Robert Reffkin

This San Franciscan has landed in the Big Apple for #NYTechWeek! Here’s why it was important to me to be out here this week and I view NYC as a sister city. ((scroll down for 2 events The Council is hosting today!)) 🏭🏥 Reminder: The Council Fund invests at Pre-seed in Software’s Third Act, the transformation of the essential economy. Our investments span healthcare and industrial sectors like manufacturing, logistics, construction. 🐂 I’m eternally bullish on NY & SF and hate how many pit the two cities against each other. The reality is that a lot of capital and talent flow back and forth between the cities. They need each other to thrive! 🗽🌁 Cities like NY & SF attract young and mid-career talent because of their population density, transient nature, beauty, and reputations as cities where someone new on the scene can make a name for themselves. For the areas we invest in, I’m *specifically* excited about NY because of: 🏗️ Closer proximity to industrial hubs which are scattered across the Midwest / Rust Belt 🏛️ Closer proximity to DC where a lot of regulation around VC, startups, healthcare, onshoring initiatives, and industrial sectors takes place 💰 Many of the large financial institutions that are backing hard tech focused funds and major healthcare initiatives are also headquartered here in NYC 🎯 We’ve got several startups here who are hitting it out of the park, like Dirac and Siena. This has further validated my belief in this ecosystem to support young companies! Today we are kicking off with 2 events on Day 1 of #NYTechWeek 👉 AI Demo Day: The Council, Next Wave NYC, Lynx Collective, Flybridge will host 8 founders and 200+ investors and founders for a pitch competition this evening! Luma: https://lnkd.in/gbdYiJMw 🔜 Can still join the waitlist! Small & Big VCs in Hard Tech: The Council joined General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Iron Prairie Ventures, AlleyCorp, House Of Ventures, Steel Atlas for 2 back to back panels on industrial innovation & collaboration across the capital stack Luma: https://lnkd.in/gj6D4-Au ⏰ Event has passed

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I’m excited to publicly share something that has been in the works for a few months at the 9point8 Collective. We’ve launched our Virtual Studio! This is a program for early-stage companies that provides the coaching, development and venture-building tools they need to find traction and scale. The program is modeled off of the venture-building processes found inside #VentureStudios, which have delivered 2X IRR and exit 45% faster than traditional #VC-backed #startups over the last 10 years. Some of the secret sauce to this is that studios have found a way to validate strategies early on, de-risk execution, preserve and extend limited runway, and create efficient business models very fast. We at 9point8 are seasoned studio builders and are on a mission to bring this value to founding teams as they navigate their startup journeys. What we’ve done with the Virtual Studio is distill these key processes and techniques, add in our own expertise and best practices, and package them into a program which meets start-ups where they are. We are now opening up our Summer 2024 Cohort, slated to begin in July. Space is limited, so I’m sharing the opportunity with my network before we fill the cohort. Here are the details: -It’s a 3-month program which takes the founder through the key phases of venture-building and de-risking (refining target market, product-market fit, economics and financials, planning, and fundraising). -Founders can expect to achieve greater focus, improved operations and increased marketability to customers and investors. -The end results include collaboratively-drafted operational plans, commercial / investment pitch decks, and elevated management practices within the founding team. These draft off frameworks from 9point8's proprietary venture-building process: Targets Over Everything. -It’s built for founders facing (or approaching) a critical inflection point, where fresh perspectives and strategic management levers are critical. These might include fundraising preparation, new product launch, market expansion, and post-MVP scaling efforts. Why did we build this program? Because building a new company is really hard. 90(!) percent of startups fail, and even moderate risk reduction can create a huge lift to survival rate and eventual returns. The studio model is proven to drive greater venture success; our virtual program is extending that success to more and more teams. The program is highly collaborative and hands-on, so we only take on a few companies at a time. This is a great opportunity for founders who are looking to level-up their abilities when it comes to unlocking traction, growth, and an express lane to superior returns. If interested, please reach out immediately as we expect the program to be fully enrolled very soon! Blair Merlino Evan Allen Neal Ghosh

