ANGIN Internship: Kampus Merdeka Program

ANGIN (Angel Investment Network Indonesia) is one of the industries in Indonesia that support this program by cooperating with universities to provide internship opportunities for students. There are 19 apprentices named ANGIN Internship Program (AIP), they are from 17 different cities and 15 different universities. This program has been running for two months and will end on December 24, 2021.

In ANGIN Internship Program (AIP), all interns have been working and participated in several projects such as Kedaireka, DFAT, Tanoto, and INTRA. AIP Interns gained a lot of new skills in writing, analyzing data and communication strategy. Within this program they also got new knowledge and networking for their future career ahead.

In a fast-paced world, Generation Z must be able to keep up with technological changes, therefore they must compete with each other to collaborate and take advantage of increasing their knowledge and competence. The lack of opportunity to meet face to face due to the outbreak, especially in schools and workplaces, makes us unable to communicate effectively. Understanding this, the Minister of Education and Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, Nadiem Anwar Makarim decided to run the Merdeka Belajar – Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program in a various forms including internship program, as a form of government assistance for students quality growth. In particular, this internship program will guide students in understanding the work environment system and prepare them for the work environment in the future.

Wirausaha Hijau: New Program Launched by ANGIN

About Wirausaha Hijau Program

Supported by Ford Foundation and the Ministry of Home Affairs Republic of Indonesia, ANGIN is proud to launch the “Wirausaha Hijau” program. The program aims to unlock and accelerate growth for early-stage Indonesian entrepreneurs by enhancing access to impact investment coupled with 1-on-1 mentorship with value chain experts.

Over the course of 12 months, selected entrepreneurs will get access to funding from trusted investors, structured mentorship from experts and practitioners, as well as access to partnership networks as needed. Wirausaha Hijau targets entrepreneurs who are at the post proof-of-concept stage and have innovative solutions to solve cross-cutting challenges in the agriculture, agroforestry, and food systems value chain.

Event Recap

Wirausaha Hijau program was officially launched on Wednesday the 6th of October 2021. The launching event was held online and featured welcome speeches from key stakeholders, namely Alexander Irwan (Director of Ford Foundation), Sri Purwaningsih (Secretary of Directorate General of Regional Development at Ministry of Home Affairs), and Director of ANGIN Foundation, Saskia Tjokro.

Event audiences gained valuable insights from the two panel discussions that boasts key stakeholders Ahmad Dading (Director for SME and Cooperative Development at BAPPENAS/Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning), M. Pradana Indraputra (Special Staff of National Entrepreneurship Development at Minister of Investment/BKPM), Diva Tanzil (Sustainable Finance Consultant at Rabo Foundation), and outstanding start-ups and entrepreneurs; Dien Wong (PasarMikro), Natalia Rialucky (TaniHub), and Rendria Labde (Magalarva). 

The panel discussions tackled a variety of topics from the current state of the investment and regulatory ecosystem in Indonesia, to the journey and challenges faced by entrepreneurs and impact investors, followed by a presentation by ANGIN’s Impact Investment Lead, Benedikta Atika on the program mechanism and call for proposal.

What’s Next?

The event was just a kick-start to the exciting activities to come. ANGIN is currently calling for applications from entrepreneurs, and are keen to engage with potential investors and other partners to collaborate!

Evo & Co. Secures Seed Funding from ANGO Ventures

Evo & Co, Indonesia’s leading group of brands that focuses on providing solutions to end plastic pollution secures an undisclosed amount of seed funding from ANGO Ventures. ANGO Ventures is an early-stage venture capital led by one of ANGIN’s clients, Mariko Asmara. The seed funding will be used for working capital purposes. 

Founded in 2016, Evo & Co. began with groundbreaking innovation from seaweed called Ello Jello edible cup, produced by their first brand, Evoware. After winning numerous awards and gaining demands, Evo & Co. determined to expand the business by offering a wider range of solutions, which were marketed under their second brand Evoworld. Under the leadership of CEO and founder, David Christian who was also featured as Forbes 30 under 30, Evo & Co. is also actively promoting sustainable lifestyle through our collaborative movement: Rethink Campaign.

