practical advice for selling your business or taking on a capital partner without compromising on what matters to you. Using lessons learned from his own hard-won experiences as well as insights from a variety of experts, he outlines what to look for and what to avoid to feel good on the day after the transaction closes. Page 14

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Sunny Vanderbeck

Managing Partner at Satori Capital When Sunny Vanderbeck set out to create an investment firm with his cofounder, Randy Eisenman, he did it with a specific purpose in mind: to make the world better by making business better. He knew that building conscious companies did not mean accepting less in terms of financial returns – in fact, it was quite the opposite – but he also knew the investment community would need some convincing on that score. Data Return, the managed services and utility computing company he launched in 1996, sustained 40 percent quarter-over-quarter growth for more than three years and reached a $3 billion market capitalization, making Sunny one of the youngest CEOs ever to lead a NASDAQ company. Just as important, it had reached those milestones while serving all of its stakeholders, nurturing a conscious culture, and maintaining a long-term perspective on success. It was the experience of selling Data Return that partly inspired Sunny’s book, Selling Without Selling Out. After selling the company to a strategic acquirer in a deal that looked like a success from the outside, Sunny soon noticed signs that he had sold to the wrong buyer. A year after the sale, when the acquirer went bankrupt, Sunny bought back his own company and started again. When he sold the business a second time four years later, he had learned the lessons to do it right.With that business successfully sold, Sunny and his co-founder believed they could help other companies flourish. Their vision was to partner with the leadership teams of the companies they would fund to create enduring, industry-leading businesses that embraced the tenets of conscious capitalism. In doing so, they would fulfill their firm’s purpose: To create, fund, and inspire businesses that elevate humanity. The firm they founded, Satori Capital, has invested in manufacturing, finance, medical supply, technology, fitness, and food companies, among others. The firm’s investment team keeps the tenets of conscious capitalism uppermost in its thinking while sourcing, analyzing, and managing its portfolio companies, believing that the mission, leadership, and culture of a company dramatically influence whether it will merely survive by chasing profits or thrive and create real value. In addition to his work through Satori, Sunny also regularly speaks publicly and advises businesses on topics such as business strategy, capital allocation, and conscious capitalism. He is regularly interviewed about conscious capitalism and often points to data that show companies with a stakeholder-centric approach outperforming the S&P 500. He also actively develops awareness and support for sustainable business models through the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), showing CEOs and business owners how they can achieve success without sacrificing their values.With the publication of Selling Without Selling Out, Sunny hopes to help even more entrepreneurs and CEOs learn how to find the right buyer or capital partner, without sacrificing what matters most.

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International Deal Gateway Member Event Tokyo, Japan

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Impact Investing Elizabeth Funk

Founder & CEO - Dignity Capital Senior General Partner - DevEquity LP Impact Investor

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Elizabeth Funk, Founder & CEO of Dignity Capital shares her insight into impact investing.

What does impact investing mean to you? Impact investing means using your investment dollars to make a difference. In the old model, people would work hard to make money and earn returns on their investments, then give it away. Impact Investing means using your investment dollars to also make a beneficial contribution to the world. I think of impact investing as a bullseye. The outer ring are investments that “do no harm”—not investing in gun manufacturers, for instance. The next ring is ESG—investing in mainstream companies but those that have good HR practices, diversity, governance, and consider the environment. The next one is companies that help the world by hiring more people in places where it’s needed, such as the 3rd world. Inner from that is companies whose products or services are actively focused on making improvements in the environment or social issues. Typically the outer rings tend to be public companies; the two inner rings are primarily private investments. For DevEquity, my Latin American venture fund, we only invest in companies in that inner ring— we expect more than simply creating employment- we want to see a specific good being created. Impact investing means bringing important solutions to life at scale. For instance, my first fund was the Dignity Fund which invested in microfinance organizations around the world. Traditionally microfinance had been done with philanthropic dollars. However, borrowers were repaying their loans in full and on time 98% of the time. So every year the microfinance organization would make a small profit, and be able to grow their lending, but very, very slowly. If I ask you for a donation to a cause, I might get $100. But if I ask you to make an investment and expect a return, you might invest $100,000. By harnessing impact investment dollars we were able to scale the microfinance organizations exponentially faster. That growth doesn’t just mean helping more people, but we were also able to do it at a lower interest rate, due to economies of scale. It may sound crass, but I believe that if people can earn money while addressing the world’s problems, the problems will get solved. Not all philanthropic causes are appropriate for a forprofit fund. Some simply don’t have a reliable way to have a revenue stream (such as disaster relief). But I believe that in most cases, if the entrepreneur thinks hard enough about it, they can find a business model that is investable and make the business self-sustainable.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Impact Investing Elizabeth Funk

If someone wanted to get involved in certain areas of impact investing do you have any suggestions of where to start? It’s most important that you pick a cause you really care about, and where you can create true innovation. For instance, I am in the process of starting a new fund called Dignity Moves that is going to focus on alleviating homelessness in California. It’s a cause that I am very passionate about—homelessness in today’s age in a wealthy country is simply unacceptable. Right now in California, a Permanent Supportive Housing project takes an average of 5 years and $500,000. We will never solve homelessness that way. This fund is going to buy modified shipping containers, which can house people for more like $20,000 per unit and can be inhabitable the same day they arrive. The container is divided into three rooms, each with their own door, bed, and bathroom. Because they are movable, we can use land that is owned by a developer whose site is tied up in a multi-year entitlements process, or where a project has been delayed due to the economic downturn. We simply borrow the land, then move them to another site when the developer is ready to break ground. This is an example of a company that is creating an entirely new paradigm for the problem. Because governments tend to have annual operating budgets but don’t have the money for up-front building costs, we will raise a private impact investment fund to buy the units then lease them to the City on an annual basis. This kind of innovation comes from using private sector thinking to solve our problems.

Could you share a little about your current investment thesis? Dev Equity is focused on poverty in the developing world. About half of our portfolio is low-income housing – creating home ownership or rental opportunities for the working poor. The other half of our fund is sustainable agriculture. The definition of “extreme poverty” is people living on $2 per day or less. Over 70% of the world’s extreme poverty is rural. So helping farmers earn a living wage is critical. We invest in businesses that work with poor farmers to teach them sustainable farming practices. The training helps them increase yields (often 2-3x) but also allows them to be certified organic and thus earn substantially more for their crops. Dignity Moves is about unlocking government funds. Because the funds are only available as annual operating budgets, they are unable to pull together sufficient funding for a large project. Bringing private funds to a public-private partnership allows us to bring the upfront money that’s needed, and have it repaid over time. Sometimes the need is as simple as that—unlocking other funding. I also believe that the private sector tends to be far more efficient; private funders expect the same level of reporting and accountability they receive from their other investments. Bringing private sector thinking to address the world’s challenges has more benefits than just the capital. Page 18

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Impact Investing Elizabeth Funk

Howyou have technology like AI & 5Gthat impacted your industry? Could please share ainnovations few of the companies you are active with and why you chose them? Also, are these open for investment or distribution opportunities? DevEquity is open to investment: We are currently raising Fund II. Fund I made 6 investments and has performed quite well. Fund II will have the same investment thesis: investing in alleviating poverty in poor countries like Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru. We expect to raise about $30 million. We keep the funds small as it is early stage funding, and we work with a small number of companies because we are very hands-on with each of them. Entrepreneurship is not as common as it is in the US, so there is a lot of value we can provide by mentoring the companies. Dignity Moves is just starting the fundraising process. We are currently identifying the land for our first pilot project, and are talking to governments about committing to long term lease contracts. As soon as we have our first project committed, we will raise about $3m to do the pilot. Ultimately our vision is to have dozens of Dignity Moves villages across California.

I am also involved in Copia Global, which is raising its Series C. https://copiaglobal.com Copia brings consumer goods to rural villages through an IPad and catalog at the local rural kiosk market. They are essentially like an Amazon for rural African villages. Customers make their order through their local store, so that we are not cannibalizing the existing shop owners. In small villages, buyers are limited to the very limited selection of products that the store owner can afford to keep in inventory. With Copia, literally the whole world of products are now available to them, and are delivered every few days to their local store where the customer returns to pick them up. Itâ€™s a lifesaver for villagers who now donâ€™t have to travel by bus to a major city to make purchases for things like baby strollers or farming equipment.

COVID has presented enormous challenges and yet enormous opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators to dig in to help solve problems and be part of the solution. Any quick thoughts or comments about this? COVID has driven me to raise the Dignity Moves fund. We are about to see a huge surge in homelessness due to job losses, as soon as the moratorium on evictions expires. Traditional congregate shelters need to operate at dramatically reduced capacity during covid. And the homeless need to be housed safely and individually (or with their family) to stay healthy. COVID has raised awareness of the homelessness problem, and has increased the urgencyâ€”the fund allows us to capitalize on that.

Dignity Moves Fund Raising private impact investor dollars to buy portable dorm buildings that can be leased to cities and counties with the most need.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Elizabeth Funk

Founder & CEO - Dignity Capital Elizabeth Funk is a leader in bringing for-profit investment dollars to help solve the world’s toughest problems. She is founder and CEO of Dignity Capital, a collection of Impact Investing funds and projects, as well as the Senior General Partner at DevEquity an innovative fund providing for-profit venture-style investment funding to social enterprises in Latin America. As one of the early pioneers in impact investing, Elizabeth created the Dignity Fund in 2004, one of the first for-profit funds mobilizing investment capital for the Microfinance industry. Elizabeth was a founding member of The Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, pulling together over 250 leading thinkers in the Microfinance industry monthly to collaborate on ways to alleviate world poverty. Elizabeth served for 12 years on the Board of Directors of Glide Community Development and the Glide Community Development Organization. Combined these two organizations built and manage three highrise apartment buildings, providing stable shelter and services for the (previously) homeless in San Francisco. Elizabeth also completed a term on the International Board of Young President’s Organization where she was responsible for leading the Gender and Diversity efforts for the organization as well as serving as the founder of the organization’s Social Impact Action Network. Bringing together Presidents and CEOs of companies from around the world, the Action Network allows members to pool their connections and expertise to address issues of world peace, natural disasters, orphans and climate change. She served several years as a board member and on the investment committee of Root Capital, deploying funding to farmer cooperatives around the world allowing small-scale farmers to continue and prosper. She was the founding Chairman of MicroPlace, a service that allows retail investors to invest in Microfinance, until it was sold to EBay in 2006. Elizabeth was one of the earliest employees of Yahoo! She served in many roles, but most significantly she was the founder of Yahoo! Shopping, managing the initial design and creation of what later came to account for a majority of the company’s revenues. She continues to be an active angel investor in the technology industry. Early in her career Elizabeth served a Product Manager on the early team for Microsoft Word and was on the original founding team that created the now ubiquitous Microsoft Office. Elizabeth holds an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Economics with Honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She graduated from HBS as a Baker Scholar, the highest honor awarded to the top students of the class. She has been profiled in publications including Forbes, the San Jose Mercury News, the Vancouver Sun, and Business Week. She was awarded a Leading Entrepreneur by TiE, a prestigious technology entrepreneur association. In 2010 she was named “Businesswoman of the Year” by Veuve Clicquot and has been featured in several Harvard Business School case studies. Elizabeth continues to be an active voice in the impact sector, as a board member, investment committee member, public speaker, investor, advisor and mentor. She is dedicated to harnessing the power of capital to address the world’s most pressing problems.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Entrepreneurship Journey & Building the Tech Ecosystem in Miami Juan Pablo Cappello Co-Founder, PAG Law PLLC

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Juan Pablo Cappello, Co-Founder, PAG Law PLLC shares his experiences as an entrepreneur and discusses his contribution to building and scaling the tech ecosystem in Miami.

You’ve been an entrepreneur for a number of years and have launched several businesses. Can you share a bit about your entrepreneurial journey? I was raised in Chile and came to the US to play tennis. After graduating from Duke and studying law I went back to Chile. I soon realized that there wasn’t much upward mobility in a conservative, classconscious society like the one I confronted in Santiago in the early 1990s. Thankfully, I met a young Argentine entrepreneur named Wences Casares. Soon thereafter I was living in Miami as one of 5 partners in Patagon, the first Fintech in LatAm. We sold that online bank a few years later for over $700mm to Santander Bank. Since then I have spent half of my time building my own companies, like Idea.me, Wonder, the LAB Miami, and the other half of my time advising entrepreneurs from my law firm, PAG Law. A real focus of my entrepreneurial endeavours for the past 10 years has been helping to build and scale the tech ecosystem in Miami.