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The new quarterly review is live! Each quarter, I dive into the latest trends and shifts in the venture capital market, covering both the broader macro perspective and the unique insights we’re seeing at Florida Funders. Check out my latest article to stay informed on what’s shaping the VC landscape and how we're navigating it at FF. Always eager to hear your thoughts – let’s keep the conversation going! #VentureCapital #FloridaFunders #MarketInsights

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The case for emerging managers: “What we don’t want to do is lock ourselves out of these high-performing, differentiated strategies for the simplicity of going with the big guys”, Taffi Ayodele director of the emerging manager strategy at the NYC Office of the Comptroller #investmentstrategies #investmentreturns #roi #assetallocation #emergingmanagers #riskreward #premium #performance

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Looking forward to Future Proof in Huntington Beach a few weeks. The worlds of alts x wealth are continuing to intersect, so I'm excited to be talking about these trends through the lens of private credit with Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.'s Danielle Poli, CAIA and Cliffwater's Phil Huber, CFA, CFP®. Future Proof (Matt Middleton, Michael Batnick, CFA, Ben Carlson, CFA, Joshua Brown, & team) have done a tremendous job of bringing the leaders of the wealth management industry to create an event at the intersection of finance x fun. At Broadhaven Ventures by Broadhaven Capital Partners, we see the worlds of wealth management and private markets converging in a number of ways as there's a technology market structure evolution in private markets similar to what equities, fixed income, and derivatives went through, and there's a business model market structure evolution in alternative asset management (multi-strategy platforms, consolidation), so we've taken a comprehensive approach to investing in and building companies and funds in private markets. 💸 Investing @ Broadhaven Ventures by Broadhaven Capital Partners: We've invested our own capital into a number of leading companies in private markets like iCapital (personal investment, early employee), Carta, Republic, 73 Strings, LemonEdge, bunch, AltExchange, Allocate, & more. 📝 & 🎙: Content & Community @ Alt Goes Mainstream: We've built the meeting place for private markets, bringing together the leading minds in private markets to educate and inform the space on the latest trends, hosting C-level execs from the likes of CalSTRS, Blackstone, Blue Owl Capital, Hamilton Lane, Franklin Templeton, Man Group, Russell Investments, Fidelity Investments, Bernstein Private Wealth Management, Manulife, iCapital, Arax Investment Partners, Partners Group, & hosting a Monthly Show, the Monthly Alts Pulse with iCapital Chairman & CEO Lawrence Calcano. ⚒ & 💸 : Building & Investing Cantilever Group: We have partnered with experienced operators, advisors, and investors in the GP stakes space in Todd Owens, David Ballard, & Ben Drylie-Perkins to invest our own capital into and help them build what will be an industry-leading GP stakes fund for middle-market alternative asset managers. Look forward to seeing industry leaders across alts and wealth at Future Proof!

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In the article at the link below, Spencer Stuart reports on how much time board members spent on board service and how they spent their time on those boards. (This is for all boards, but 60% of respondents sat on public company boards.) A few takeaways: 1)       What is the time commitment? Private company directors spend ~3 hours per week per board, and public company directors spend ~5 hours per week. This is not minor, but then again public boards, at least, pay well for board service, so it is compensated fairly, if not well. 2)       How is board time allocated? Board members wanted proportionally more time spent debating strategy/performance, succession, talent, and AI. The largest changes in what they want to spend more time on include #AI, new technologies, and #cybersecurity (i.e., all things tech-related). Do members of your board have expertise in these critical areas? Directors want less time spent in meetings on ESG and DEI topics. 3)       Are the agendas the right agendas? Directors want #boardchairs, CEOs, and management teams to be even more purposeful and strategic about setting the agenda. Here’s an excerpt: “Several respondents noted how management presentations take up huge portions of [board] time. Even those intended to be 'information-only' can consume more time than expected as board members ask questions and precious time is spent on topics that don’t necessarily need board attention. One respondent suggested sharing more management presentations several days before the meeting. 'The executive team needs to think more carefully about the board agenda and not overloading it with topics that require lengthy discussions.'" 4) What about executive sessions? Respondents noted that a best practice was to hold #executivesessions at the beginning AND end of meetings. In the initial executive session, the board can also improve the agenda and prioritize for the meeting ahead. This is an interesting best practice. I have yet to be in a board meeting with two executive sessions. Have any of you? I don’t think I would have done this with boards I was on because attention spans were too short for two executive sessions. I have been on boards where CEOs hosted a dinner with board members and key staff. Staff presented and we all debated a key corporate topic, which worked very well. #governance #boardofdirectors