Find out more about Evo & Co and visit their website www.rethink-plastic.com

About ANGO Ventures

ANGO ventures is a venture capital company that focuses on businesses that have social impact and profitability. The founders are notable entrepreneurs and investors, Mariko Asmaraand  Andy Gozali.

In 2015, she stepped down as CEO at JAC Recruitment and embarked on her angel investing journey. Six months later, she made her first investment in an Indian women’s safety app and co-founded Ango Ventures, a venture capital firm. Currently, Mariko Asmara took on the role of President at JAC Recruitment.

Get to know more about ANGO Ventures and visit their website here

ANGIN’s Angel Investor: Bastian Purrer

 

Welcoming our new Angel, Bastian Purrer

Bastian Purrer is a Jakarta-based Entrepreneur & Start-up Advisor, working director with early-stage startups and nonprofits. Until recently, Bastian was the Founder and CEO of LYKE, an Indonesia mobile fashion marketplace with almost 2M users, which pioneered the use of visual recognition in e-commerce. LYKE was acquired by Chinese Unicorn JollyChic in January 2018. Before starting LYKE, Bastian attended Harvard Business School, worked in Silicon Valley, was an early employee at Groupon as well as Zalora’s first Chief Marketing Officer. Bastian has build teams in half a dozen countries, and is passionate about South-East Asia, and using technology as a global resource for good.

 

Find out more about him and get connected: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastianpurrer/

ANGIN’s Angel Investor: Florian Holm

 

Welcoming our new Angel, Florian Holm

Florian Holm is an economist by training and started his career in consulting with the Boston Consulting Group. For the past five years, he has worked in e-commerce in various roles and geographies, last as Lazada Indonesia’s country CEO from 2016 – 2018. Currently, Florian is working on his own startup and is active as an Angel Investor and mentor.

 

Find out more about him and get connected: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florianholm/

[RECAP] ANGIN Pitch Luncheon January 2019

Last Wednesday (January 30, 2019), ANGIN organized its flagship event, ANGIN Pitch Luncheon at WeWork Revenue Tower, Jakarta. Four startups were selected by our angel investors (based on voting systems) to present their businesses. Each startup had 5 minutes pitching time, followed by 10 minutes Q&A and feedback session with investors.

This event was well attended not only by our angel investors but also our venture capital friends, such as East Ventures, MDI, Skystar Capital, Monks Hills, Venturra, Convergence, Prasetia Dwidarma and Patamar Capital. The event was concluded with lunch and networking session. 

The four startups who pitched were:

  • Mallness: An Online to Offline platform (O2O) enabling mall tenants (retailers) to increase their offline customer outreach. It allows retailers to engage with customers through location-specific deals and promotion. Using data analytics, it also provides customer behaviours data, leading to better sales. Additionally, Mallness aims to enhance visitors’ shopping experience by helping them to navigate available deals, providing app store directory with user reviews, and online product catalogues. 
  • Buahhatiku: A product retailer focusing on maternity and baby products for middle-lower customers. It offers good quality products at affordable prices, something that appears to be lacking in the current market. Their products include breast pumps, women underwear collection, halal baby diapers, etc. In addition to producing their own brands, Buahhatiku also sells products from various brands on its e-commerce site. 
  • DepeKu: A p2p lending platform focusing on property down payment fulfillment. It targets middle-lower borrowers who experience difficulties in securing capital for a down payment from conventional financial services. As DepeKu tracks borrowers’ historical installments, it helps them to build a solid historical financial record and increase their chance to secure a mortgage (i.e., KPR or KPA) from other financial institutions. 
  • Greenery: A Jakarta-based healthy food eatery and catering. Using only locally sourced organic ingredients, it serves a range of healthy bowls, wraps and beverages for middle-high affluent customers who are aware of their health and fitness. Greenery ensures that their products are free from artificial and dangerous ingredients and approved by a certified nutritionist onboard. It has opened its first outlet in Senopati, Jakarta.

Find photos from the event here.

[RECAP] ANGIN Pitch Luncheon November 2018

November 28, 2018: ANGIN had the opportunity to once again host its Monthly Pitch Lunch, which was held to showcase four up-and-coming startups – Shipmall, Shox, Coverwatch, and EmpatKali – to ANGIN’s angel investors, as well as several venture capital firms and other ecosystem players.