You have been passionate about the tech ecosystem in Latin America and southern Florida. What opportunities/sectors within those ecosystems are you most excited about right now? The Latin market is twice the size of the US market but significantly less economically well off. The relative lack of wealth creates huge opportunities to create value and efficiency for the less wealthy throughout the continent. There is a huge growing middle class in Latin America. Businesses that leverage technology to offer those consumers a fair value and lower costs are doing incredibility well. Huge inefficiencies exist in Latin America in the financial sector, in the health sector and in the transportation sectors, just to name a few. I always point out that if businesses target consumers in Latin America that own an iPhone, that is a tiny, tiny market. The opportunity in Latin America is to target consumers with very basic “smart phones”. Miami is a market inspired by Latin America but squarely in the United States. Last year there was over $3 billion invested in tech-enabled businesses in South Florida, which is more than was invested in this sector in Chicago. In Miami, the verticals that get the most attention are: real estate tech, hospitality tech, MedTech and FinTech. They have always been relevant industries in South Florida. Page 21

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Entrepreneurship Journey & Building the Tech Ecosystem in Miami Juan Pablo Cappello

In growing your companies and scaling, can you share 3 keys to success?

#1: Conviction. Accepting that it will likely take 10 years before you see the real success of the venture you start today. Long-term thinking always beats short-term goals. #2: Team. We all make the mistake that we hire for skills and end up firing because of a lack of fit into the company’s culture. I have learned to focus on who the job candidate is, rather than what he/she has done. If we create the “right” culture in a company, we can attract the “right” people, and with the “right” mission-aligned team we can accomplish anything. #3: Letting Go. Knowing that at some point the company will grow beyond me and my vision. Similar to dropping your child off at college, you have to accept that your role needs to evolve in a company that you created. Rather than resist that change, learn to actively embrace that evolution of one’s role.

Leadership is more important than ever during these challenging times. What do you think are the keys to being a great leader and are there any leaders you admire? It is often said that “great leaders lead by example”. I like to remind myself that most people won’t listen to what I say, but rather watch what I do. With this in mind, I try to talk less and watch more. The less I talk and the more I watch, the more I learn. Great leaders are always learning.The leaders I admire the most don’t have Wiki pages and are not known to many people. What all the leaders I admire have in common is that they have spent their lives passionate about one pursuit and achieving excellence in that endeavour. Whether it is the sushi chef who has spent 35 years perfecting their craft, or the employee at the Post Office who loves their job, or the entrepreneur that can’t stop thinking about how their technology will improve the lives of many people. These are the leaders that I admire.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Can you share some of your current investments that you are most excited about and why. I invested early in cannabis (12 years ago) and crypto (9 years ago) and most recently I am focused on investments in mental health that are looking at how to safely and ethically use psychedelics as catalysts for change. I had conviction about the growth of the cannabis and crypto space but got impatient and ultimately exited earlier than I could/should have. As I think about the current mental health crisis and the suffering it creates, I know this is the problem I want to tackle for the next 10 years.

Bonus Question:

On a personal level, what are you passionate about as an entrepreneur? When you get out of bed every morning, what is it that motivates you?

You are only as old as the thoughts in your head. Being engaged in the entrepreneurship ecosystem from all angles I am constantly being exposed to new ideas, fresh ways of looking at problems, and incredibly bright, enthusiastic founders. I grew up on a dusty farm outside of Santiago, Chile. I never would have thought I would be so blessed to have the opportunity to be part of a collective that is literally changing the way the world thinks, works and lives. My goal is to add something positive to this collective, even if my contribution is just a little.

Juan Pablo Cappello

Co-Founder, PAG Law PLLC In the tech world Juan Pablo is known as one of the partners of Patagon.com, one of the first â€œFintechs" that was bought by Banco Santander for more than US$700 million. Juan Pablo also co-founded Idea.me & Wonder (purchased in 2020 by Atari). In Miami he has supported the creation of a local tech ecosystem by starting the LAB Miami, Miami Angels VC and LAB Ventures. Juan Pablo publishes a widely read column on the TecnoLatino https://latamlist.com/author/jpcappello/ and continues advising entrepreneurs from PAGLaw https://www.pag.law.

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"There's a way to do it better - find it." Thomas Edison

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Opportunities in Australia Nick Bell

Founder of 12 Digital Agencies Co-founder of Lisnic.com & AFR Rich Lister

Nick Bell, one of Australia’s leading entrepreneurs under the age of 40 and founder of 10 digital agencies, shares his insight into opportunities, trends, his investment philosophy, and more.

What are 3 opportunities that entrepreneurs globally should be thinking about in Australia right now? Sustainability – There is a huge focus on sustainability in Australia. People are actively making buying decisions based on what is best for the environment. A particular area of interest for me is alternative meat. Meat substitutes have been shown to produce significantly less greenhouse gases compared to their meat counterparts so I believe this will be a real growth industry in the coming years. Land banking – Due to extreme population growth, there are big opportunities to be had with farmland within in 50km of major cities. Buy, hold and watch the opportunity appear with time. Health and wellness – Australia has always been known for its purity of ingredients, so the health and wellness industry in this country has always been strong. With the increasing focus on anti-ageing and the desire to move more towards a more natural lifestyle, this industry will continue to grow not only in Australia, but in the export sector, particularly with the exponentially increasing demand for Australian made products by Asian countries such as China.

What do you see as the 3-5 overarching trends in the digital marketing industry in the medium to long term? I own 10+ digital marketing agencies around the world and the landscape is constantly changing. My companies must have a dynamic approach to business in order to keep up with the latest trends and changes to different platforms. The key trends I’m currently seeing in the industry are: #1: There is a shift away from full-service agencies. Agencies are now preferring to specialise and form partnerships with other agencies who don’t perform the same services they do. #2: Companies used to outsource work overseas due to the cheaper labour costs, and I have done this in the past, but it just doesn’t work. Through one of my businesses Appscore, we’ve seen a trend towards keeping services in Australia. We provide Australian based contractors to businesses, meaning they have more control over the output, allowing them to get much better results and quicker turnaround times. Page 25

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Opportunities in Australia Nick Bell

Continued...What do you see as the 3-5 overarching trends in the digital marketing industry in the medium to long term? #3: LinkedIn as a social platform for business has not yet reached maturity, so there is a huge opportunity for growth in this space, particularly in Australia. If you are in business, you should be on LinkedIn. There are huge opportunities to establish yourself as a thought leader and generate leads for your business through the platform. I have been working with one of my agencies (CODI Agency) on helping with businesses and business owners to maximise their presence and activity on this platform and we are seeing incredible results for our clients. #4: Reputation management is a huge growth area. Whether you’re a business that relies on online reviews (e.g. a restaurant) or you are someone with a profile in the media, what appears online for your brand can have a huge impact on your business. One of my newest businesses, Removify, specialises in helping companies remove fake reviews and damaging content online. Through this service, we have already helped thousands of businesses around the world take back control of their reputation.

Tell us a little bit about your philosophy/ how do you invest differently than others might? Don’t invest in pre-revenue companies. I need to see some wins on the board before I invest. I also look to whether businesses have a clear path to profitability, i.e. can they get sales in the door. After some bad investments, I now only invest in industries I understand. It’s also important to look at the founders of the companies I invest in. Ultimately they will be driving the business on a day to day basis so I need to feel confident that they not only know what they are doing, but that they will work hard.

Who are some of the leaders that you follow and why? Cliché, but I can’t look past Arnold Schwarzenegger. I have so much respect for what he has done with his career. He moved to America with a dream to become the world’s greatest bodybuilder, the highestpaid actor and Governor of California and didn’t let anything stand in the way of achieving these goals. He believed in himself even when noone else did and wasn’t afraid to break the rules to achieve success. I also look to Ray Dalio whose book Principles gave me a new perspective on investment. Previously I didn’t have a sound investment strategy which lead me to make a lot of mistakes. Now I’m a lot more considered in what I will and will not invest in. Page 26

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Could you tell us 3 life lessons that you live by?

1) Keep things simple. 2) Hire for talent rather than bums on seats. 3) Get to the point when you talk.

Nick Bell

Founder of 12 Digital Agencies Co-founder of Lisnic.com & AFR Rich Lister

Nick Bell is recognised as one of Australiaâ€™s leading entrepreneurs under the age of 40. With just $350 of start-up capital, Nick has built a personal fortune of $217 million in only 10 years. Nick has been featured on the AFR Young Rich List four years straight. Nick has founded a range of companies both locally & internationally that offer brand management, online content removal, app development, digital marketing and cyber security. Nickâ€™s other investments range from medicinal cannabis, hospitality, fin tech and mining.

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â€œWhere there is no struggle, there is no strength.â€? Oprah Winfrey

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Communities in the Workplace Cecile Moulard Co-Founder & CEO: MixR

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Cecile Moulard, Co-Founder and CEO of MixR, shares her insights into creating communities in the workplace.

To quote you in a tweet from 2019, “I believe that communities around shared interest is the next big thing. As culture becomes the pain point in fast-growing companies – communities in the workplace help people stick around.” Can you explain this statement? Thank you for bringing up this tweet as it is more relevant today than ever! As you know, culture and strategy are the primary levers that leadership disposes to run an effective and efficient organization. But if strategy feeds on logic and plans, culture feeds on connections, handshakes, water coolers, togetherness, communication, behaviors, common experiences and places. So, where does that leave us today? Before Covid, we at MixR were already focusing on the need for companies to rise to the challenge of constant change (high growth, technology disruption, environmental risks, flexible places, diversity and inclusion etc.) and develop a culture of resilience and trust to do so. Today, there is no escaping continuous change and growing uncertainty. We have no option but to embrace it. I like to think that this is good news for organizations – like us, they are organisms that live and die – but, unlike us, with a good strategy and the right culture, they can become immortal. This is where communities around shared interests come into play. They are the next big thing because they serve a need for rehumanizing the workplace at scale – an imperative counterbalance to the productivity-only focus. While “teams” exist to optimize decision making and successfully implement specific tasks, “communities” reactualize culture. They create spaces for people to interact without agenda, be heard, and build trust and belonging that in turn allows for diversity, psychological safety, innovation and growth to happen. It is no secret that the highest performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety (HBR) So yes, definitely, communities@work – as we call them at MixR – help people stick around. When your people have social connections and friends at work, they will feel welcome, heard and trusted, which is proven to create more engaged and loyal people (SHRM). This alone can make your organization resilient, effective and efficient in the short and in the long run. Page 29

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Communities in the Workplace Cecile Moulard

How can companies in the virtual environment keep culture strong and continue to build communities and interest networks amongst employees in the world we find ourselves in? Culture is changing (almost) at the speed of technology and society. Therefore, it ought to be actively managed by organizations. Even pre-pandemic, an overwhelming majority of organizations and their leadership cited culture as one of their top challenges (Deloitte). First and foremost, organizations need to make sure they’re providing their people with ample opportunity to connect – despite being remote – and always making sure it goes beyond their work responsibilities (to build deeper connections). But this is not enough. What the pandemic and remote work are emphasizing is the necessity for culture to go from unspoken to spoken, from hidden to manifest, from the few to the many. We humans are most happy when things are balanced in our life: work and leisure, the feminine and the masculine, anger and love, productivity and community. Culture connects and integrates everything. Each company does it its own way, with its own guidelines and norms. We, as leaders and teams, need to let culture materialize itself, getting off the unspoken trap, to being officially discussed and shared. Communities@work are the channel for that to happen. And everyone is welcome to participate. It is not only on leadership’s shoulders – employees themselves are empowered to become part of the solution.

How has your business evolved/shifted as a result of COVID-19? Covid, along with confinement, has made the need for a platform like ours shift from “nice to have” to “need to have” (even though organizations do not necessarily know it yet. :) Technology like Slack, Teams or Zoom is here to stay. But there is an unmet need for tech centered around community, rather than productivity only. Communities are a way to empower everyone in the organization to contribute to long term value creation: it needs courage from leadership. Does leadership believe that a topdown approach is the only way to succeed, or does leadership believe that empowering everyone will make the organization stronger, more sustainable, more inclusive and more successful? Covid has also opened our minds to some quite fascinating questions. One of them is the power of synchronization. Technologies are pushing us towards desynchronization: I send you a Slack, you respond when you can. On one end, it detaches us from time constraints and creates a feeling of being more productive, but on the other end, it detaches us from direct interactions where conflict can arise and be resolved, where ideas can be shared, developed and become great, and where serendipity is always the guest of honor. Like everything else, desynchronization is not harmful when it is counterbalanced by opportunities to resynchronize. Unfortunately, desynchronization is winning over synchronization today, and synchronization loses its force when it is online only. Little by little we are losing the capabilities to read each other’s faces, to casually chit-chat, to solve conflicts together etc. Communities@work around shared interests is an opportunity to resynchronize, to get together in person with the intention to join around something we care about – it is not about fulfilling a task – something you do in a team, it is about nurturing the connection to your fellow humans (and to yourself). Page 30

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Communities in the Workplace Cecile Moulard

4) A sign of innovative companies is having a transformative purpose. What is MixR’s transformative purpose and higher purpose for what you are doing? How can one develop this for their company and even themselves? Any ideas to share? MixR is on a mission to scale trust and belonging in the workplace – two human needs that have been forgotten in these years of productivity tech, constant reorganization and short-term view. We believe that by restoring trust amongst employees in the workplace, we will restore trust amongst individuals, which in turn will restore trust in families and hopefully will restore trust in the larger community. For those of you who belong to a community like YPO for example, and experience the power of Forum, imagine a minute that we scale this experience to all people working in/for an organization. If we can scale trust amongst employees in an organization, the butterfly effect tells us that we can change the world. And arguably, a strong sense of community is the most important ingredient in an organization’s recipe for trust. Here is the chain that unfolds in front of us: common interest facilitates community; community builds trust; change is continuous, it creates disruption and disruption needs trust; trust generates innovation, sustainability and growth. In short, change needs trust, and trust needs community. Any leadership team can decide to create sustainable change by building trust. The best way to build trust is to let employees create communities@work around a subject they care about: Women in Tech, Sustainability, Basketball, Remote work, Veterans … you name it! For leadership, it is an amazing insight into their employees’ needs and challenges, and by building community together employees can organize the support system they want, propose new ideas to management, and take a direct part into the culture fabrics of the organization. MixR is making the process easy, visible to everyone in the organization and measurable thanks to our different levels of analytics.

