Bas Rieter

Are Dutch and European founders not ambitious enough? 🤔 I just read Techleap's latest report: "AI Scaling Challenges for Dutch Founders." (Okay, I got AI to read it and share the highlights with me. 😜) This quote caught my (& Claude's) eye: "𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 4% 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘈𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 10𝘔. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯..." Almost every day, I see posts and jokes about European founders thinking too small. As someone who works with Euro-founders everyday, I have a different view. I see: - Massive visions - Global mindsets from day one - Founders ready to take on the world It's not the founders who lack ambition. They're just working within the realms of what's possible in Europe. That's why many of them get funded from and/or move to the US. 💰 The real lack of ambition? That's from investors and governments in Europe. 🇪🇺 I'm still working on an article, "The Case for European Optimism." And I think it will show that European founders are just as ambitious as their US counterparts. The real question we should be asking is: - How can we create an environment that allows founders to dream bigger and reach higher? 🚀 And yes, I know this quotes mentions deep ecosystem issues... --- ↳ What's your take? Are European founders thinking too small, or is it the ecosystem that's holding them back? 👇

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𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭? Let’s talk about something people aren’t paying enough attention to:  𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. With AI handling tasks, we’ll all have more time for… well, life. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭: 📌 The global leisure market is already huge—worth $4.5 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧. 📌 Yet, a lot of companies are focused on tech-driven efficiency. 📌 Meanwhile, there’s a growing need for startups that inspire joy, connection, and adventure. 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: • AI automates work. • People reclaim their time. • Startups that focus on play, creativity, and connection win big. Which startups in the leisure space do you think deserve more attention? Tag them here! #AI #Innovation #FutureOfWork #Startups #LeisureEconomy #Entrepreneurship #HumanConnection #WorkLifeBalance #Technology #AdventureStartup

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It’s always hard being a founder and running a company. But it’s been a tough year. No lie. Q1 nobody’s buying. Put us on back foot. Budgets didn’t increase or decreased. Spend on SaaS events seemingly down inline with software spend. Always feeling behind and late Pressure of delivering events felt harder. My dog and loyal companion of 12 years died. Second kid diagnosed with autism. Felt like one thing after the next. Sleep was shit. Almost felt like a year of what’s next? Yet: I felt these set of challenges made me and SaaStock stronger. USA event grew. SaaStock Europe experience improved and NPS up YoY. Lots of new client logos. Team stronger as a unit. Helped shape our focus for 2025 and beyond. Became a better dad and partner. Made some bigger bets for the company. We never gave up. Kept on keeping on and learning and improving as we go. Ready and better for 2025.

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We recently touched on how to pick the best European country to incorporate your startup. To continue that discussion, I’d like to tell you about a few European countries that offer residence permits through their Startup Visa programs. Here are some worth considering: 🇳🇱 1. Netherlands: Their program grants a one-year residence permit to startup founders, with the option to extend it later as a self-employed. To qualify, you need an innovative business plan and must work with a recognized facilitator, like a business incubator. I'll share some details with you later. 🇪🇪 2. Estonia: The Startup Visa allows entrepreneurs to develop their projects and hire foreign workers. To be eligible, your startup should show a high level of innovation and growth potential. 🇫🇮 3. Finland: They offer a Start-up Permit for foreign entrepreneurs, allowing them to work in Finland while building innovative projects. The application is assessed based on your business plan and growth potential. 🇵🇹 4. Portugal: With the Startup Visa program, founders get a residence permit to grow their projects in Portugal. Your project needs to be innovative and have the potential to create jobs. 🇪🇸 5. Spain: Spain’s "Entrepreneur Visa" program offers a residence permit for startup founders. Your startup should contribute to the country’s economy and be innovative. 🇫🇷 6. France: The French Tech Visa program is designed for startup founders, investors, and employees of tech companies. To qualify, you’ll need an innovative business plan and approval from the French Tech program. 🇱🇹 7. Lithuania: Lithuania’s Startup Visa is available for entrepreneurs looking to launch their innovative business in the country. You need to demonstrate both growth potential and an innovative business model. 🇮🇪 8. Ireland: The "Start-up Entrepreneur Programme" offers a residence permit to those who plan to invest in innovative business projects in Ireland. These are just a few countries with similar programs. Each has its own requirements for both the applicant and the startup, so be sure to do your research before applying. In my next post, I’ll dive into more countries offering these types of programs. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask in the comments! #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #founders #immigration #startupvisa