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I am joining dynamic Victoria Yampolsky to talk about "Where's the Money for Women" funding their businesses. Join me today at noon EDT - registration below. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐚𝐬 🚀The current fundraising landscape is less favorable for female founders, but it doesn’t have to be this way. 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬: ➤ 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬: Female founders often spend 65-75% longer fundraising compared to male founders. ➤ 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝: Women-led startups typically secure less funding, limiting their growth potential. In 2023, women founders were the only group who raised less than $500K on average, according to the DocSend Report. ➤ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐢𝐠: Female founders often set less ambitious goals, making their ventures less attractive to investors. When evaluating teams, VCs often make decisions based on intuition and subconscious biases rather than rationale. These obstacles can be disheartening, but many female founders succeed, and you can join their ranks by being prepared. 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬?” 📅 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬: 🗓️ 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞:June 27th 🕛 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 12 PM EST 📍 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Zoom (Link to be provided upon registration) 💡 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝? ➤ 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: Learn which questions investors ask to evaluate teams and what they are looking for, and leverage that knowledge to better navigate and counteract the subconscious biases. ➤ 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:Discover what you can do NOW to improve your chances of successful fundraising and building a great company. 🔥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐰 - 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 3 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭!🔥 Don’t let these barriers hold you back. Secure your spot today and take control of your fundraising journey and the success of your venture. 🔗 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 https://lu.ma/lse01zqw Let’s turn your vision into reality! 🌟

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As an investor who moved from New York to South Florida two years ago, I’m often asked about the tech ecosystem here. After spending much of my time in the region since then, one thing is abundantly clear: 📈 The tech ecosystem in the region is growing - and rapidly. More and more founders and investors are operating from South Florida. In addition to me, Alpaca VC has two full-time team members based here, David Goldberg and Sophia Delgado. We also maintain a regional growth tracker that currently sits at 150+ GPs and counting. And the growth is not limited to Miami. We’re seeing the presence of founders and funders stretch throughout the Tri-County area, from Miami Beach to Palm Beach. Amid the growth, we’ve had the chance to connect with many people from the South Florida tech landscape during our Venture, Tech & Capital Markets dinner series (we’ll likely continue this fall). From conversations at those events, it’s clear most people in the ecosystem agree that the growth is obvious and palpable. Here are a few stats to back up the anecdotal: 🌴Miami (and surrounding area) jumped 7 places in 2024 in Startup Genome’s ranking of global startups ecosystems to become 16th on the list ahead of Chicago, Seattle, Austin and San Diego and Atlanta, as well as Delhi, Sao Paulo, and Toronto. Notably, while Miami is not in the top 10 (yet) it had the most growth year-over-year. ☀️Three of the top 10 investors from the recently released Midas Seed List 2024 (which Forbes and TrueBridge Capital Partners started in 2022 and ranks Top 25 seed stage investors globally) reside in Miami-Dade County. 📊There are more than 3.3K funded companies, 373 investors and nearly 140K startup employees in the region, according to the Refresh Miami Innovation Ecosystem dashboard. No surprise: we continue to be super excited about the South Florida tech ecosystem, so much so that we’ve chosen it as the location for our 2025 AGM in January, which will coincide with a massive ecosystem event we will be sharing details about soon. Check out the comments for the links to the sources above and get in touch if you’re an investor or founder in the ecosystem interested in upcoming events and opportunities to connect. #venturecapital #southflorida #miamitech