Tell us why you are so passionate about MixR and also please tell us how we can help or get involved? Investment, partners, and what is the opportunity to engage with MixR from a capital perspective, distribution, licensing in countries etc. Please also share any great case studies of companies using MixR if available? After years of being involved in tech, launching Amazon in France, developing online dating in multiple countries, experimenting with an IPO, and one exit, I finally get to connect my love for Change, my fascination for Humans with my natural appeal for Technology. I have never been so passionate about a business because we authentically serve people: using technology in service of empowerment (not addiction), expanding trust as the power engine we wish to ignite in a more aware and conscious world, and the opportunity to breathe life into organizations so they can align and evolve with continuous change and uncertainty. We got to product-market fit with a dozen organizations that have been using our platform for over a year. We launched our B2B environment on June 22nd of this year. It is too early to provide you with specifics. I can tell you that we are currently in discussion with a number of companies (consultants, pharma, biotech, electronics, high tech, universities…) I will keep you posted. Stay tuned!

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Communities in the Workplace Cecile Moulard

Continued...tell us why you are so passionate about MixR and also please tell us how we can help or get involved? Investment, partners, and what is the opportunity to Over the last several months as we’ve watched the world shift, we’ve seen such a demand for a platform engage with MixR from a capital perspective, distribution, licensing in countries etc. like ours. Not only are we having conversations surrounding the creation of employee self-interest groups but also, Please also share any great case studies of companies using MixR if available? are having amazing talks with leaders in the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), ERG and Affinity Group space. So many companies have these groups and initiatives but nowhere for them to live and thrive. We want to provide these groups and their leaders with a safe, secure place to operate within. We want to be known as the trusted leader in the ERG, D&I and Affinity Group world.

Concretely you can help us by participating in our $2,5M SAFE. Opened before Covid, we already raised 67% of the funds. If you’re interested in the future of work, HR tech, impact investing, or minority investing (since I am a woman), let’s talk. Another way to help us is to put us in front of companies who you know understand the power of D&I, employee experience and culture to unleash growth in a very uncertain future. Last but not least, if you think we have something to contribute, invite us to speak on your webinars and participate in your panels, so we can share the good news: communities@work are the next big thing and they can make your organizations immortal

Cecile Moulard

Co-Founder & CEO: MixR

I am a mother, a wife, an entrepreneur, a tech pioneer,and a passionate observer of humankind. In 1995, I started and developed Carat Interactive in 11 countries (now Dentsu group). At the time, Carat Interactive was the 1st media venture in Europe fully dedicated to internet. I later became special advisor to Jean-Marie Messier, then CEO of Vivendi Universal. My focus was on organizing digital assets, ethics/privacy issues and e-commerce matters. In February 2000, I was lucky enough to be offered to launch the Amazon French subsidiary as the company’s co-CEO for strategy, marketing and development. Four years later, I joined Meetic (European leader in online dating) to prepare the group IPO and head the company’s international development in 17 countries. In 2011, I co-founded SmallBusinessAct.com, the 1st real-time online accounting and business services provider catering to small businesses in France. In 2012, I moved to California to get closer to my husband. Today, I am co-founder and CEO of MixR, the 1st SaaS service build to scale trust and belonging in the workplace. We are solving a multi-trillion dollar problem caused by the complete disruption of the workplace: loneliness, burnout, disengagement, and turnover are at their all-time high. In a time of continuous change, and uncertainty fostering a culture of trust and belonging has become a major business challenge. This is what we do. What inspired me to start MixR is my deep belief that the future of work is Human, and that technology should be our best ally. I have served as a director on multiple boards of public companies (Solocal, Fonciere INEA), or private company (Decathlon). Currently, I serve on the board of Numberly, European pioneer in interactive advertising and marketing, and AXA France, the biggest subsidiary of AXA group, a worldwide insurance company, #14 out of CNN Global 500. I am heading the compensation committee at both AXA and Numberly. I studied mainly in France where I earned my two masters. One in Econ and Political Science from Science Po (IEP) Paris in 1985, and the other in Marketing and Research also from IEP Paris in 1986. Upon my arrival in the US, I earned a Finance certificate (June 2014) and a Directorship Program at UCLA (Sept. 2014). I have also been trained in the Adizes Methodology. I am a fellow of the Young Leader program, an Eisenhower Fellow, a Remarque Fellow, a YPO spouse… and I am a passionate teacher and practitioner of Kundalini yoga.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Combatting COVID-19 Jithin VG Founder & CEO: Accubits Technologies

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Jithin VG, CEO & Founder of Accubits Technologies discusses using AI, blockchain technology and big data to combat COVID-19.

What technology opportunities have you seen since COVID 19 broke out? The COVID-19 pandemic has come as a huge wake-up call to governments all around the world. This outbreak has made us realize that we are nowhere near prepared to handle a contagion of this scale, despite the advancements in technology seen in recent years. However, this dire situation has inspired startups, companies and organizations, etc to come up with technology solutions to fight this battle against COVID19. We (Accubits Technologies) being a company focusing on technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain technology, and big data, decided to do what we can, to build solutions based on these technologies to combat the pandemic. And with the selfless support from the engineers here in Accubits, we’ve built several solutions that we believe can make a positive impact. The need of the hour for governments all around the world is to conduct large scale automated contact tracing and exposure analysis. We’ve built a pandemic management system, which we have named RebuildTheChain. RebuildTheChain enables governments to conduct this tracing in addition to many other features to fuel their fight against the pandemic. The system can provide a smooth and functional platform for the health departments to integrate various types of data sets including locationbased information, user or citizen information, healthcare facility information as well as general real-time updates regarding the spread, statistics, and future possibilities of the pandemic. Moreover, it provides an easy to use and informative mobile platform that can be used by all citizens, as well as COVID19 patients.

Can you tell us a bit more about RebuildTheChain? How does it work to help companies and countries dealing with the serious effects of COVID19? In a nutshell, RebuildTheChain enables governments to enforce partial economic lockdown via health-card based access systems and also enables the health departments to efficiently control the spread of the pandemic. The pandemic has put the world in an economic recession and the only way to combat this slump in the economy is to impose partial lockdowns and isolations instead of a complete one. Using RebuildTheChain(RTC), governments can issue digital health cards to citizens to represent their current health status. The system will assign health cards to a user based on their recent activities, such as the places they have visited and the people they have interacted with. A person is more likely to get affected by COVID19 if they visit a hot zone – which is a place where many COVID cases are reported or if they’ve come in close contact with a patient. Public places like banks, shopping malls, workplaces, etc. will only allow entry to people with ‘no risk’ health cards. Page 33

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Combatting COVID-19 Jithin VG

The platform mainly consists of two components- a mobile application for citizens and a portal for healthcare departments or government agencies. RTC provides useful intel to the health authorities regarding potential new cases, the direction of the pandemic spread and the status of people under isolation, etc. RTC tracks every citizens’ geolocation (using GPS location data, Bluetooth proximity data, cellular triangulation data) without compromising the data privacy to analyze their exposure to the pandemic hot zones, close contact with affected people, etc. The mobile app delivers alerts to the users when they are in high-risk locations or if they are near a COVID-19 patient. A virtual 50-meter geofence based on proximity hazards is set up to warn people of the hot zones. As soon as a user is located near this area, a notification from the app will pop up as a warning.

The platform automates the manual process of contact tracing, route map creation, etc, so that these processes can be executed in a matter of minutes and authorities can make quick and informed decisions to effectively contain the pandemic. Based on the data generated from the exposure analysis and contact analysis, RTC enables authorities to issue secure e-health cards to citizens to represent their risk level. The people with ‘no-risk’ cards will not have to be socially isolated while those with ‘risk’ cards must be quarantined.

Do you feel the Pandemic has accelerated the adoption of AI, Blockchain, and other technologies? From what we see, many companies and organizations have started prospecting the use cases of AI and blockchain technologies. AI-powered real-time video analytics can, to an extent, help us to flatten the coronavirus infection curve. For example, such software can detect the occurrence of a crowd in public places such as shopping malls, banks, etc. Once detected, the system can alert nearby authorities to intervene and disperse the crowd. Another way real-time video analytics can help is by detecting if people are wearing face masks. In sensitive areas, if people enter without a face mask, the system can automatically detect it and alert the authorities to take necessary actions. We’ve trained multiple AI models for detecting crowd occurrence and face mask detection. This solution is particularly helpful in locations where the spread of coronavirus is in its early stages and many organizations and governments have implemented it. Facilitating interoperable digital health-cards using blockchain technology is something many government agencies are prospecting. Even if a country successfully suppresses the spread of COVID-19 by enforcing lockdown, they have to wait until other countries do the same, to completely open borders. Otherwise, one COVID19 affected person arriving from a different country could evoke the second wave of disease spread throughout the country. The idea is that citizens from different countries will have an interoperable digital health card, which is stored in a blockchain network and it indicates the health risk level assigned to them via their local health departments. People with ‘NO RISK’ health cards could only be allowed to travel overseas. Moreover, at places like banks, shopping malls, workplaces, etc, entry can be allowed only to people with ‘no risk’ health cards. The adoption of eCommerce and cloud technologies has accelerated with the pandemic. As economies got locked down, many businesses have started their digital transformation, considering the market demands and future uncertainties. Page 34

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Combatting COVID-19 Jithin VG

What sectors are you bullish on and why? We are bullish in the BFSI sector, especially with our blockchain development services. Several market research agencies (like MarketWatch, ResearchandMarkets, etc ) have recognized Accubits as a global leader in enabling blockchain technology in the banking sector. Moreover, weâ€™ve received the best blockchain development company award from Frost and Sullivan. In Accubits, weâ€™ve started our blockchain practice at very early stages, even before the blockchain hype and that brought us the early mover advantage. Several federal agencies have trusted us with their blockchain transformations, for example, the Dubai Land Department.

Are there any global connections that would be valuable to you to help scale rebuildthechain.com? RebuildTheChain enables governments to fight the pandemic more efficiently and enables them to implement partial economic lockdowns rather than a complete economic lockdown. We are already in discussions with several governments from around the world. Connections with officials from national health departments, federal government officials would be valuable for RebuildTheChain to reach more countries.

Jithin VG

Founder & CEO: Accubits Technologies

Jithin VG started Accubits Technologies (www.accubits.com), an AI & Blockchain-focused solutions company, with a seed investment of 30,000 USD in 2016 and over a period of 18 months, he grew it into a multi-million dollar business. He believes that AI & Blockchain have the capability to augment our abilities to innovate and push this world forward for good. He has also co-founded Accubits ventures, a seed-stage PE fund focusing on AI & Blockchain startups through which he has invested in 8 companies over a period of 6 months. Accubits currently has a presence in 12 countries and works mostly with Governments and Fortune 500 companies. Jithin VG also started a Blockchain & AI research lab in Trivandrum, Kerala, to push the frontiers of these technologies. One of his companies - Coinfactory (www.icoplatform.tech) has hosted 13 ICOs and raised over $120 million USD for their customers so far. Jithin has also served as the advisor for several major ICOs. Page 35

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Mahatma Gandhi

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Unlocking Maximum Potential in Business and in Life Rob Follows Founder & Chairman: STS Capital Partners Founding Chairman, Altruvest Charitable Services Former Global Chair, YPO Deal Network Former Founder and Global Chair, YPO Social Enterprise/Philanthropy Networks

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Rob Follows, Founder & Chairman of STS Capital Partners and a leading authority on corporate philanthropy, shares his journey to creating his successful M&A business, conquering Everest, and helping others live their vision.