A short recap of the startups:

  1. Shipmall is an O2O platform that uses affiliate marketing to promote merchant’s products to customers. With the Shipmall affiliate program, partners can help merchants to sell their products.  Merchants will be able to sell their products more effectively and ultimately receive an increased number of sales. The customer will feel comfortable buying products in Shipmall because it is the original and best possible price on the market and most importantly is based on recommendations from friends, family, and influencers. Shipmall’s partner will get commission on every transaction that happens through their referral. Other than that, they will be trained and mentored to be a professional affiliate partner.
  2. Shox is a solution that uses computer vision artificial intelligence, where users can take a screenshot of a product in order to get the look. Users can search all retailers and brands on social media by taking a screenshot of the item. After the screenshot, the user taps on instant-notification sent by Shox, in 3 seconds our CV AI engine finds the items that are in the screenshot and gives the user the online address of where to buy them. Think about a mix of Shazam and Skyscanner model for the fashion retail industry.
  3. Coverwatch is a SaaS solution for insurance claims management while helping insurers, hospitals and TPAs to digitise the entire claims journey from patient registration to financial reconciliation. This enables Coverwatch to harness the only real-time health data in SEA, to become the “Google Analytics” for Health. By using Coverwatch the cost to administer a policy and claim will be reduced by 80% and Fraud can be reduced to <1%.
  4. Empatkali is a P2P lending services that hopes to address Indonesians lack of available credit with their zero interest based model. It delivers a fast and reliable instalment solution – interest free using a mobile platform.  Fashion retailers can get the sale now without having to collect money later. EmpatKali pays retailers the full amount of the purchase, shouldering the risk of default, while  allowing customers to receive their purchase instantly and spread the total cost over four repayments. There is no upfront membership or regular account fees.

Each startup had 7 minutes to pitch to investors, and received 5 minutes of Q&A and feedback. Afterwards, attendees had a chance to network and mingle with each other over a delicious lunch served by Burgreens. ANGIN is happy to have seen such a large turnout of investors attend our flagship event and we are excited for more to come.

[RECAP] A Pre-Conference Dialogue for The 2018 ASEAN ANGEL ALLIANCE SUMMIT

In conjunction with the ASEAN Angel Alliance Summit (AAA) 2018 that being be held in Malaysia on 27-28 November, a parallel pre-conference dialogue was organized one night before as a roundtable discussion to allow for a frank and interactive exchange among country representative of each member state in the region.

ANGIN Team represented by David Soukhasing (ANGIN Director), Valencia Dea (ANGIN Principal) and Feby Ramadhani (ANGIN Advisory Consultant) attended the pre-dinner alongside Ibu Noni, the President Director of Bluebird Group. It was a great opportunity to have a dynamic discussion for the success of the event with people and some old friends from Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, and Malaysia.

Some key issues discussed at the dialogue were the ways to strengthen regional collaboration and promote cross border angel investment between AAA members in ASEAN region, the feasibility of making ASEAN Angel Alliance Summit as an annual signature event for AAA, and the joint mechanism to organize future AAA Summit.

The AAA is essentially a collaborative platform for angel groups and other early stage ecosystem players operating within ASEAN member countries to cooperate and work together on activities of mutual benefit. The Summit is poised to attract more than 200 delegates including angel investors, ecosystem players, government agencies, and entrepreneurs from across ASEAN.

We are very much looking forward to the ASEAN Angel Alliance Summit (AAA) 2018 and contribute more in the advancement of angel investment collaboration in ASEAN region.

Let’s find more information and documentation of the event at www.ASEANangel.com.

[UPCOMING] The ASEAN Angel Alliance Summit 2018

CELEBRATING ASEAN ANGEL INVESTMENT

Calling out any entrepreneurs, startup ecosystem builders, any investing community and angel investors!

The ASEAN Angel Alliance Summit 2018 provides the perfect platform for angel investors to discover new investing venture , expanding networks, sharing opportunities and support in market intelligence and market penetration throughout the region’s ecosystem.

Key highlights to the event also includes networking opportunity with 200 international angel investors, notable Keynote Speakers and Panel sessions, Masterclasses, Fishbowl sessions and Fireside Chat with YB Lim Guan Eng.