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How to structure your venture studio SaaS portfolio company right from the start Venture studios are keen on creating SaaS portfolio companies. If structured right, SaaS companies can become profitable cash machines for venture studios. Combining fifteen years of experience with SaaS business models and researching venture builders for a PhD project, these are my five major learnings: 🔗As most SaaS products may be copied. Excellent distribution and long-term customer relationships are crucial. Long-term and strong relationships impact many important KPI's including ARR growth, Churn, NPS and eNPS. ➡️For venture studios, that means building on the existing network to creating legitimacy for the portfolio start-up. ---- 🚥A streamlined organization where everyone knows what to do makes recruiting during scaling much easier. Hiring too fast, before the need of more team members occurs, may hinder efficiency. Create job descriptions, routines and procedures for the organization open enough not risking losing founder mode. ➡️For venture studios, that means knowing what competence to look for in different states. Use accumulated knowledge timing and managing recruitment as best as possible. ---- 📈 Keep track on the blended CAC ratio. Inefficiency and high cost in acquiring new ARR will eat up your EBITDA margins. Most B2C SaaS gets scalable through higher numbers of customers. In B2B SaaS, expansion, cross-selling, and price increases are fundamental for fast growth. ➡️For venture studios, that means share customer databases, cross-sell as much as possible, and develop a value-based pricing structure as soon as possible. ---- 🔁 Having routines and procedures in place capitalizing from a management quality system (we used ISO) helps bringing your start-up from a healthy creative chaos to an efficient scale-up. ➡️For venture studios, that means creating a management quality system and put it in place in each portfolio company will help increase speed of development and growth. ---- 💻 An understanding that an intuitive and ‘friendly’ user interface with few bugs in the product, allow support and customer success to be part of the sales organization focusing on the core product, rather than being a business unit trying to help customers handle an in-efficient product to avoid churn. ➡️For venture studios, that means accumulate knowledge in software development in relation to user friendliness and learn from previous start-up attempts to avoid churn. From your experience, what other learnings should be added here? #venturestudio #venturebuilder #entrepreneurship #scaling #saas ________________________________ Did you like this post? Connect or Follow @john-erik hassel

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How does a founder feel after experiencing an exit? What sort of challenges do they face? Meet one of them, Bram V. — a raw serial entrepreneur in my eyes. And here is why: Bram founded a startup called Leadcamp back in September 2020. He was struggling with his sales achievements. He solved it by founding a podcast he called “Sound of Sales”. He interviewed different sales gurus from around the world with the intention of learning from them all and improving his own performance. Genius man, if you ask me. Long story short, he exited Leadcamp 2.5 years after its birth. In this interview, you’ll hear his story.  See a lot of smiles. And of course, it's a raw talk. I call this format “Raw Talks!”. Link in da comments! P.S. Are you a founder with a great and inspiring story? I would LOVE to share YOUR story with the world. Stay raw!

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Everyone uses software daily, but most don’t know they could be creating custom software that fits their business. Just because you can build custom software with a platform like Gilde, it doesn’t mean you should. I spoke with a prospect yesterday who was debating whether they should build it themselves or have it built for them. Here’s what we covered: 1. Think about your tech skills: If you’re not sure you can build the app yourself, getting professionals to do it might save you headaches and time. 2. Look at your budget: DIY is often cheaper at first, but remember to factor in the cost of your time and potential slip-ups. 3. Consider your timeline: Getting it built by an Expert usually takes about 4 weeks. Learning an entirely new platform might take longer. 4. Think ahead: What might you need in the future? Will you want to connect with other tools like your CRM? You might need more advanced options down the line. 5. Check out middle-ground options: Some platforms offer a “we’ll build it, then you run it” service, where you can make small tweaks after they hand it over. There’s no perfect answer for everyone. The best choice depends on your needs, resources, and long-term goals.