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Reflecting on the enriching discussions at the recent PEWIN - Private Equity Women Investor Network CIO Roundtable in Boston. It was a joy to hear from panelists Letitia Johnson (Amherst College), Deb Shufrin (Colby College), Abigail Wattley (Williams College), and moderator Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA (NEPC, LLC). Some of my key takeaways: From the CIO perspective, alignment with the board is paramount. Portfolios experience ebbs and flows, emphasizing the necessity of a board committed to long-term strategies. Data underscores the repercussions of misalignment—allocators often undermine value by prematurely exiting positions for liquidity needs or reacting impulsively to market fluctuations. Across the board, CIOs prioritize firms that can articulate their competitive edge, foster sustainable organizations with top-tier talent, culture, and succession planning, and demonstrate agility in evolving markets. A robust LP base providing long-term support and institutional guidance is also crucial. Success isn't about funding billionaires—it's about supporting determined individuals committed to sustained success. Privates demand more than short-term commitment—they require a relentless desire to succeed over time. For a deeper dive into the role of CIO, I highly recommend The Counting House by Gary Sernovitz. #CIOInsights #PEWINRoundtable #InvestmentStrategies

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Looking forward to this discussion with a great panel Fortune Brainstorm Tech. Will share the Seattle & Madrona perspective in complement to our Silicon Valley friends!

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For the past year (and then some), I’ve been working closely with my Partner Will Rayner to build and launch something that we’re super excited to now make public - Lookout Ventures: a new seed stage fund, backing infrastructure and B2B software startups outside of Silicon Valley. We’re building on almost a decade spent sourcing and leading deals at TDF Ventures. While there, we saw the majority of the VC industry chasing and bidding up the same set of SaaS deals - based in a few select ecosystems like the Bay Area - and demonstrating the same set of well established go to market benchmarks. We’re not here for those deals. What we are looking for: *Regions*: The days of needing to be in Silicon Valley to succeed are over. Startup culture has spread to many metropolitan areas from Raleigh-Durham to Washington DC to Houston to Chicago. Those cities have a combination of great universities, major corporate headquarters, and local accelerators and incubators, which are the key ingredients for startup creation. We’re particularly focused on the Southeast, Midwest and Texas. *Stage*: Founders are probably sick of big brand investors telling them that their traction is too early but they’d love to stay in touch for the next round. While Lookout won’t often invest pre-revenue, we do invest before product market fit. Whether it’s called a seed, seed prime, or early A, we want to work with founders as soon as they know they have a solution ready to scale. *Sectors*: We’re comfortable investing early because we’re staying focused on topic areas in which we’ve built our expertise and networks during our past decade of investments around infrastructure software and vertical SaaS. Within those areas, we have more specialized interests ranging from MSP (managed service provider) tooling to cybersecurity serving the small business to SaaS focused on field workers in various verticals. We’re actively writing checks and are excited to already be working with great teams from Arpio, hotglue, inforcer, and CloudCapsule. If you’re building or investing in these areas, drop me a line and let’s catch up.

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Thanks Tech:NYC for the thoughtful questions and the spotlight! Link in comments. Excerpt below. Elan Kane, Julie Samuels. Q: You launched Commonweal Ventures in 2021. What was the catalyst for doing so? A: "...Partnerships with government can be powerful. Governments have unique attributes: they control proprietary data; they have special institutions like the military, intelligence agencies, and national laboratories; they have the unique power to police, tax, and regulate; and they have a differentiated time horizon and risk profile. I launched Commonweal Ventures because I saw a gap in the market among VCs who are typically skeptical of government. I believe partnership with government can be a critical unlock for early-stage technology companies and our job at Commonweal is to help companies build those partnerships."