Let’s go back to the beginning of STS Capital Partners. What inspired you to start this business? The inspiration to start STS Capital Partners came out of life planning – which I encourage everybody to do. On life planning, I’m currently writing a book, “Everyone Has Their Own Everest, What Is Yours: Life planning and living your life to the fullest… from fear into focus… on your vision”. After making the hard decision to not go into our family business and work with my father, I started, as an entrepreneur, from nothing, and built up an independent marketing services firm in Canada, which sold to Maritz Inc. for, thankfully, a very large multiple (27 times EBITDA) in 1992. I began working at Maritz as a senior executive to ensure the Canadian organization would succeed. I became responsible for the entire business outside of the US – generating almost one billion dollars annually. After spending ten years as an executive at Maritz, and the ten previous prior growing Active Impressions in Marketing (AIM), the marketing firm I founded, I started taking a lot of time to do life planning. What did I want to do next? What would be my last work in contributing? After two years of planning, I launched what became STS Capital Partners for three reasons: 1) When I reviewed my file at Maritz, I sadly realized they would have paid 100 times EBITDA for my business – I left 75% of the potential value that they were willing to pay on the table because their purchase price had nothing to do with my firm. They had problems with their largest client, and they looked to me as a solution. My firm had a Rembrandt in the attic that I didn’t realize. After learning what I lost, I made a commitment to help all entrepreneurs and family business owners reach their full value, and not accept what a financial buyer would pay them. 2) The second reason has become our MTP, our massively transformative purpose: To create billions of dollars of new philanthropic capital. There are huge financial resources locked up in private businesses, and when a sale of business occurs, there is an opportunity to double or triple the value that an entrepreneur sees in his business. Some of that upside can go into their favourite charity – helping make the world a better place. This is supporting entrepreneurs Success to Significance in the M&A context. 3) I was inspired to start the business after beginning my PhD at Oxford at 40 years old. The brightest students were going into investment banking, and yet none of them took strategy courses, all of them were working on corporate finance subjects. Successful M&A advisory, to attain the full value of your business, has to start with strategy and marketing to position businesses to strategic buyers such that you can understand the integrated value of the business to a strategic buyer, thereby allowing you to be able to position it well with strategic buyers (which can only come from a deep understanding of being a strategic buyer, which all of our Managing Directors at STS have been).

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Unlocking Maximum Potential in Business and in Life Rob Follows

As an extreme adventurer who has summited Everest, climbed all Seven Summits, completing ultra-marathons, and more, can you tell us what draws you to this adventurous lifestyle and why it is important to you? Climbing Everest and the Seven Summits, skiing to the north pole, running an ultra marathon before I’d ever run a marathon, learning to play polo when I was afraid of horses – and winning the U.S. President’s Cup with a B team from Canada at the Eight Goal Level in Saratoga… all of these goals, and many business goals as well, come from setting out a vision and remembering your life’s mission and purpose. My life’s mission is to live, love and enjoy; to help others learn and grow and to work with them to help make our world a better place. Setting goals and visions both personally and professionally is critical and should the foundation to living the best life possible. This is what drives me each day to challenge myself and live my life to its fullest potential.

Can you tell us more about your theme of Success to Significance? Where did this come from? STS equals Success to Significance, and Success to Significance through Selling to Strategics, given our MTP is to help create billions of dollars of new philanthropy. Through my experience in selling a business, I wanted to remind others that they, too, can take a path from not just creating financial value, but also to thinking about beyond that, whatever significance might be for them. Often, I find with entrepreneurs and family business owners are connected to having a legacy and purpose, so making a difference in the world lights up their hearts. When a business owner thinks about selling their business, it is important for them to plan what they are going to do after selling their business. We help with this by providing resources that help clients think about what they are going to do after the sale of their business – also known as Success to Significance. We own the STS trademark for this as it relates to mergers and acquisitions. STS equals Success to Significance™ through Selling to Strategics™… we make extraordinary exits happen. We find a way for entrepreneurs to build a legacy after they sell and move to the next chapter of their lives.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Unlocking Maximum Potential in Business and in Life Rob Follows

You’ve met many great CEOs and leaders, can you name a few that you admire and what makes them stand out in your mind? Great leaders can inspire and connect with people’s hearts to achieve their goals and doing the right thing to live their highest version of themselves. I was fascinated by a book given to me many years ago called “Jesus, CEO” because it teaches you the fundamental values of love and forgiveness that Jesus exemplified – the best qualities of great leaders. I’m also inspired by another book called “Nice Guys Finish First,” because the people of STS, from our team members, advisors, and clients, all share the same values of integrity. … which I love to support. At STS we only recruit and work with those that have high integrity and deep running values, and work hard to find clients that do, too, as it makes the whole journey that much more enjoyable, and the outcomes that much better. A leader I admire is Bill Maritz, founder of Maritz who had purchased my company and number 50 on the Forbes List, out of St. Louis, Missouri. What makes him inspiring is that he grew a business from $50 million to $1 billion, but also that he spent 80% of his time on philanthropy – something people didn’t know about. I spent many hours in his office and in meetings as he was working on philanthropic goals, while most people thought he was running the business. He delegated the business operations to other executives in the company so he can spend most of his time to help make the world a better place. He built a business with 22,000 employees and $3 billion in revenue, renowned across the industry, and holding a high level of integrity – they did what they said they would do. I’m also inspired by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The passionate vision the founders of the U.S. had for building a better world comes through in all of their work, and in the Constitution they wrote – with a fountain pen! Spending time in their homes and seeing the work they did and how they lived is inspiring to me because they focussed so much of their life energy on creating a better world for the generations following them. Coming out of an oppressive world in Europe to a free world was amazing leadership that most people have forgotten. Most controversially, I think Karl Marx was an amazing leader, not because of the content of what he wrote, but he truly understood people’s hearts, a sign of strong leadership. He managed to inspire the world to follow Communism– because he exposed the problems with the capitalist system – to which thousands of people gave their lives for his ideology. What many don’t realize is that he inspired Dale Carnegie and the other multi-billionaires in the 1920’s to give millions of dollars away and create a culture of philanthropy because they wanted to protect liberalism and capitalism – an act against the inspirations and leadership of Karl Marx, who was calling out to those that were suffering. Many would be surprised to learn that he inspired the culture of philanthropy in the United States and across western Europe – countries that protected liberalism and capitalism.

You have said in the past that what sets STS apart is your creativity and tenacity. Can you tell us why these characteristics are so important? What sets STS apart from others is the way our creativity, our skills and our resources focus on our being able to make extraordinary exits possible for our clients. This comes from three pillars that are very unique: 1) We are expert guides on the journey of selling your business. We start earlier and look past the sale of the business to support an extraordinary exit experience for clients. 2) We maximize value – through selling to strategics globally (and not to financial buyers) that bring other currencies and strategic imperatives to drive up value. And, 3) We help clients create true value in their exit – where they can focus on legacy: success to significance. STS = Success to Significance through Selling to Strategics

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Rob Follows

Founder and Chairman: STS Capital Partners Rob Follows has combined his education, ten years of entrepreneurial leadership and fifteen years of international corporate experience with his passion for helping people live their vision and founded STS Capital Partners in 2003. As an international, mid-range mergers and acquisitions firm, STS focuses on helping entrepreneurs and family business owners on their path from Success To SignificanceTM by maximizing value for shareholders in the sale of their businesses to strategic investors; as well as helping investors to find strategic investment opportunities internationally. Rob has advised on/led over 1,250 successful M&A transactions globally, totalling over $100 billion dollars in value. Rob is also the founding Chairman of Altruvest Charitable Services, a registered Canadian charity, established in 1994, focused on improving the performance of charitable organizations by providing training and tools to enhance the governance of charitable boards and thereby increasing their capacity to give more to their causes. BoardMatch LeadersTM, BoardMatch FundamentalsTM and BoardMatch Leadership DevelopmentTM are some of the programs delivered by Altruvest (www.altruvest.org). During an Advanced Leadership Program at Oxford University’s Templeton College, Rob received an academic sponsorship to do a Ph.D. at Oxford; the focus of his thesis was corporate philanthropic strategy. Rob is the former Chair of the YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) Global Deal Network, with over 8,500 deal focused CEOs. Rob was also founding Chair of the Executive Committee of the Social Enterprise Networks and has contributed to elevating the profile of philanthropy, humanitarian causes, social enterprise, sustainable business, economic development and sustainable communities at the international board level. He was founding Chair of the Barbados YPO Chapter; and alumni of the Toronto, St. Louis, Mexico City, Intercontinental and London YPO Chapters. He is currently a member of the YPO Europe One Chapter, YPO British Columbia Gold Chapter and YPO Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Chapter. Rob chairs many events within YPO and is an active moderator/facilitator for Deal Network events. In addition to his work and charitable accomplishments, Rob is also an extreme adventurer. When Rob summited Everest on May 24, 2006, he became part of an elite group of people who have climbed all Seven Summits. His adventures also include: skiing the North and South Poles; canoeing the Nahanni River in the Canadian Arctic; the first international descent of the Onon River on the Siberia/Mongolia border; completing the 250km Gobi Desert Ultra-Marathon and 110-mile Trans Rockies Challenge; and practising deeper meditation with Tibetan monks at the Kopan Monastery in Nepal, Tiger’s Nest Monastery and other monasteries in Bhutan. Rob’s academic accomplishments include: BA with distinction from the University of Toronto; LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University; certificate in Not-For-Profit Management from the University of Toronto; Arbor Award from the University of Toronto as an international leader in corporate philanthropy; and MSc (Oxon.) from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School in Advanced Strategy. He was also honoured by being identified as one of the “Group of 175”: 175 of the most visionary and philanthropic living graduates in the history of the University of Toronto. Committed to STS’ mission and as a proponent of strategic philanthropy, Rob is passionate about being a catalyst to, and inspiration for, clients and advisors to help transform their business success to personal significance, whatever that means for each individual. Rob also speaks on the topics of life planning (including “Everyone Has Their Own Everest: What Is Yours?”), Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Business Growth & Strategy Andrew J. Sherman

Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center Adjunct Professor, Robert H. Smith School of Business

In this issue, Andrew Sherman, a partner in the Corporate Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and author of nearly 30 books on the legal and strategic aspects of business growth, franchising, capital formation, and the leveraging of intellectual property shares his insight into opportunities, trends, his investment philosophy, and more.

What are 3 opportunities that entrepreneurs globally should be thinking about in the US? #1. The impact of AI, robotics, cybersecurity, data privacy and related technologies are having on business growth strategies, business plans, business models, capital formation and M&A transactions. #2. Significant shifts in the workplace and workspace and its impact on productivity, teamwork, collaboration, as well as culture, governance, leadership and employee recruitment and employee retention. #3. Shaping and evolving your product and services offering around the largest concentration of wealth and disposable income in what I often refer to as â€œThe Barbell Economyâ€? (the two heaviest ends of the barbell being 25-35-year-olds and 55-65-year-olds).

What do you see as the 3-5 overarching trends in your industry in the medium to long term? We are in the professional services industry where the delivery of legal services and strategic support is constantly transforming for clients of all sizes and in all industries. Clients demand efficiency, value, responsiveness, access, and the ability to see things for them that they may not have seen for themselves. Along those lines, I have observed the following trends that are relevant to the maintenance and growth of a successful corporate and transactional legal practice: #1. Law firms and professional service providers must embrace technology and innovation as allies and as catalysts for the efficient delivery of services and NOT as the enemies that will one day make us obsolete. #2. Law schools and law firms need to do a better job teaching and training in the areas of project and budget management in order to set and maintain clear and reasonable billing expectations in the minds of clients. #3. Lawyers must take the time and make the investment to learn the underlying business plans, business models and relevant industry trends that affect their clientsâ€™ futures, or their ability to become or remain effective advisors will be significantly diminished. Page 41

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Business Growth & Strategy Andrew J. Sherman

Tell us a little bit about your philosophy/ how do you invest differently than others might? My investment philosophy centers around long-term personal and business consumption trends that will shape the future of how we live, work, eat and play and I have put personal capital into several early-stage companies that understand and execute on these trends. My largest public company investments over the years have been in businesses such as Apple and Amazon over the last 20 years.

Who are some leaders you follow and why? On the political front, I have always admired Ronald Reaganâ€™s leadership style and his ability to reach across the aisle to make policy or solve problems as a gentleman, a diplomat, a father, and a devoted husband. In terms of business leaders, I admire the ability of Jeff Bezos to continue to evolve the business model of Amazon and to keep it competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace. Classic, as well as current business gurus whose books I admire include Jim Collins, Al Ries, Dr. Robert Rosen and Peter Drucker. In addition, all business leaders should periodically re-visit the works of Sun-Tzu, Machiavelli, Ayn Rand, and the various personal works of Rabbi Harold S. Kushner.

