Are you truly aware that you may be witnessing a new industrial revolution? Do you understand the how and why of new business models? Do you ever think that self-employment and entrepreneurship are here to stay?
As a potential entrepreneur, are you sure that technology should be a support to improve processes rather than a target? Have you internalized that your current risk paradigms and investment valuation models must change drastically? If the majority of your answers are YES, congratulations! However, at Fellow Funders, we think that for most of us the NOs outweigh the YESes.
At Fellow Funders we are back from vacation,and, like every year at this time, we have decided to change for the better. And yet, all of a sudden, we have become afraid that this year our resolution for change should not be just to join the gym and start again with English?
We read almost every dayan article about disruption.They tell us that the world is changing, that nothing is the same as it was. The rules of the economic game are changing, the social rules are changing… Every day thousands of business initiatives and new business models emerge, many of which are totally new and until recently unthinkable… For example, would you imagine 5 years ago that a car would not need a driver, that you could use a stranger’s house instead of a hotel, that you could pay with a digital currency oryou could print any utensil in the material you like and from home? And so on, almost ad infinitum.
Whenever mankind has lived through an industrial revolution, it has always encountered stages of adjustment, which, in almost all cases, have involved major changes in society itself. However, at present, what is truly significant is not the change itself, but the enormous speed with which it is taking place. It seems that this new stage is going to demand the best of us. And you, are you preparing for it?
The reality is that technology seems to be changing quite a few things for the better. As consumers, it is giving us access to many goods and services that have reduced their price and increased their quality, we can say that they have become “democratized”. As people, technology is extending our life expectancy. However, have you thought that this lengthening of life expectancy means that retirement ages will have to be substantially modified? Have you thought that throughout your life you will not have one professional stage, but rather three or four, and you will have to reinvent yourself several times? How do you plan to maintain your standard of living in the future if social benefits – pensions – must be inexorably reduced?
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today!
At Fellow Funders we have told you on many occasions that we believe that, regardless of their level of savings, the time has come for everyone, to start creating their own investment portfolio. Also their “piggy banck” should be actively managed since they will have to use it not only for a period of inactivity or for retirement, but to invest in their training and reinvention. Why not start today? We don´t want to be doomsayers but… Don´t put off until tomorrow what you can do today!
And if everything is changing, are you going to continue building your investment portfolio with the same parameters as in the past? At Fellow Funders we believe that you should also progressively change your investment habits. We are not saying that the old models are worthless, but we are saying that you should complement and diversify them. Why not invest part of your portfolio in alternative investments? At Fellow Funders we think that an efficient portfolio should contain at least 5% of alternative investments. And why not Equity Crowfunding?
If building a long-term investment portfolio is a complicated matter, the difficulty increases when we talk about alternative investment. In Fellow Funders we have said on many occasions that we believe that it is time to start investing in alternative investments for your portfolio (and Equity Crowdfunding seems to us one of the most interesting instruments), but demanding in all cases that whoever advises you does so with professional criteria. You must demand transparency, you must demand security, you must perceive confidence, you must be able to have an adequate follow-up of your investments… In other words, we must demand the same from alternative investment as we demand from traditional investment. At Fellow Funders we consider Transparency, Security, Trust and Follow-up as our pillars and they are the basis of our commitment to entrepreneurs and investors.
In Fellow Funders we have also talked to you about the need to have a well diversified investment portfolio in different assets and, within each asset, not to have a high concentration, to avoid incurring in uncontrollable risks. And when we talk about risks, is it clear to you that on many occasions risks are being valued with outdated models that make little sense for new investment instruments? At Fellow Funders we have developed our own models (scoring, valuation, …) based on algorithms, which are constantly evolving, and which allow us to measure the risks and values of the companies in a more appropriate way.
At Fellow Funders we want to be part of the change to help Spanish startups and SMEs to regenerate the industrial fabric, can you help us? We are convinced that investing in Equity Crowdfunding can be part of the solution. In addition, as an investor, with a proper selection and a correct diversification you can get returns commensurate with the risks you are taking.