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It was great joining Brett Stapper at Frontlines Ventures to share more about the Topkey story - and how we're helping property managers save serious time and money on bookkeeping and expense management! See below for a link to the episode.

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Summary: A settlement agreement has been reached between Venture capital firm Fearless Fund and the American Alliance for Equal Rights, resulting in the shutting down of Fearless Fund's Strivers Grant program. The program was initially developed to provide funding for small businesses owned by Black women, but faced a lawsuit for alleged discrimination against non-Black founders. Key takeaways: The Fearless Fund's program has been shut down due to a lawsuit from AAER claiming it discriminated against non-Black founders. The fear of legal repercussions has resulted in the Fearless Fund losing partnerships and shifting focus away from initiatives benefiting minorities. Despite the settlement, Fearless Fund remains committed to helping under-resourced entrepreneurs. Counter arguments: Some argue that using the Civil Rights Act of 1866, intended to help the formerly enslaved, against a program benefitting Black entrepreneurs is ironic and counterproductive. The shutting down of the program is a blow to the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, as companies continue to struggle with addressing disparities in funding and opportunities for minority groups.

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Fun to see some insights appear in Rachel Feintzeig’s fantastic The Wall Street Journal piece over the weekend! 👏🏼👏🏼 “To get to your next big idea, you have to be OK with bombing a bit, says Jeremy Utley, a general partner at a venture-capital firm who teaches at Stanford’s design school, known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford ( d.school ). “Most of life is not punctuated by win after win after win. Most of the time, it’s kind of painful,” he says. Brainstorm 10 possible answers to a question or dilemma at a time, he advises. Focusing on quantity over quality takes off the pressure. Use a bad idea as a jumping–off point. What else does it make you think of? Or try taking what Utley calls a “wonder wander.” Head off with your problem in mind, and relate everything you see to the problem. Spot an Amazon truck? Consider how Jeff Bezos might solve your quandary. Walk past a playground? Imagine the connection between your issue and play. ChatGPT could help too, if you use it right. It isn’t going to pop out the perfect answer on the first try, Utley says. Kick off the conversation by describing the boss you want to impress. Then ask: What are three projects that could blow that boss’s mind? Keep chatting with it until you spark something great…” Link in comments …

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Attended the VentureCrush event by Lowenstein Sandler LLP in NYC yesterday. First off great event 👏 So now the key points for female founders: - Yes funding for female founders is < 2.5% now - Yes funding is tough for all founders currently, but even more so for early-stage female founders But…………….. - Be very diligent about the investor- founder match. Make sure the thesis aligns - Perfect your pitch. If you can’t explain to your grandma its too complicated - Lastly, get ready for rejection. But remember all it takes is one yes to get the round rolling #venturecapital #funding #founders

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Attention all founders! The game has changed, and the playing field is tougher than ever. With economic headwinds and a funding crunch, you can't afford to wing it anymore. Board meetings are no longer just a formality - they're your lifeline to navigating turbulent waters. In this article, I've shared some hard-won wisdom on how to run a killer board meeting that extracts maximum value from your all-star team. Whether you're preparing for your next raise or fighting to survive, this guide is a useful blueprint for masterful board meetings.

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If you believe that #Diversity and #Inclusion matter, specifically in times like this, join us on October 30th. We will discuss the challenges and success stories of promoting Diversity in 2024. With me you will find industry leaders who were able to pull it off (!) 💥💥💥 Dorit Dor, Hasan Abasi, Vered Raviv Schwarz, Gal Shaul Guesty, Augury, HAAT Delivery, Check Point Software Power in Diversity Glilot Capital Partners Poalim Tech, Meitar | Law Offices, ESOP - Phoenix, Microsoft, Calcalist כלכליסט #nomatterwhat

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