About that fancy looking day in Milano: How a 5 Mio. € offering got a No.

What you see on this picture is a facebook post published by myself 4 years ago. It was complete fake - in that it completely understated what had happened that day.

It was the day a client (and me accompanying them) was offered millions in cash by the not-so-nice guys.

This picture marks when I sat at the Milano Malpensa airport wine bar before my flight back home.

I took a very deep breath back then, but not yet a relaxed one.

I felt a slight tingle in the back of my neck - was someone watching?

When I came home ( I would was home alone that night) - I would typically have poured myself a glass of good red wine.

Not on that day.

My internal AI said:

Better stay 100% alert. You never know.

It marked the end of a completely crazy day 'hunting' millions.

It had begun in an old villa turned into a hotel close to the Milano airport; I then drove over in the rented Alfa Rome over the sloping scenic road to Lugano for the supposed meeting with some interested investors.

The lunch meeting was supposed to take place adequately in a semi-fancy restaurant (you know that 'not too much for getting started, but still making a little bit of casual effort' level. Not easy to find.)

Only for no one to show up, even though the CEO and I were best dressed up for the occasion.

Instead, someone (not the person we had been the meeting with) called on my cellphone via Telegram (!), giving us their sincere apologies; some logistics had come up for Mr. X, any chance we could meet up in Milano instead?

So, here things became interesting.

No address was given to us before we entered the city.

As they guided us towards the destination, it became noticeable that obviously someone was watching us, knowing exactly where each of us was at each second.

We decided to take an espresso break to double-check our assumption we were being followed.

That proved to be true - and agreed then and there that

we needed to be really, really careful from here.

Well, people investing a lot of money can be of a particular kind WITHOUT being criminals... so we went for a "let us breathe, stay aware and see where this gets us" approach.

Did it ever come to a meeting? Yes, it did.

Not to go too much down the Tarantino route, from here, I will only give you some buzzwords:

• a dubious area in Milano, once chic, now weird
• a guy with a blind eye
• the super smart guy in the sleekest North Italian suit you would ever have seen
• a feisty guy with a menacing body language
• a bar with the original 60ies furniture and two blaring TV screens in which I ordered - very #cautiousgirlinaclubstyle !- my coke "in a bottle" to make sure they couldn't mess with it (interesting how your brain suddenly pops up tricks like that from the archive, isn't it?).

Indeed, the guys of the startup we worked with were offered 5 millions. To be exact: In cash.

It would be available that evening; that was at least the story.

That was the exact sum of money that would have save the a**es of that company and would have helped to solve a massive environmental problem #plasticwaste.

Yeah, as if...

and then those friendly guys and their best friends would be coming back a while later somewhere in beautiful Bavaria to 'look after' their investment.

That was not going to happen.

Luckily and admirably, the startup owners never even twitched an eye.

Our risk assessment was clear: we needed to get out of that.

Quick.

And as silent and subtle as possible.

As there was no other option, we agreed with our eyes and some mimics below the bartable.

After having added some loops of low key small talk, we asked for a moment to think about things and walk around the corner.

Just to (of course) never go back to that bar.

On the way back, we checked in with each other each 30 min. to make sure everything was ok.

It was, and luckily, it stayed that way.

Naturally, we'll never exactly know who those people were - not the good guys, that was apparent. Whoever it was, they thought handing out millions of cash was the normal thing to do - as well as watching people in their very movements.

I am not really paranoid all the time; this felt dangerous, so it probably was (don't you ever tell my parents! ;)).

During the next days I sometimes tended towards thinking my mind had made it all up but was blocked from that by one of those guys repeatedly trying to contact me via different channels. It took some time to make sure, the communication cords were cut in a safe way.

So, nope, it was not what we had expected and of course not what we would have hoped - and yes, we had done background checks before as much as possible (it was a pro job - the fake parts even included convincing Oxbridge titles etc.).

Luckily, we were decently prepped - we had an AML (Anti Money Laundering) statement and a KYC process in place should things have proceeded (and had clearly communicated about this being a requirement). The slight hesitance on the other side when meeting in person (though never a clear no there happened) simply made it easier to filter. Maybe "those guys" simply had made the bet that with the money basically within reach it would take a strong will to say No.

As it is so often in the startup and entrepreneurship universe

It had been worth a try, and it could have worked.

What that startup had tried to do was do two very innovative things at the same time:

• For one, introducing a really cool technology that can turn used plastics back into the next loop of usage
• and for two, trying to get the investment in for the first production set ups not the 'normal way' but via creating their own cryptocurrency #cyotoken.

It was maybe a bit crazy and also maybe a bit over the top, but with def. good intentions.

In the end, for the financing for this startup it did not work out, which also, in a way, is pretty standard. This is not so fun to read, and at the same time,

it is how many innovation stories end: in a dead end.

They will not tell you that often here on Linkedin because, as the Instagram of business, it is all just spring, success stories, and flowers all the time.

Give the stats a good look and - a little bit dependent on industry and setup - you'll find that 80-90% of startups do just that: Fail.

Their story just does not work out.

It is part of the high risk / high reward game we're all playing in the startup realm and why investors love to come just late enough so the risk bar is lowered and soon enough it is still a good deal (another topic, not for today :)). This is normal.

It still is important to share this story as the roots mechanisms of this story persist: The channels through which you as a #startup receive money will not always be super transparent and (think London, startups, Russian investment money) the wrong choice can easily get you in legal and/or ethical trouble. It can easily be much less obvious ('cos hell, it was in this case!), it might be faked in detail till the very end (I've heard of cases featuring posh Hamburg port overlooking offices and pretty convincing lawyer dudes). That might make your decisions even harder.

Carefully choose who you work with even and especially if you're under pressure.

Be aware that you are part of the equation: You can say no.

What did I make of it for my agency and myself?

• It was an adventure. It was 100% not boring and as you see: I got an interesting story to tell and learned such a lot about my client, the world, myself.
• I got to see business men act with integrity. I was proud of my clients for that.
• It taught me a real life lesson about one of the outer edges of sales. I had been aware before, of course, that wherever lots of money or power is involved, even in corporations things can get pretty harsh. This here was a new level to be aware of - info that it easily can get shady if not risky.
• I learned that very interesting and unexpected things can happen if you try to put an investment round together - and they got nothing to do with the pitch deck. I hear a former team member say: "Hey Kristin, comes with the territory." Yep.
• Together with some other stories, for our work at OVERW8 it made it clear that we need to integrate such insights into our own risk assessments - one of the reasones why we might simply say No to a new prospect (another topic).

To each of you who stands your moral ground white collecting the resources for your company's growth: you got my utmost respect.

Because even if it is the right thing to do, if you know that these five million might be the game-changer if not saviour for your business, it is still not the easy thing to do.

Ok, so let me know...

Which kind of weird stories have you experienced during your investment rounds?

What was the most surprising turn things took? What did you make of it? And/or what hints would you have for others and their risk assessment and decision making?

If you're interested (and it was a really compelling endeavour), you can read more about the story leading up to Milano in our blog... (I'll drop the link in the comments).

And please, do me one favour: This story involves not only me but others, so in the comments be thought- and respectful.