Could you tell us 3 life lessons that you live by? After writing over 2 dozen books on business growth and strategy, I paused to write a book titled Road Rules which encompasses the aggregate of the various life lessons that I live by and embrace in my heart and soul. This book articulates one of my core life philosophies, which is to create a delicate balance between accomplishment and humility. While I highly recommend reading the entire book, here are 3 life lessons that are important to me on a daily basis: #1. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Each of us needs to add a bit more empathy, compassion, and perspective into our lives and walk a mile (or so) in the shoes of others to close the gap of the many forms of harmful divisiveness in our society. #2. Bring passion and energy with you every day to the workplace. The global levels of employee disengagement is cutting deeply into innovation, creativity, productivity, collaboration and overall enterprise value. We spend a lot more time at our work desks than we do at our dining tables and we owe it to ourselves and to our co-workers to enjoy our work and our career paths. #3. Give yourself permission to stop worrying about your inability to achieve a work/life balance. Balance is illusory. The truth is, our lives are chaotic, choppy, unpredictable and oftentimes, unmanageable. Embrace the chaos to create an integration of your work and non-work lives, which can be powered by technology. In the future, the lines of demarcation between work and play will become even fuzzier and it will be up to you whether to fight it or embrace it. Page 42

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Andrew J. Sherman

Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP Andrew Sherman is a partner in the Corporate Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and serves as the Corporate office chair for the Washington, D.C. team. He focuses his practice on issues affecting business growth for companies at all stages, including developing strategies for licensing and leveraging intellectual property and technology assets, intellectual asset management and harvesting, as well as international corporate transactional and franchising matters. He has served as a legal and strategic advisor to dozens of Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of emerging growth companies. He has represented U.S. and international clients from early stage, rapidly growing start-ups, to closely held franchisors and middle market companies, to multibillion dollar international conglomerates. He also counsels on issues such as franchising, licensing, joint ventures, strategic alliances, capital formation, distribution channels, technology development, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Sherman has written nearly 30 books on the legal and strategic aspects of business growth, franchising, capital formation, and the leveraging of intellectual property, most of which can be found on Amazon. He also has published many articles on similar topics and is a frequent keynote speaker at business conferences, seminars, and webinars. He has appeared as a guest commentator on CNN, NPR, and CBS News Radio, among others, and has been interviewed on legal topics by The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and other publications. Mr. Sherman serves as an adjunct professor in the M.B.A. programs at the University of Maryland and as well as the law school at Georgetown University and is a multiple recipient of the University of Maryland at College Park's Krowe Excellence in Teaching Award.

Books by Andrew J. Sherman:

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"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.â€? William Shakespeare

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Investing in Female Entrepreneurs in Southern Africa Sarah Dusek Co-Founder, Under Canvas Investor & Founder, Enygma Ventures

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Sarah Dusek, Co-Founder of Under Canvas and Founder of Enygma Ventures shares her insight into investing in female entrepreneurs in Southern Africa.

Can you share a bit about yourself and your journey to creating Enygma Ventures and the Enygma Ventures investment fund? In particular, your decision to focus on investing in female entrepreneurs in Southern Africa. Founding Engyma Ventures was born out of my own journey as an entrepreneur and the struggle and frustrations around raising money. I spent the previous decade building an experience travel company in the US and as a female founder struggled to access the right networks to raise capital and found it frustrating to only ever be dealing with male investors who were offering me inequitable terms. Only 2% of all venture capital funds in the US goes to female founders and so this started a journey of thinking about how necessary it was to get into the ring myself and to think about how to do Venture Capital funding differently. When we started to explore the idea of setting up our own fund we knew we wanted to create access to capital where access did not exist. I started my career in Africa 20 years ago and had built our own company in the US-based on the African Safari experience, www.undercanvas.com. So we started to explore the funding landscape in Africa and discovered that only 1% of the capital being deployed by VCâ€™s in the US was being deployed across the African Continent. We knew we should focus our energies on the continent and should focus on supporting women. In order to level the playing field, geographically, racially and gender-wise we have to invest differently and channel money specifically in order to impact and drive change. We are endeavouring to do just that at Engyma Ventures.

What are your key priorities when selecting businesses to invest in? What do you look for in these entrepreneurs that is unique from other types of businesses, or perhaps how are they the same? We are looking for exceptional talent and what weâ€™ve discovered is that Africa has no shortage of talented entrepreneurs there is just a very real shortage of funding available. So incredible entrepreneurs who have exceptional ideas and market opportunities and who need capital to be able to scale their businesses exponentially is what we are looking for. The opportunity to drive impact through the vehicle of business is huge. Business is the best vehicle to solve problems and create innovative solutions and so we believe there is a very real connection between moving the world forward and building great businesses.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Investing in Female Entrepreneurs in Southern Africa Sarah Dusek

In your experience, do impact investors look at their investments with the same lens as other investments, or does the importance of achieving social impact results carry more weight than achieving competitive returns? There are all sorts of types of impact investors. Some will accept less of a financial return in exchange for the social impact or change a business will drive. I however, happen to believe you don’t necessarily need to sacrifice return for driving incredible impact. Much depends on how you define impact and what’s the change you are attempting to drive. For us we are seeking to impact gender inequality whilst helping women build incredible companies that drive change and innovation.

The pandemic seems to be highlighting areas of inequality, particularly gender inequality. What impact have you seen so far on the female entrepreneurs your fund supports? Obviously, women have been under extraordinary amounts of pressure over the last few months to manage their families being home through lockdown and to seamlessly manage their day jobs. I think we’ve all realised just how much women have to juggle under normal circumstances and the pandemic has only further cemented the challenges faced by women. However, during this time we have seen extraordinary resilience and pivots, innovation and ideas from women to help move our world forward and create a better world. We have been astounded by the number of women launching businesses and stepping up to adjust to change in extraordinary ways. We have been incredibly proud to be supporting them. We’ve made 4 investments over the last 7 months of Corona Virus lock downs with 3 more due to close before the end of the year.

In general, has the pandemic made an impact on impact investing? Do you see any trends emerging? Yes, there’s been a huge new interest in both the education and health care space. We are seeing new opportunities in both spaces around utilising technology differently, new innovative solutions, and solving the gaps in equality in both fields. In addition of course the digitisation of services has taken a huge upswing over the course of the last few months. Increasing digital access will be a priority for the years ahead. So much of our lives will be reinvented and reimagined going forward.

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Bonus Question:

Who are some of the leaders that you follow and why?

I am a passionate admirer of Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, who has been an incredible inspirational advocate for gender equality. Without women like RBG I would not be able to do what I am doing today and would not have the opportunities to pursue my dreams and ambitions. Much still needs to be done to reshape the balance of our world but much has been accomplished through her and others’ extraordinary lives. The morning I heard of her death this month, I sobbed. The world has lost an icon, and a tremendous leader and example to us all. Her legacy will live on in all of us who seek to see our world become a more inclusive, equal world.RBG “I ask no favor for my sex, all I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks”

Sarah Dusek

Investor & Founder, Enygma Ventures

Sarah Dusek is the Co-Founder of Under Canvas; the leading US adventurehospitality company offering luxurious glamping accommodations just minutes from America’s most popular and iconic national parks. In 2017, under Sarah’s leadership Under Canvas received a spot on the coveted Inc. 5000 list and Sarah was named to the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women list from Ernst & Young. Under Canvas has set an unprecedented new standard in ecological development while also re-defining experiential hospitality in a meaningful way. Sarah believes passionately in empowering women to reach their full potential and in levelling the playing field for women entrepreneurs. In 2019 Sarah launched Enygma Ventures, a private investment fund focused on investing in women-led businesses in Southern Africa. Sarah is committed to helping grow scalable, sustainable businesses that have the power to transform communities, cities and nations.

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â€œThe world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.â€? Ernest Hemingway

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Private Credit, Private Equity & Secondary Investment Brett Hickey Founder & CEO, Star Mountain Capital

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Brett Hickey, Founder and CEO of Star Mountain Capital, shares his insight into the private credit, private equity and secondary investment sectors.

How did you get started as an entrepreneur? My first little business was shovelling snow off roofs in Northern British Columbia, Canada where I grew up in order to get some operational leverage and make more money with the time I had so I guess itâ€™s always been in my DNA to some capacity. I viewed a need and an opportunity for (1) private business owners, (2) investors and (3) myself, my friends and my family culturally. I started Star Mountain Capital in 2010 with the goal of bringing large market resources to established private businesses and to generate alpha for investors from the market inefficiencies of the private smaller deal marketplace. I also had the vision to make Star Mountain is leading culture where I like-minded people would want to work. To that end we have been fortunate to have won many awards such as Best Places to Work by Pensions & Investments and Crainâ€™s.

Could you share with us three sectors that you are interested in investing in right now? Healthcare, technology and less exciting slower growth industries where we can help build companies through strategic acquisitions (aka roll-ups) into higher valuations and sell them.

In your opinion, what makes for a successful deal? Strong business plans, high-quality management teams, strategic capital partners, transparent and active communication and both economic and cultural alignment.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Private Credit, Private Equity & Secondary Investment Brett Hickey

Star Mountain plays in the lower middle-market of Private Equity, Private Credit / Debt and Secondary Fund investing. What opportunities are there for companies to work with you and benefit from what you do? We have created a strategic and flexible capital solutions platform with deep resources, expertise and capital to help private business owners achieve their personal and professional objectives. We do not believe “one size fits all” and therefore create customized investment solutions for both investors and business owners. With approximately $1.5 billion in capital, over 40 full-time people and over 35 additional advisors / operating partners, Star Mountain has deep expertise and relationships for a broad range of industries and businesses that generally have over $10 million in annual revenues and typically under $25 million in EBITDA. This is the sweet spot where Star Mountain is built to maximize value for business owners and its investors alike. Our team have been senior executives at leading financial institutions ranging from Blackstone and KKR to Goldman Sachs. With material personal capital invested, our focus, resources and capabilities we believe are of very high value for the businesses we selectively invest with. Even during COVID, with substantial investment in technology and team in over 20 cities across the U.S., we remain open for business and actively investing in businesses and providing individuals and institutions with early liquidity in their private equity, private credit and other private investments.

You have seen many leaders in your time. Can you share two that you admire, and why? My partner Brian Finn who was President of Credit Suisse First Boston and the Head of their $100 billion AUM asset management business. He is thoughtful, compassionate and focuses on what is the most important, in a strategic manner and without an ego. This allows him to accomplish great things and create deep, long-term transfer for trust relationships. I also admire the importance he places on his family. When I was younger in particular, Richard Branson who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through the Young Presidents’ Organization where I have been a member for over 12 years and through sitting on the global board of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs from being an alumnus of Harvard Business School via the Owner, President, Manager C-level executive on-campus training program. As he has said many times, he has taken great personal and financial risk by truly “putting himself out there” for his brand, shareholders and employees. He has also created a unique lifestyle and culture. I like to pick up little pieces from many people along the way with a continued focus on lifelong learning and development.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Brett Hickey

Brett Hickey, Founder & CEO, Star Mountain Capital

Brett Hickey is the Founder & CEO of Star Mountain Capital, LLC, a nearly $1.5 billion AUM specialized U.S. lower middle-market investment firm. Star Mountain employs a data-driven approach to provide value-added debt and equity capital to established small & medium-sized companies leveraging its large market expertise, scale-driven resources, and longstanding relationships. With over 40 team members and 35 senior advisors / operating partners, Star Mountain brings large market resources and expertise to help business owners maximize value. Star Mountain's team include former senior executives from GSO / Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Citigroup. Star Mountain is focused exclusively on the U.S. lower middle-market by investing debt and equity directly into established operating companies, making strategic investments into fund managers and purchasing secondary direct and fund positions. Star Mountain's in-house technology team has built proprietary systems to support its data-driven approach to maximize value for investors and business owners alike. Star Mountain is a trademarked brand, including "Investing in the Growth Engine of America ÂŽ" and Star Mountain's distinctive "Collaborative Ecosystem ÂŽ" includes hosting and participating in 100+ events per year. Star Mountain's Charitable Foundation supports career development for women, veterans, and athletes as well as health & wellness initiatives including cancer research. Prior to becoming a principal investor starting in the early 2000s, Mr. Hickey was an Investment Banker at Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup Global Markets in New York City where he covered global Asset Managers and Financial Institutions. In that role, he analyzed asset managers and asset classes, ultimately working on over $20 billion in completed strategic acquisitions and capital raises. Mr. Hickey's board memberships include member and former Chairman of Networks for the NYC Chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), Global Board of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, and Global Board of Help for Children (HFC). Mr. Hickey received a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from McGill University (Finance Major and Accounting Concentration) and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management executive leadership program. He is a frequent guest lecturer on industry panels and at academic institutions. Mr. Hickey is also a former Canadian national gold medalist and North American medalist in speed skating. Mr. Hickey is married with two children and lives in New York.

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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston Churchill

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Customer Experience, Trends and Leadership Insights Bridgit Lombard CEO & Founder, Marea Partners Founder, One World Fund

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Bridgit Lombard, CEO and Founder of Marea Partners and Founder of One World shares her insight into opportunities, trends, her investment philosophy, and more.