Keynote speaker :

  • Chris Sacca – Founder & Chairman Lowercase Capital (TBC)
  • Cyrille Costes – Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Cherry Tree Investments (TBC)

Click here for more information

Event detail :

Time : 27 – 28 November 2018

Venue : DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Buy the ticket here!

The ASEAN Angel Alliance (AAA) has assembled an outstanding progtam for its first 2018 Summit experience. You can expect your perceptions to be changed, technical questions to be answered and your imagination to enliven into action. Here is for an overview of the program.

Michele Soeryadjaya: Director of William and Lily Foundation

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Michele Soeryadjaya and I’m the Director at the William and Lily Foundation, which is a family foundation that my father started with his sister about nine years ago. I joined about two and a half years ago and at the time it felt like I just stumbled into it. Although looking back at how I got to that point now, it was actually kind of an organic process. I studied business in college and I was planning to get into finance after graduation, but towards the end I had also developed an interest in sustainability. Luckily I ended up at a private equity fund that focused on sustainable agriculture and water in Singapore, so I was able to pursue both interests. In the two years I spent there, I grew a deep interest in the agricultural space in Indonesia. I really wanted to learn more about it, specifically about working with smallholder farmers.

That’s when I reached out to JAVARA and asked to volunteer with them for a few months. I ended up spending six months with them, half of which I spent in Flores. I instantly fell in love with the island, and at the same time realized that there was a great need in the region. So when my father suggested that I should join the family foundation and help grow its efforts, I jumped at the opportunity to do so and direct its focus towards eastern Indonesia. Today, the foundation’s target areas are marginalized communities with an emphasis on those in that part of the country.

What’s your day to day like at the foundation?

As a grant-making foundation, we do not implement or operate our own projects. It’s not dissimilar to how a private equity fund operates – we find partners who can execute programs we want to run, and work with them closely to ensure we maximize effectiveness and impact. So there are two main blocks of activities, sourcing new projects and monitoring current projects. We are a lean team, so everyone is a little involved in all parts of the foundation’s operations even though we do all have designated roles.

What motivates you to keep doing the work that you’re doing at the foundation?

Growing up in Jakarta, you are exposed to the disparity and inequality that pervades everyday life from a very early age. I’ve been more than lucky and grateful to have been born into the easier end of that spectrum. And even though I’ve always been aware of the difference, I can’t say that I’ve always understood or fully appreciated what that really meant. Being able to go to college abroad in a developed country like the US was what made me really start to realize the impact of that difference, the real difference of opportunity. And from early on I knew that I wanted to do something that would have an impact for more than myself after I graduated, whatever that meant, like many people my age and my generation. For me, a lot of it was also due to the timing – it was also the spring of 2009 when I started my studies in Business Administration, right after the height of the financial crisis. So while I learned about the appeals and advantages of capitalism, its risks and perils were also deeply ingrained in me. My key takeaway was a lesson in accountability and responsibility.

And I feel like if you look at all the big issues around the world today, I think all of it really boils down to inequality. And a lack of accountability. I know there are a lot of people who want to change that and who want to make an impact for those who have been dealt less opportunities in life, and so many people are doing exactly that but there are also many who want to that don’t have the right support or means to do it yet. I feel like I am in a very lucky position to have both the support and means to do it because of my family, and this all is what really motivates me to keep at it.

As a new angel investor at ANGIN and someone with previous startup experience, what excites you about the startup industry?

I think there is something very optimistic and hopeful about the startup industry. I think more and more people are realizing that the status quo is not working for the majority of the population anymore. We are starting to see some of the consequences and negative implications of what we knew before as tried and proven methods of doing things, and there is a need to change some of those immediately. And I think that’s what the startup industry represents for the most part, how to do things better for more people and with less harm. That’s what I find most exciting.

What was one of the most interesting things that you got to see or do during your experience at JAVARA?

I spent six months at JAVARA, half of which I spent at their office here in Jakarta and the other half in Maumere, Flores. At the time they were setting up their production facility there, and I was kind of the defacto mandor (building contractor) because they didn’t really have anyone else who could dedicate their time to it on the ground. So my main role was just really to be their eyes and ears on the ground, and help oversee the construction process. Everything was new to me. I was completely out of my comfort zone on all fronts and I learned so much because of it. The whole experience was really interesting for me. What was really cool was that I just got to speak and interact with all these people with completely different lives than my own. And especially because I got to meet and talk with all these different farmers, which was why I sought out the experience in the first place, and understand more about the issues they face and how they thought about different things. That has definitely been really valuable in guiding some of my decisions and thought processes throughout my time at the foundation because many of our direct beneficiaries are very much like those farmers.  