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Before investors ask the question, ask yourself first. Your solution is the best solution that will save customers. Thats great. But why now? What makes the timing right for your startup to exist? Incorporating the 'why now' in your startup story is not about proving that your idea is good; it’s about showing that your idea is good, right now. The Case for 'Why Now': 1. Market Readiness: Market readiness is paramount. A solution introduced too early may flounder due to lack of customer awareness or readiness to adopt, while one launched too late risks irrelevance in a saturated market. Your 'why now' should address the unique convergence of needs, technology, and customer readiness that makes this the opportune moment for your solution. According to a Bill Gross study, timing accounts for 42% of the difference between success and failure in startups. If the market isn’t ready for your solution, it won’t matter how groundbreaking it is. A Harvard Business School report highlighted that products launched during a period where market demand is peaking experience initial sales volumes up to 3x higher than those launched in a lukewarm market scenario. 2. Technological Feasibility & Innovation Cycles: Technology evolves in waves, and your startup's timing may align with the rising tide of an emerging technology, enabling solutions that were previously impossible or impractical. The 'why now' should illuminate how current technological advancements or shifts in user behavior uniquely position your startup to address previously unmet needs or create new market opportunities. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies shows that the window for achieving a competitive advantage can be narrow before a technology matures and becomes widely adopted or deprecated. 3. Socio-economic Shifts: Socio-economic shifts can rapidly transform market landscapes, catalyzing new needs and opportunities. Demonstrating an understanding of these dynamics and articulating why your startup is especially relevant in the context of recent shifts can strongly validate the 'why now'. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 500% surge in demand for remote collaboration tools, according to a report from Zoom Video Communications. A McKinsey Global Survey found that companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions by three to four years due to the pandemic. Beyond Meat tapped into a confluence of consumer readiness, with a growing concern for health, sustainability, and ethical eating, and technological advancements in food science. By addressing these factors, Beyond Meat answered the 'why now' perfectly - introducing plant-based meats that closely mimic the taste, texture, and experience of animal meat at a time when consumers were actively seeking alternatives. #shahriarsuncommonsense

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The best thing about a thriving startup team? 🤔 → They’re not your typical 9-to-5 grinders. They’re problem-solvers, hustling to create something extraordinary. This week, our lead developer, Edwin showed his entrepreneurial spirit like never before. In this week’s Friday broadcast [BTS] of Team RogerRoger, I’m spotlighting Edwin’s hard work. Tech teams know it well, releasing a tech feature is no small feat. It’s late nights, early mornings, and pure chaos. Systems break. Servers get overloaded. And yet, some people rise to the occasion, no matter how tough it gets. This week, Edwin was that person. For three nights in a row, he worked tirelessly until 4 a.m. to bring our new email feature to life. 💻 When the system overloaded and challenges kept piling up, Edwin didn’t flinch. He found faster, smarter solutions. And now? The feature is live—and it’s better than we ever imagined. 🎉 Remember… Startups don’t succeed because they have perfect plans. They succeed because of people like Edwin. 💪 Here’s to the grit, the hustle, and the relentless drive to build something great. From Team RogerRoger, we say thank you, Edwin! 👏

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How to Avoid the Startup Growth Stall Ever experienced this rollercoaster? You launch with a killer product/service, your warm network loves it, sales soar... then BAM! Growth stalls. Here's why: Businesses need 2 engines to thrive: *Lead Generation Engine* The health of your business, after exhausting your warm network, is primarily determined by the *Lead Inflow Rate*. This engine attracts new, enthusiastic customers. *Delivery Engine:* Fulfills promises and keeps the customers happy. While attracting new customers is crucial, a strong Delivery Engine ensures they come back for more. You must be a master at this, after all, it's likely the reason you started this business. Warm networks are great, but finite. Don't wait for a sales slump to build your Lead Generation Engine! Generating quality leads takes time and effort: - Crafting compelling marketing materials - Implementing effective promotion strategies After all, you need to let the world know that you are here and you can solve their problems! Invest in marketing EARLY to keep your lead engine humming and avoid the growth stall. When should you start? The answer: *Before* your warm network runs dry! What are your experiences with scaling beyond your warm network? When did you realize you had to setup a Lead Generation Engine? #startup #growth #marketing #leadgeneration #business