What are 3 opportunities that entrepreneurs globally should be thinking about? 1. In todayâ€™s world of viral mass media and microscopic scrutiny, an entrepreneur must be crystal clear on what your brand MEANS and stands for. How that meaning aligns with and supports our world at large is of utmost importance. We are experiencing a sea-change in capitalism. Mission and societal benefit is being valued by consumers and thus investors, more than ever before. 2. There is plenty of capital out there today, but not all money is made equally. Be discerning about who you choose to partner with. Ensure there is an alignment of approach, expectations and timelines and remember to ask yourself, do you really want to sit across the table from THESE people when shit hits the fan? 3. With all the competitive noise out there, ensure your purpose, capability and message are clear. Go back to read the hedgehog concept again and again and refine yours. (And if you donâ€™t know what that is, expand your reading and knowledge.)

Your investment focus is generally on companies that interact directly with consumers. What do you see as the 3-5 overarching trends in your industry in the medium to long term? 1. Given the uncertain economy ahead, consumer products companies need to be judicious about investments. Companies should focus on committing themselves to investing in digital technologies with built-in analytic capabilities that help them better understand their consumers and the operational problems they are trying to solve. They should: Develop data analytics and intelligent decision-making capabilities that enable analysis of consumer behavior data that helps provide products tailored to consumer needs. Leverage consumer insights to guide investment in new business models, digital supply chain networks and distribution channels that provide a seamless consumer experience. Retrain existing employees while hiring new talent with the right skill sets to implement advanced technologies. This helps foster a culture built on learning and collaboration. Page 52

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Customer Experience, Trends and Leadership Insights Bridgit Lombard

2. Consumers are looking to companies for leadership in addressing global issues. Consumers are increasingly looking for brands to embrace corporate citizenship and sustainability. Where ingredients are sourced and how a product is manufactured, shipped, and packaged are now important considerations for consumers. Approximately 88 percent of consumers across the United States and the United Kingdom want companies to improve their environmental and social footprint. Further, 48 percent of US consumers say they would change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment. The important thing to remember is there is a limit on how much they will sacrifice for this desire. The winners will example the “Genius of the AND.” They will deliver a great product at a fair price AND have a positive global impact.

3. There is a battle for ownership of the customer experience. Today, consumers are increasingly informed and empowered to make their own purchasing decisions. Digital platforms and mobile technologies provide instant access to customer reviews and price-comparison tools. Even though increased transparency has made it easier for consumers to make objective assessments of value, the prospect of comparison shopping for items on consumers’ list each time they visit a store can be daunting. Winners will not only provide information but allow effective curation to drive an easier decision/transaction process.

Tell us a little bit about your philosophy. How do you invest differently than others? Like many investors I look for potential in a company. But where my philosophy differs slightly is that I am willing to invest in a somewhat stagnant or what might be considered a stalling business, because, I not only see the potential but I’m willing to dive in with the entrepreneurs and support operations in a very detailed manner. This approach ensures success where others would fail and often surfaces hidden and untapped opportunities.I’m not looking for a quick 3-4 year turn. I want to see the potential become a reality and let the true opportunity drive the prescription. I believe what’s most important is building a sustainable business that positively impacts our society, planet and builds a better future. Why get out before the impact is fully realized?

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Customer Experience, Trends and Leadership Insights Bridgit Lombard

Who are some of the leaders that you follow and why? I follow leaders that are taking a stand in terms of how we utilize business as a force for good. Leaders that I admire and follow are those with a deep self-awareness and a sense of other. I would point to Oprah Winfrey, Chip Tindell of Container Store, Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, Rose Maracrio of Patagonia and Kat Taylor of Benefit Bank. One particular leader that stands out for me is Marc Benioff at Salesforce. He runs a dynamic, successful business and has a passion for operating with integrity and sense of purpose. He’s generous with sharing knowledge and including others in discussions and committed to leaving our world a better place.

Could you tell us 3 life lessons that you live by? 1. Even if you think you should do a deal on a handshake, always make sure you get things in writing. You never know when the winds of change will come. 2. I have come to understand that allowing for wonderful brilliant things to happen is much easier and more fun than expecting bad things to happen. When I face a challenging situation, rather than fight it and get upset or angry, taking a moment to breathe, and being open to the opportunities that lie within the challenge has delivered remarkably powerful results in my life business and relationships. 3. Getting clear on my values has made my life Who are some of the leaders that you follow and why?

much more rich, meaningful and fulfilling. I live by the following values: Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries – Dalai Lama We have an impact on the world and people around us, let’s make it a positive one. It’s not only okay, but necessary to be true to our highest self, this is the only way to become the person we are meant to be.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

About the Author:

Bridgit Lombard

CEO & Founder, Marea Partners Bridgit Lombard believes a social impact enterprise must excel in business in order to make a difference in the world. She founded Marea Partners to embody that philosophy: a business advisory firm that helps socially-conscious companies grow and prosper while remaining true to their beliefs. Bridgit shows Marea Partner clients how to develop systematic execution and purposeful cultures to ensure financial success, and thus achieve the greatest impact. During her career, Lombard has served as CEO of numerous middle market companies. At The Mountain, Bridgit led an 18-month turnaround that put the firm on a trajectory to double in enterprise value . While at Penguin Brands and Nathan Sports, she created a value and growth strategy that led to a ten-fold increase in value between 2010 and 2015. In addition to Marea Partners, Lombard founded 2 multi-national companies: Tenega Group, a consultancy focused on enterprise value growth, and Premysis Management, a SaaS platform in the commercial real estate sector. Both of these Bridgit led to successful strategic acquisitions. Bridgit actively lives her core values throughout her business and philanthropic endeavors. She created the One World Fund, which invests specifically in mission-driven social impact enterprises. She has been a board member of Gorilla Doctors, a charity dedicated to saving wild mountain gorillas; worked with TUSK Africa to fund wildlife protection programs; and helped pioneer sustainable conservation methods in eastern Africa. Bridgit uses her experience to mentor women entrepreneurs helping shape the global movement of business as a force for social good. Bridgit is a 4-time recipient of the Philadelphia Top 100 Award, awarded by Wharton Small Business Development Center, and was given the Leader of Innovation Medal from Philadelphia University. She is an active member of YPO, where she has served on the Membership Committee, including time as overall Committee Chair and a Regional Chair, and is a member of the Social Entrepreneurship, Deal, and Retail Networks. Bridgit is a mentor for fellow female entrepreneurs and is regularly featured as a growth expert for Inc. Magazine, MSNBC, and other media outlets.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

The Gold Market amid COVID-19 and the Global Financial Crisis Jordan Trimble President, CEO, Director of Skyharbour Resources Founder and President of Rockridge Resources Director of New Placer Dome Gold Corp.

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Jordan Trimble, President & CEO of Skyharbour Resources and Founder & President of Rockridge Resources, shares his insight into the gold market amidst the global COVID-19 crisis.

Can you summarize what is going on in the gold market right now, given the impact of COVID-19 and resulting economic crisis? The start to 2020 has been anything but normal as we all know. As one of the ultimate stores of value, gold prices have performed well over the last 12 months trading up from $1350 / oz a year ago to over $1700 / oz currently. We have seen continued strength in the gold market in recent months despite a very short-lived panic selloff in March as a result of a liquidity event brought on by COVID-19. As markets have been stabilizing, gold has been a benefactor of the â€œnew normâ€? of zero / negative real interest rates and quantitative easing. The economic crisis playing out currently has created demand atrophy, GDP contraction (potentially 25-30% drop in US GDP in Q2 2020) and widespread, double-digit unemployment rates in many countries. However, the government and monetary response globally to the pandemic has created the perfect conditions for a historic gold bull run. In addition to the trillions of dollars of stimulus and money printing globally, the Federal Reserve and other central banks have stated that interest rates are going to be near zero for a while which is bullish for gold. The size of major central bank balance sheets has been around 25% of GDP for the last decade. However, quantitative easing is now conventional monetary policy and this will ultimately devalue fiat currencies around the world putting upward pressure on the gold price. Just in the US alone, we have seen the Fed balance sheet balloon to over $7 trillion up from $0.9 trillion in 2008 with the last few trillion being tacked on recently to combat the economic fallout from the pandemic. On the other side of the equation, we have seen some primary mine supply disruption due to the virus. As of midApril, some 340 mines globally had temporarily shut down, and over half of those were precious metal mines. These mines have been restarting but the production curtailment helped propel a higher gold price through April and May and a second wave of the virus could lead to future supply destruction.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

The Gold Market amid COVID-19 and the Global Financial Crisis Jordan Trimble

What do you see as the overarching trends in gold in the medium to long term? There are several overarching trends in the gold market to watch out for over the coming years. One of them is generalist investor interest and buying. Gold offers investors a store of value, a hedge against inflation and a portfolio diversification tool with its low to negative correlation with other more widely followed asset classes. Most investors globally are still underweight gold in their portfolios but this is changing and if we continue to see increasing investor appetite for gold, especially institutional, that will move the prices of gold and gold mining companies higher. Mainstream banks are starting to call for higher gold prices (Bank of America recently forecasted $3,000 gold) and are advising their clients to diversify into gold and gold stocks. An interesting metric to look at is the Dow Jones / Gold ratio as it shows that gold is still relatively inexpensive compared to equities but the trend had reversed in 2018 in favour of gold and appears likely to continue. Also, if you take Microsoft and Facebook, you get a combined market cap larger than the entire gold sector. The two largest gold mining companies Barrick Gold and Newmont Goldcorp combine for approx. $100 billion valuation, less than 7% of Microsoftâ€™s $1.4-trillion valuation. So as generalists add more gold exposure in their portfolios, there will likely be disproportionate returns generated by gold mining companies. Another trend to follow is the central bank buying of gold which has picked up in recent years. In the final quarter of 2018, central banks purchased more gold than in any other quarter on record. By the end of the year, central banks collectively held just over one billion ounces of gold which is about onefifth of all the gold ever mined. This trend continued in the first half of 2019 with central banks purchasing 12 million ounces of gold (17% of total gold demand in that period). China in particular has been a significant buyer of gold since the year 2000 when they had reserves of 12.7 million ounces. Today, they are over 62 million, up 5x, and growing. As central banks around the world continue to buy gold, we will see the price continue to rise.

Can you share a little bit about what you are doing now in the resource sector? Are you working with any companies you are excited about? I am currently an officer and director of several publicly traded resource companies including a couple of junior gold mining companies and have worked in the sector for over a decade. I was previously the Corporate Development Manager for Bayfield Ventures, a gold company with projects in Rainy River, Ontario which was successfully acquired by a larger gold mining company New Gold in 2014 and is now producing gold from the Rainy River mine. More recently I founded, and currently serve, as President and a Director of TSX Venture listed Rockridge Resources, a relatively new public mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resource properties in Canada. The Companyâ€™s core gold project is the Raney Project, which is a high-grade gold exploration project located in the same greenstone belt that hosts the world-class Timmins and Kirkland Lake lode gold mining camps.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

The Gold Market amid COVID-19 and the Global Financial Crisis Jordan Trimble

What makes this company unique? What makes the Rockridge unique is we recently reported a new high-grade gold discovery zone in late April with drill hole RN 20-06 intersecting 28.0 g/t gold over 6.0 metres. Our geological team has put together a new geological model for the project and we feel we have just scratched the surface with plans to continue exploring and drill testing the project this summer. I also serve as a Director of New Placer Dome Gold Corp. which recently completed a $12.3 million dollar financing to fund the acquisition and advancement of a gold project in Nevada known as Kinsley Mountain. Both of these companies offer investors exposure to the underlying commodity being gold in addition to companyspecific catalysts and exploration success.

Any final thoughts to share about gold in the coming years?

One last thing to keep an eye on over the coming years is the supply side. Pandemic-related production curtailment aside, there have been very few major new gold discoveries in recent years and a bear market over the better part of the last decade has led to underinvestment in new projects and mines. The amount of gold in the world is finite, and we have been finding less of it which is ultimately positive for the metal price.

Jordan Trimble

President, CEO, Director of Skyharbour Resources Jordan Trimble is the President, CEO and a Director of Skyharbour Resources Ltd, a TSX Venture listed uranium exploration and development company, as well as a founder and the President of Rockridge Resources Ltd. and a Director of New Placer Dome Gold Corp. both of which are TSX Venture listed gold companies. He has an entrepreneurial background and has worked in the resource industry with numerous companies specializing in management, corporate finance and strategy, shareholder communications, deal structuring and capital raising. He is a frequent speaker at resource and mining conferences globally and has appeared on various media outlets including BNN and the Financial Post. Mr. Trimble holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with a Minor in Commerce from UBC and he is a CFAÂŽ Charterholder currently serving as a Director of the CFA Society Vancouver.