What are you most excited about joining ANGIN as an angel investor?

I’m really excited to just learn and get to know all the different kinds of companies and ideas that are starting up. Like I said earlier, I think there is something really optimistic and hopeful about the space. The idea that there are people everyday working and thinking about how to do things better is really awesome to me. That may be a slightly naïve way of looking at things, but I do think that that is the most exciting part of the whole startup space. I’m particularly interested in agriculture, food and financial inclusion, and I know there are lots of innovation going on in those spaces so I’m particularly excited to learn about that.

How is the gender dynamic like in the foundation space?

My personal experience was that it was a bit tough for me coming in. The foundation was more alike to a typical, traditional corporate kind of experience here in Indonesia (or in many parts of the world for that matter): mostly or all men in decision-making roles and women in strictly supporting roles. So I was joining a team of four excluding myself, one woman in the administrative position and three men in active operational roles. Obviously being someone directly from the founding family of the organization gave me a boost and helped a lot, but it was definitely difficult in the beginning. There was this one person I particularly had a really tough time with. It was clear that he didn’t take me seriously, he would always just laugh when I talked to him and was just really patronizing and dismissive towards me. And I could see his attitude towards women reflected in the projects he put together as well, he never included women in any trainings the foundation held, for example. Luckily though, that has been to date one of the hardest attitudes I’ve encountered, within our own foundation and other foundations we have interacted with.

So far my exposure to other family foundations have been fairly positive and many of them are quite well-balanced in terms of gender equality both in their own teams and their programs. I think because many of the younger generation, especially the younger women, have taken the lead at these foundations and they obviously tend to be more aware of the importance. I do also think that in general the development and non-profit space is more attuned to gender dynamics, because we encounter the harmful consequences of having that gender disparity on the field a lot. Especially in rural and marginalized areas.

Can you describe the gender disparity that you see in those areas?

All of our projects right now are in Sumba, and I think actually relatively speaking the gender disparity there is not as acute as it is in some other parts of the country or the world. There is definitely still a lot of room and need for improvement. For example, we still encounter many women as strong local figures in the communities we work in. But on the other hand, child brides is still very much an issue and prevalent throughout the island and women definitely still play second fiddle to men in household. For the most part I think it is still very much a patriarchal society and women and girls still suffer many abuses and injustices because of this gender disparity, but I do think that we are starting to see some change and progress. That is definitely the sense I get from talking to some people who have worked and lived there for some years.

For one of our projects that is centered around building the capacity of tour guides, almost half of the program participants are women. And that was not actually pre-designed, it was merely based on applications that were submitted and screened through. For another one of our projects though, it was an issue we encountered on the daily in the beginning. The project is focused on training and equipping new mothers and health workers who are mainly women with awareness and knowledge of the importance of proper nutrition. The intervention requires them to participate in an intensive 10-day workshop. We had difficulty getting this going in the beginning mostly due to the fact that husbands wouldn’t let their wives make that kind of time commitment. Time in the workshop meant time away from household chores and working on the family farms or whatever industry the household was involved in. And this is something that you encounter a lot, where the women bear a lot of the responsibilities but have very little decision-making power. Fortunately though many of the husbands were able to be convinced and so we had many of our target beneficiaries successfully participate in the workshop in the end. So although that mindset does seem to be the status quo, we have seen that it can actually be changed.  

Having been in the field, how do you see shifts in terms of gender dynamic and progressivity in Indonesia?

I think we’ve definitely seen some shifts already in our time working there, both after the fact and as it is happening. I don’t know if it’s like a cultural shift just yet. I think right now it’s still really small and happening in silos, but at least we can see spots and glimmers of it. I’m optimistic because there are a lot of people that have and are currently working on this, both within and out of the island, so I think it will take some time before it becomes a whole cultural shift. But I’m hopeful that it will.

What strategies or tactics did your team specifically employ to get women to speak out?