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📈 Struggling to Find and Connect with the Right Prospects? Apollo. io Can Help! For sales professionals, finding accurate contact information, engaging prospects, and managing outreach efficiently can feel overwhelming. Manually searching for leads, tracking engagement, and juggling platforms can waste valuable time and energy. Apollo. io is here to simplify and supercharge your sales process. With over 275 million contacts at 73 million companies, Apollo’s sales intelligence and engagement platform provides everything you need to connect with prospects and convert them into customers—quickly and effectively. With Apollo.i o, you can: ✅ Search a vast database to find high-quality leads ✅ Engage prospects with powerful automation tools ✅ Convert more leads with targeted, data-driven outreach ✅ Optimize your workflow with a seamless, all-in-one platform Ready to take your sales game to the next level? Sign up for Apollo. io today and see how easy it can be to find, connect, and convert your next client! Get Started with Apolloio for Free Today - https://lnkd.in/gnv-gXXG #ApolloIO #SalesIntelligence #LeadGeneration #SalesEngagement #SalesTools #B2BSales #DataDrivenSales #TryApollo #Sales #Marketing #SaaS #B2B

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i almost went bankrupt 3 months ago. a year earlier, we raised €220,000 from angel investors in the netherlands. we used this money to build a great team, develop our first products, and grow our community. at one point, we’ve invested €150,000. then, we found out that one of our former investors couldn't fulfil his contract. we had only €10,000 left in the bank, with monthly expenses of €20,000. then two things happened in the same week that i’m really really grateful for: 1.⁠ ⁠after seeing one of our instagram reels, Max Klijnstra contacted me on linkedin. we met at our office around 9 pm and talked openly. i even showed him our bank account. he never had a meeting this transparant with a startup, he loved what we were building, especially our community of creators. i asked him directly, "why don't you invest? i have an open ticket." he shared two lessons that helped me a lot:   - "i can invest, but it won’t fix your main problem — you need clients. let me be your first."   - “you need to understand that this is a long-term game, a marathon. after talking to you for two hours, it feels like you think you’re running a marathon, but it’s friday night, you haven’t eaten. slow down.” 2.⁠ ⁠it's rare to find investors who want to invest at our stage. it's even rarer for them to sit with you every week for 1-2 hours, sharing their knowledge. Henk de Boer (one of our 3 investors) understands our vision and believes in it. when we asked if he wanted to fill the open investment, he said yes without hesitation. this saved us. in the last three months, we signed our first contract with launching customers, grown our community of storytellers, filmmakers, and creators to over 3,500. we now use our software to access first-party data from brands' social accounts. we identify which formats, styles, sentiments, and scripts work best. through our network, we produce high-quality, non-ugc content. making brand accounts more interesting to follow for their customers. thanks everyone who helped, we wouldn’t be here without you!

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Did you know startups that pivot 1-2 times have 3.6x better user growth? Personally I know that Many founders think pivots are a sign of failure, but they’re often the key to success. Key reasons to pivot: • Your first product idea might not hit the mark—testing is crucial. • Startups that are flexible early on find better product-market fit. Vine failed because it couldn’t pivot in the face of competition. On the flip side, Instagram started as a location-based app called Burbn and pivoted into the photo-sharing platform we know today. 🔄 Thinking about pivoting? Let’s talk strategy at the Zero to Millions Club: Zero to Millions Club #students #education #tips #startup #startnow

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🚀 Whether you're brainstorming a new venture, keeping tabs on competing startups, scouting investment opportunities, or simply curious about niche startup ecosystems—you’ll want to check this out. Over the last few weeks, Hendrik Cornelissen has been building a tool that’s making the startup discovery process smarter. Startup Seeker leverages advanced AI to deliver hyper-specific, relevant results—far beyond the capabilities of traditional keyword-based search engines. With nearly 100,000 startups indexed, each query surfaces 10-15 of the most relevant ventures despite narrow search terms or limited key words. How It Works: 1️⃣ Semantic Understanding: Startup Seeker uses embeddings to analyze the meaning behind your query, connecting related concepts. For instance, it links “telemedicine” with “digital health” and “remote patient monitoring,” ensuring no relevant startups are overlooked. 2️⃣ Hybrid Search: The platform combines vector search for contextual matches and BM25 keyword search for precise term matching, offering both depth and accuracy. 3️⃣ AI-Driven Re-ranking: Advanced cross-encoder models rank startups based on relevance, ensuring the most focused results rise to the top. 4️⃣ Structured Outputs: Results are not just lists but actionable insights, refined to reflect the specific criteria of your query. Huge kudos to Hendrik for putting this together and making it publicly available 👏 Give it a try here: 👇 👇 https://lnkd.in/d9jbB37A