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"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future." George Bernard Shaw

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Opportunities in Trade Finance & Europe Andreas Schweitzer Managing Director & Founder, Arjan Capital Managing Director & Founder, Artis Trade Investment

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Andreas Schweitzer, Managing Director & Founder of Arjan Capital Ltd. and Artis Trade Investment Ltd. shares his insight into opportunities within Europe and in his field of trade finance.

How did you get started as an entrepreneur, and why?

For various reasons, I left the corporate world in 1990. Eight years with Jacobs Suchard (now Kraft General Foods) were truly remarkable, in Zurich, Panama and Paris and mainly involved in their trade finance activities. Jacobs Suchard bought E.D.F Man, a multi-billion multi-manager fund platform which gave me a sniff of the world of fund management. Once I left Jacobs Suchard and was thinking about what to do next, a fund manager in Paris approached me to assist him in setting up, managing and marketing his investment concept. Within six months we had CHF 100M as managed accounts with net returns in the high double digits. I never looked back.

You have had varied business interests from clean-tech to finance. As you have built your companies and done many deals can you share a few key lessons you learned along the way? Four key lessons come to mind: Please don’t chase the deal, be it out of despair, ego or other. Being able to afford walking away from the deal gives you an upper hand throughout the process – and better sleep. Keep it as straight forward as possible. Assemble an outstanding core team – and manage it. The team that executes is as critical if not more than the idea. Do it alone for as long as you can, if you need third party money choose your seed coinvestors /shareholders with care.

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Opportunities in Trade Finance & Europe Andreas Schweitzer

You reside in Europe. Much focus around opportunities has revolved around technology companies in North America and the continued growth. In some senses, Europe has lagged in terms of stock markets which possibly presents a great opportunity in Europe for investment, joint ventures and M&A. What are your thoughts on this for the global Deal Gateway community in terms of some options? We have strategically decided that the US is not a market we follow as it requires significant infrastructure to comply with broad and complex US regulations. So critical mass is a prerequisite we don’t have. Our focus is EMEA and Central Asia, where we are engaged and have invested in for the last 12 years. It is undisputed that the US has in the past and is still today producing most of the world's best and brightest in terms of companies and innovation. On the other hand, there are quite a few successes in Europe and the Middle East. Israel has phenomenal startups, the UK is the Fintech hub of the world, with Switzerland very much chasing this position in crypto. India and China showed impressive successes. Yes, the US in sheer size is the largest and most prominent but let’s not ignore Europe and Asia. For M&A we like Central Asia and Africa. As an example, we are just listing a Nigerian owned African with a pan-African board bank concept and a large acquisition appetite, the current purchase being a Canadian company. For example, Ukraine or Kazakstan offer tremendous investment opportunities. So does Iran (a market as large as Germany). We had quite an intense M&A advisory and fund investment business between the signing of the JCPoA 5+1 agreement in late 2015 and May 2018 when the current White House administration left the JCPoA contract. Let’s hope that with the new administration SU Iran sanctions hostilities decrease somewhat as the Iranian market today offers remarkable buy opportunities again and caters to 400M consumers in the region.

Your latest business represents a massive opportunity in Trade Finance. How did you develop this opportunity, and can you please expand upon what you are doing and how people can get involved. Indeed we are in love with the trade! Today, even more than in the past. Why? Regardless of the state the world is in – Brexit, Pandemic, Sanctions, market regulations, asteroid collisions and other: the world needs trade. Banks lend less and less. We co-invest in trade and factor invoices that carry credit insurance. We decided to grow this business beyond our current club deal formula and accept managed accounts and offer a Luxembourg regulated structure for investors. We generate 10% + p.a. and offer a fixed return to investors of 8% p.a. paid out semi-annual and sixmonth withdrawal liquidity: an insured bond and fixed income alternative in times of negative interest rates.

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You have met many leaders through your time at YPO. Could you name one or two you admire and why? There are quite a few that inspire me for their savviness, generosity or courage. I drew much inspiration from the sadly late Yves Paternot. A courageous and generous man, surviving and fighting pancreatic cancer and building significant businesses in series. What an inspiration for how he handled business and life. Current and past YPO Forum buddies similarly inspire me, and this inspiration lives best unpublished.

Andreas Schweitzer

Managing Director & Founder, Arjan Capital Andreas is the Managing Director and Founder of Arjan Capital Ltd and Artis Trade Investment Ltd. Boasting over 30 years experience in finance, with a career that spans funds, trade finance and corporate advisory roles. He worked at institutions including J. Safra Sarasin and Jacobs Suchard (now Kraft General Foods). With expertise in assisting European companies to execute their strategies and trades with emerging and frontier markets, Andreas has the specialist knowledge to facilitate complex trades whilst delivering strong returns.

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"Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop." Rumi

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Marketing & Entrepreneurial Insights Mellissah Smith

Founder, Marketing Eye and Robotic Marketer

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Mellissah Smith, Founder of Robotic Marketer, Editor in Chief of Minimalistic Magazine and Founder & Marketing Director of Marketing Eye shares her insights into marketing and life as an entrepreneur.

How did you get started as an entrepreneur and why? When I was 25 years old, I was approached by another female entrepreneur to start a marketing agency. While it was something that I always thought would be a natural progression, I really didn’t think it would happen so early in my career. When an opportunity knocks, it’s hard to ignore especially when people that are older and more successful than you are rooting for your success. Heavily ensconced in the technology and biotechnology sectors, I was able to not only launch a business young, but become successful fast. Specialist skills were in high demand in the tech boom, and I quickly teamed up with influencers in the technology, venture capital and banking sectors who paved a way for my team and myself to learn new skills such as investor relations and web development.

In growing your companies and scaling, can you share 3 keys to success?

Growing companies with little or no experience is really hit and miss. What was a stand-out during my career is the ability to attract mentors who had wealth of experience and lots of contacts. While that is largely about being in the right place at the right time, it also is about how you build relationships and maintain them. Mentors I had at the start of my career are still the same as who I have today. As you grow and scale your business, if you have mentors that are global in their business interests, it allows for you to open new networks in markets you would like to do business in. Also key is making the quantum leap of working “on your business” and not “in your business”. This is harder to achieve than it sounds and follows the path of The Rockefeller Habits which is a bible for many entrepreneurs around the world. Over the years I have shifted from working in the business to on the business, with the latter being the more successful periods of my career. However, it did take until my midthirties to achieve this. The last key to growing and scaling is investing in the business and taking risks. Earlier in my entrepreneurship journey, I didn’t take too many risks other than the obvious. I played it safe. But nothing great happens when we are playing it safe. It’s only when I took risks that I started to really think big and ‘do big’. All of a sudden I had an international business that was profitable and through investing in processes, manuals and technology, the businesses became scalable. While I never “bet the farm”, I certainly did invest a big portion of my wealth in innovation and technology, which paid dividends. Page 64

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Marketing & Entrepreneurial Insights Mellissah Smith

You are in the marketing, data space. What is happening in this space and are there any cool things you have pioneered and doing that are of interest? What do companies need to be thinking about in terms of their marketing efforts to compete? After developing marketing strategies for more than 20 years, I knew that things could be done smarter. What was a strength in my marketing business, was also a consumer of our marketers' time. My mindset has always been focused on innovation and how technology can be used to do things faster, smarter and more efficiently. Realizing the asset that we had as a business in recording workshops and developing marketing strategies, we were able to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate the development of marketing strategies. After entering into our technology Robotic Marketer administrative data to do with a clients’ company, the software uses big data, data crawling and scraping, and benchmarking to deep dive into a company’s competitor landscape, market research, brand and tactics to deliver a comprehensive marketing report with a clear path to achieving goals in a matter of minutes. The market has changed so much and many companies are scrambling to work out what marketing strategy they should have in place post-COVID-19. The need to use datadriven insights and AI-powered algorithms to get a competitive advantage will set companies apart from the pack. Relying on past marketing strategies is not going to help businesses move forward – and most businesses know this.

We are in turbulent times globally and turbulent times call for great leadership. Who are some leaders you admire and why? Great leaders exist everywhere and mostly, those people that hit the upper echelons of leadership skills don’t seek to be recognized as such. People I respect are those who understand people and how to get the most out of them, while at the same time giving back to the community. On a personal level, I have a mentor in Jack Cowin, who is the head of Competitive Foods, and to me, he is an incredible leader. He surrounds himself with the best people, empowers people to make decisions, and has time for everyone no matter what level they are in an organisation. He asks a lot of questions and listens, and his advice is always spot on. From an outset, you see new age leaders like a Gwyneth Paltrow and look at the way they interact with their teams of people and encourage them to step up and take a seat at the table is another example of good leadership. Obviously, we only see this through media and platforms like Netflix, but it is inspiring to see transparent leaders who show a different style that works well. Sara Blakely is another high inspiring leader who gives back and has balance in her life. The way she navigates her success, business and life is incredible. Page 65

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

On a personal level, what are you passionate about as an entrepreneur? When you get out of bed every morning, what is it that motivates you? Getting up in the morning is easy. I tend to wake up at 4am and am always ready for the day ahead usually getting most things finished before staff head to the office at 9am. What drives me most is innovation and creativity. How can we do things smarter, faster with better results. I am fortunate to have a team around me that I can continually bounce ideas off, and importantly, have that idea followed through. Transitioning into spatial computing is extremely exciting and it is the future. What I have learned over the years is how critical it is to embrace new technologies early. After being in business for more than two decades, I’m a huge advocate for diversity in the workplace and giving employees the opportunity to reach their full potential whether it’s with you or in other endeavours. There is nothing more rewarding then seeing young employees do things that they think they can’t do, so teaching people to step outside of their comfort zones, take risks and to embrace failure is something that I have learned is as important as putting your own personal brand out there in the market.

Mellissah Smith

Founder, Marketing Eye and Robotic Marketer Mellissah Smith is one of Australia’s leading marketing experts having pioneered two specialist marketing firms into operations in three separate States of Australia and more recently expanding the Marketing Eye business in the US with offices in Atlanta. With 20 years of experience, Mellissah has worked with thousands of companies, emerging and large multinational, on developing and executing strategic marketing campaigns. From developing strategic marketing plans to re-inventing old brands in a changing market place, Mellissah has creative flair, business acumen and a knowledge of all aspects of marketing. She has also worked extensively in marketing and communications for companies listing on the ASX in both the small cap and large corporate arenas. As a marketing consultant, the value Mellissah gives to organisations is unparalleled. Her credentials are backed by a strong gut instinct on what the market wants and she has no hesitation in challenging the status quo in ensuring that clients don’t go off track and focus too heavily on what they want, rather than what their customers want. Mellissah has written books on marketing, produced and edited magazines. However, it’s when she has created campaigns that have achieved results and mentored young marketers around the globe, that she has really hit her mark. Her blog is widely read and when she writes on a topic, her blog typically comes up on the first page of the topic; think David Jones saga, Jennifer Hawkins and alike. This is powerful for clients, their products and services and for getting an opinion across to the market. Training marketing consultants to not only think about what marketing they are doing for clients, but how they can better understand a business plan and a company’s goals, means that the Marketing Eye concept is well received and is on the road to becoming one of the most successful marketing companies in Australia.

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"Fortune favors the brave." Latin Proverb

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Opportunities in Singapore & Asia Callum Laing

Founder & CEO MBH Corporation PLC

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Callum Laing, a partner in the Private Equity firm Unity Group, CEO of MBH Corporation PLC Singapore and author of two books shares his insight into opportunities, trends, his investment philosophy, and more.

What are 3 opportunities that entrepreneurs globally should be thinking about in Singapore and Asia? 1) In the last 20 years, 1.2 billion people joined the middle classes (mostly in Asia). How could you be helping them? 2) The globe, but Asia in particular, is moving from rural to urban. With every 100k additional people in a city, it adds an incremental growth in patents, new businesses, crime and waste problems. Can you profit from that? 3) Singapore utilised a ‘freemium’ model 200 years ago and grabbed 80% of the shipping in the area with its free port concept. You don’t need to burn through cash like Uber and WeWork to be disruptive.

Your focus is acquiring small businesses around the world. What do you see as the 3-5 overarching trends in your industry in the medium to long term? 1) 50% of the world’s GDP comes from small to medium enterprises and yet it is off-limits to most sophisticated capital because it is illiquid and risky. New models like Agglomeration are opening up huge opportunities to invest in this area. 2) In the last 20 years, 1.2 billion people joined the middle classes (mostly in Asia). How are you helping them? 3) Society is, hopefully, moving from a focus on growth to one of sustainability. Business owners should start asking not how do we double in size, but how do we ensure we are still here in ten years? 4) NZ has replaced productivity and GDP guidelines with 5 ‘Well Being’ Metrics for the government to target. 5) Singapore, which has consistently topped global education is dismantling its focus on ‘results’ as they no longer believe are the best predictor of career success. What outdated metrics are you clinging to which you could replace to overtake your competitors? Page 68

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Opportunities in Singapore & Asia Callum Laing

Tell us a little bit about your philosophy/ how do you invest differently than others might? We take 15-20 great, profitable, small businesses ($1-5m ebitda) public each year through our own PLC whilst leaving the founders fully in control over their own business with the chance to earn a bigger chunk of the holding company the more profit they contribute each year. This provides external investors with a unique, highly liquid, public vehicle to invest in a portfolio of small businesses around the world. No need to bet on the future promise of some disruptive tech, these are decades-old businesses that that just consistently spit out cash year on year. However, by adding 15-20 a year we are one of the fastest-growing companies on any bourse.