I think it was just a lot of socialization really. So again, we aren’t actually the ones doing the heavy lifting – it’s all our partners grinding at it. But that’s what we hear when we ask all of our partners about it. In this line of work, and in like many else I think, the key is in making the relationships and building that trust. So in that nutrition project I talked about earlier, the field coordinators spent a lot of time in the villages with the community. It took a lot of speaking to both the women and the husbands, understanding what was important to them and how to speak with them in a way that they could recognize the benefit we were trying to communicate. That’s the hardest part I think, because a lot of these things seem abstract if you don’t see the benefits of it first-hand. So I think it also really helps to have success stories of people that they know or can really relate to. Without the success stories it can be really challenging I think. Possible, but really difficult.

What kind of tangible shift did you feel organizationally on your own team by increasing diversity gender?

We definitely hit a point, or a few really, where I just realized that our team as it was just wasn’t going to work out. It was a really hard decision for me and the first of its kind I had to make, but it had to be done for our organization to grow and move in the direction I hoped it would. So we had to let go of the person that had that fixed mentality of the roles of women and men. And earlier this year we added two more people to our team, one man and one woman. Both of them definitely have a balanced and flexible outlook on the roles of women and men. And I think it really has made a world of difference. I don’t think I fully appreciated how much it would either until it happened. For starters I think we have just gotten a lot more thorough and comprehensive when thinking through and putting together projects because we are really considering all the different angles and perspectives now. So I think it has really improved our effectiveness and the impact that we are able to make as an organization. And I think in terms of team dynamics it’s just gotten more positive and feels more like a safe space.  

Having grown up in Indonesia and then being educated in the States, what kind of differences do you see? What are the pros and cons on both sides in terms of gender equality?

I was in an international school from fifth grade onwards, and I never really felt like gender equality was an issue there. Even if it was, it wasn’t acute enough for me to feel it. I was in local school for a few years before that where I did feel it a bit. I was pretty tomboyish when I was younger, so I did feel like I did get made fun of for being a tomboy. That made me feel like there was this expectation of how a girl should behave, how she should look, what she should like, etc. But it was nothing really malicious, just kids being kids. So although it did have an impact on me, it was not that bad to be traumatic or anything. On the whole, I feel lucky that I was able to have the experience of going to an international school and then going to college in a country like the US where the gender disparity was not something you felt immediately at the surface (in recent years I have realized that it is most definitely there, but much less pervasive and apparent than in Asia generally speaking). Because I definitely felt the difference when I came back to Indonesia and started working here, and it was a kind of a rude awakening. Although I grew up here I guess I was pretty sheltered and insulated from it because of the school I went to, and I think my family is also relatively liberal when it comes to gender equality. And also of course you just realize things a lot more when you are older.

Do you feel that there are glass ceilings that are imposed upon women in Indonesia?

Definitely. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we are the half of humankind who can bear children obviously. But that does not mean the sole responsibility should fall on us, after all it takes both a man and a woman to create another human. I do feel lucky and grateful to be born in this generation, though, because I don’t think that our grandmothers or even our mothers had the same options or freedom as we do now. Even though that disparity still exists today, it was much worse just a few decades ago. And I’m thankful to all the women and men who have worked throughout the years and are working now to change that. Though there is still work to be done, the path has definitely been paved for my generation.

What advice do you have for young women who are entering the workforce for the first time and who are facing similar hurdles?

I think what really helps in the beginning is to find allies and to figure out who are kind of lost causes if you are facing issues of gender disparity. There will be plenty of both. And I think that’s also something that you have to realize, that there will be people who will forever think with that lens and will forever think that women are only born to perform a fixed role in life. And I don’t think that that is limited to older people, I know plenty of young people who still think that way. But I also think it’s important to not take it personally. Because there is a reason why there are people who think that way, that is just how they grew up and how they were raised. It is a systemic issue, which is hundreds of years in the making so it’s not just going to go away like that. But I think it’s really important to stick to the people who realize it is an issue and who stand against it. I feel kind of dramatic talking about it but it really can feel like an overwhelming fight if you experience it. So my advice would be to find your allies, stick to them and don’t let the haters get you down. And just focus on the job at hand and kill it. It still happens but it gets harder and harder to deny performance. So just stick to your guns and do the best you can.