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Don't Let Your Startup Fail: Test Your Idea Fast with an MVP Imagine putting all your effort into creating a product, only to find out no one wants it. Ouch! This happens to many startups. In fact, 42% of startups fail because they build products nobody wants (Clutch survey). Here’s where an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) comes in to save the day! An MVP is a basic version of your product with the key features needed to solve a problem. It's simple, efficient, and designed to learn from real users. Why MVPs are awesome: ✅Get real feedback from users quickly. ✅Avoid wasting money on something nobody wants. ✅Use user feedback to make your product better. Think of it like this: You wouldn’t build a whole house without first making a blueprint, right? An MVP is your blueprint for a successful product. It lets you test the basics, make improvements, and create something people actually want. MVP = Launch faster, learn faster, succeed faster. P.S. You can launch your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in just 4 weeks. #StartupSuccess #MVPDevelopment #FailFastLearnFast #UserFeedback #LeanStartup #ProductValidation #MarketFit #AgileDevelopment #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #BusinessTips

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Our strategy at PeakSpan is simple - scaling a growth company successfully should be an iterative, incremental process. The decisions and options you have in front of you at $3M of ARR scale are vastly different than those at $10M and different still from those at $25M and beyond - scale your way into success sensibly, putting your foot on the gas more and more when the data asserts that you’re ready for it and it’s the right thing to do. This video encapsulates our approach in a nutshell - swinging as hard as you can for a statistically unlikely outcome when you’re a young, still very much evolving business, simply isn’t the value maximizing strategy. https://lnkd.in/e96AzU_N

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I can tell within 15 minutes if I should invest in a founder—Melodie van der Baan was one of them. Founders always ask what the investment criteria is for VCs. Investors will give different answers, but it almost always comes down to one thing - conviction in the founder / ceo. I first met Mel while giving a talk to the new Techstars cohort in 2022. I met dozens of budding entrepreneurs that evening, but Mel stood out amongst them. She told me about her company, which targeted the excess inventory market for SMB retailers across the country. It’s a complex solution in a legacy space, but what she lacked in deep technical expertise, she made up for in tenacity and grit that came through in aspects of her communication and follow-through. It reminded me a lot of myself early in my founder journey. We invested in the pre-seed round early in the journey and since then, they’ve rebranded to Max Retail and have gone on to raise a seed round and now a $15m Series A from top investors including Nosara Capital, Rethink Impact, LP, Interplay VC, M13, The Artemis Fund , StandUp Ventures, Overline VC, and Regatta Ventures. So what has made Mel different than other founders? ➝ High integrity - Mel always sends out quarterly investor updates without fail, including not only the wins, but also weak points and how they plan to address them. ➝ Look at their growth - it’s iterative and consistent. Nothing fancy or exponential - just quarter-by-quarter blocking and tackling to automate what had previously been manual industry-wide. ➝ Grit - instead of building in a go-big or go-home “waterfall style” and demanding everything be automated before going to market, she’s been able to chip away and reach product-market fit over time. Who’s a founder you believe in purely based on conviction?

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Everyone tells searchers to buy businesses with a 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀. But what impact does that actually have on searcher CEOs when they buy a business? The benefits are clear: - 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. You can raise money or align the requests you'll make of your investors more confidently - 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲. Being a first-time entrepreneur is already stressful enough. - 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. Providers of SBA loans prefer these sorts of businesses. Banks (for traditional search fund debt) like them too. - It lets you focus on growing the business. You're not playing defense on profitability. - 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲. Multiples of EBITDA mean more when EBITDA isn't a moving target. The challenge is also clear: It's hard to make a big splash with a business that's already sort of stable. And we need to factor that into our dealmaking, because many owners sell these sorts of businesses at a premium, based on the notion that stable companies are highly in demand (spoiler: they're right).

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