Who are some leaders you follow and why? In the small business space: I believe Daniel Priestley (Dent Global) is one of the foremost thinkers, and implementers, out there (read his books). In philanthropy: I follow Paul Dunn and Masami Sato of b1g1.com. In investing: I follow I wide range to try and get as broad a spectrum of views as possible.

Could you tell us 3 life lessons that you live by? 1) If you’re feeling stuck you’re probably asking the wrong questions. Start asking ‘who’ questions not ‘what’ questions. 2) Focus on the game you’re playing. Your critics might be playing different games or the same game with different timeframes. Stay focused on your game and your timelines. 3) How can you help more of your tribe? It is as good a question as any to start the day.

Callum Laing

Founder & CEO MBH Corporation PLC Callum Laing is the founder and CEO of MBH Corporation PLC, a company that acquires small businesses around the globe, leaving the founders in place.Callum has more than two decades of experience in starting, building, buying, and selling businesses in a range of sectors, including recruitment, sport and lifestyle, information technology, and telecommunications. He has published two best-selling books on business, has interviewed and published more than 800 interviews with entrepreneurs and sits as High Commissioner to the World Business Angel Investor Forum in Singapore.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Boosting Moods & Building Brands in North Carolina Laura McCann

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, ADORAtherapy

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Laura McCann, Founder and CEO of Adoratherapy, shares her insight into opportunities, trends, her investment philosophy, and more.

Could you share 3 opportunities that entrepreneurs should be thinking about in your region? 1) I live in Asheville North Carolina (USA), which is quickly becoming a very desirable place to live and work. The entrepreneurial community is alive and well here, but tiny as compared to a larger city, so it is important to stay involved in local events and programs to build community and access resources. We have a strong chamber of commerce, an angel group and multiple accelerator programs to tap into. Unlike a big city, you can get most places in 15mns. Here it’s about the good life. 2) Farm to table, beer and spirits, food, outdoor gear and experiences as well as all things hospitality are trending in the mountains. CBD, Hemp & healing businesses are popping up too. Makers are also a big part of our economy. The cost of starting a business here is still lower than big cities but access to talent and funding can be challenging. We have amazing mentors in the community and a rich heritage around entrepreneurship. 3) Real estate prices are rising. Our downtown has gone from edgy and artsy to trendy and hip attracting over 9M tourists a year. Like many smaller cities in the US, the more Instagrammable you are the more opportunity there is to become viable, and Asheville is most definitely a new “It destination”.

What do you see as the 3-5 overarching trends in your industry in the medium to long term? 1) Brand Building: I am the founder, CEO and Chief Mood Booster of Adoratherapy and Moodzee, indie beauty brands focused on the aromatherapy category. As a vertical manufacturer growing brands, I am focused on product innovation, supply chain and channel development. Like many small brands I am focusing more and more on DTC – Direct to Consumer – channels where we can tell stories, provide education and build community. The days of building a beauty brand from your kitchen table are still viable, but the reality is it takes capital and digital marketing savvy to get above the fray. The indie beauty space is exciting and ever-changing and keeping up with the trends is key.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Boosting Moods & Building Brands in North Carolina Laura McCann

2) Everyone is an influencer: not only does my business have to build out its ambassador and influencer networks, but so do I. More and more, as the CEO and entrepreneur, I have to be a brand too. This means I am active on social media and constantly investing in my own personal development. The more influence I have, the more opportunities I can create for my brands. This year I became a Tory Burch fellow and also won a small business of the year award. My networks continue to expand and so does my reach. 3) Synergy & collaboration: My passion for building tech products is equal to my desire to build consumer products and having my pulse on platforms, systems and tools that support my business led me to the realization that I would need more capital and talent to build out the right tech to support my business needs. I am excited to be partnering with Shoptype, a Silicon Valley AI Startup. I met Amit Rathore, Shoptype’s CEO, through a Deal Gateway Ambassador meeting last year at Techcrunch disrupt. You never know who you will meet, when you will meet them or what the impact will be unless you are a “yes!”. 4) Conscious Connectivity: Every day I am on multiple platforms, using software and tools to do everything. My phone is never far away from me and I can run my business from anywhere, anytime. But it is increasingly complex and requires more personal discipline around self-care and time management. New codes of conduct and agreements are required to get along at work, on social media and at home, moderation is required to avoid the constant threat of burn out and screen time addiction. Accountability around creating content and products that are respectful and have integrity are mission-critical. 5) Compassionate Storytelling: I am the story but so are you. When we remember to connect online and offline with compassion we can remain open-hearted. It is so easy to be commoditized and to treat everyone like a customer. More often than not I am the customer and I know the difference. Bringing to our day to day relationships with vendors, influencers, advisors and consumers our unique human stories is key to surviving this digital numbness we all experience. I remind myself that my role is to leave things better than I found them which requires more slowing down, more breathing and more self-respect.

Tell us a little bit about your philosophy. How do you invest differently than others might? I haven’t yet “recovered” from being an entrepreneur so I prefer to be involved in a functional role in the businesses I invest in. I typically advise early-stage startups and start in an advisory or mentorship role to get close to the founders as a form of due diligence to begin and once the business is taking off. I invest time or capital depending on what’s needed. I am interested in the creative and wellness categories from products to software.

Who are some of the leaders that you follow and why? I am an avid reader and devour content daily. I discover what’s next intuitively and every day my inbox seems to be bringing me what I need to know most. My mother, the artist Leah Poller, is my go-to leader. She is a brilliant businesswoman, intuitive, and wise woman.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Could you tell us 3 life lessons that you live by?

1) Breathe in and out more. 2) Adore yourself! 3) What you see is what you get.

Laura McCann

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, ADORAtherapy Laura McCann is a well-rounded leader with a proven record of success in Beauty, Fashion and Technology. A graduate of Parsonsâ€™ School of Design, Laura became a serial entrepreneur in New York. She founded Fashion Express and International Product Options global apparel buying agencies in the 1990â€™s. In 2000 she founded Zweave the first SaaS PLM platform for fashion, and later her consulting agency WYSWYGllc. At her latest venture, Adoratherapy, Laura is the "Chief Mood Booster". Adoratherapy is a Direct to Consumer Aroma-perfume brand disrupting the aromatherapy category. The cleanest of clean perfume, Aroma perfume is disrupting the functional fragrance market with scents designed to shift mood. A Tory Burch Fellow and winner of the Western Woman Small Business award, Laura is a seasoned Consumer Product veteran who goes beyond perfume to make an impact. An early member of EO, Laura was president of the NY Chapter and an international board member, and chair of the 1st NY University.

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"The journey is the reward." Chinese Proverb

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Marketing & Leadership Insights Alan McLaren

CEO of InfinityComm

In this issue of 5 Questions for our Experts, Alan McLaren, CEO of Infinitycomm, shares his insights into marketing, trends and the keys to great leadership.

You have seen the marketing/pr/digital space evolve dramatically over the last 20 years. What should growth companies be thinking about in terms of marketing and digital content? Access is the most important and attainable asset that every company has no matter how large or small. We all have the ability to use the same tools. Today, the most impactful communication tool is video. Video has been democratized as high quality is available on your cell phone or on a recorded zoom call. This provides an opportunity to communicate directly with your target audience in a personalized and succinct manner. A recent study from Cisco shows that by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017. Since much of this content today is consumed on mobile, this allows for your message to be seen when it’s the right time for the customer or prospect. Next, it’s important to understand what other types of other content is most important to your customers and prospects. Whether it’s Video, Graphics, GIFs, Blog posts, Podcasts, Webinars etc. they are all easier to produce than ever before. mobile, this allows for your message to be seen when it’s the right time for the customer or prospect. Studying and understanding what social and digital distribution platforms is critical since you need to be where your customers are interacting. There are many strategic choices to be made here. This leads you to the most important aspect of marketing which is to understand your audience, their personas, your ideal client and what problems you’re helping them solve. You must be timely and consistent with all outward touchpoints. The right message delivered to the right audience at the right time is a consistent theme in marketing. We just have more options now. Finally, discovering your company ethos (your purpose, your why) is critical. Once that is clear you’re in a good position to communicate the messages that matter to the people that matter to you. Page 74

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Marketing & Leadership Insights Alan McLaren

You have been around some of the world’s greatest leaders globally in your role on the global board of YPO. Can you share 3-4 key traits? The first traits that come to mind are empathy and vulnerability. In my view, great authentic leaders really care for their employees. This is powerful stuff. Many of the leaders I have observed have a short attention span, so it’s surprising that I illustrate focus as another strong trait. Their brains are so active, filled with creativity and imagination, it’s actually fun to watch how they process information. The contrast is that they generally are really great at picking a goal and going after it; they absolutely will break a door down to get what they want. The third is a quiet confidence. I think that many of them whether they’re outwardly confident or humble, have a belief in their abilities to get the job done. The last one – All great leaders are lifelong learners. They continually seek out knowledge, not only from traditional sources but also to learn from other leaders, which is one of the most impactful experiences that exist on the planet.

Thought leadership is an overused term. How do you define it and why is it so important for CEOs, companies to embrace this as a tool for growth? We define thought leadership as a process to build your personal or company brand by being intentional about the messages you want to share and the platforms by which to do it. It’s where your expertise and passion intersect. It could be any topic but at the end of the day, thought leadership is about taking a stance or a position based on your ethos and your inspiration and your expertise. Thought leadership helps build your personal brand and the business you’re a part of. You get to tell a story without selling. The key to thought leadership is understanding that this is not about selling your business’s features and differentiators. It’s about sharing your expertise and sharing your knowledge with the world and then people will come to you because they see you’re good at what you do. It humanizes the business and the business leader.

You are working with many companies globally. We would be curious on your perspective on long term macro trends coming out of the COVID crisis During and post-COVID, we can overuse the word pivot, but our business was able to pivot in a big way to survive. We have adapted and we’re able to do more things digitally than we ever did before, which has expanded our reach globally. There were learning curves and shifts in workflow, but this is our new normal. The other thing I’m seeing is that leaders are understanding that there are many things that they don’t control in the business world. Risk management will become a big topic in the board room. How do we protect ourselves? How do we ensure that we’re building in safeguards by diversifying or managing resources differently? Post Pandemic. We will need to ask better questions.

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QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXPERTS

Whom do you admire most and why? I don’t have any one role model that I admire specifically and there are obviously some amazing people in the world that have made such incredible contributions to humankind. Whether it’s’ Martin Luther King, Mandela, RBG, Mother Teresa we can go on and name hundreds of folks that have impacted the world. They should be revered for the selfless work they’ve done. What I take inspiration from in addition to the lessons from all of the icons, is what the average person contributes in small ways to their family and community. They don’t get the accolades, but they make a difference in the lives of the people they touch. If all of us took a moment to be kind to each other, and not worry about positions and politics and all the other crap in the world today, I think humanity would be in a better place. Sometimes the little gesture that no one sees has the biggest impact because it’s genuine. I admire those people most.

Alan McLaren

CEO of InfinityComm Alan is an accomplished executive with over thirty years of experience ranging from start-ups to global Fortune 50 public companies. As the CEO of InfinityComm, a creative marketing and communications firm, Alan has worked with hundreds of firms to drive successful marketing programs. He leads an amazing creative team that fuel ideas with inspiring and relevant content using the best outreach and engagement tactics to have a lasting positive impact on their clients. Fluent in both English and French Alan is a dynamic corporate speaker. His topics of expertise span from social media, digital web strategies and public relations to entrepreneurship, branding and marketing. Corporate responsibility is important to Alan who sat on the YPO International Board. YPO is the most significant CEO leadership organization in the world with over 29,000 members in 140 countries with member companies having aggregate revenues of over 9 Trillion. He also served as International Chairman of the WPO Board (now YPO Gold), chaired the Audit and IT Steering Committees along with many other portfolio responsibilities in Leadership, Compensation and Governance. Alan is the co-founder of SaluberMD –a Digital/Tele-Health platform with offerings in medical services and products, wellness and disease management.

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"About chaos, I say, 'bring it on!' Times of chaos were the times of my biggest opportunities... When others pull back I say 'just keep givinâ€™ er!' and push harder. Now is the time to double down on your chosen parade." Peter Thomas

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