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abloomntime · 3 years

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A Bloom In Time Ch12 Dealing With The Past

Poppy's eyes widened when the giant snake like creature turned around in the opposite direction and began to float off somewhere still looking at her with that scowl. He was-....Sure something else wasn't he? She'd never seen anything like this before. Was he a swamp monster? Could be, she'd never been in a swamp before and didn't know what was hiding in it and she hadn't heard much stories about monsters except for the typical monster under your bed kind, and she still felt a pit of dread in her stomach harder than a rock when his gaze didn't budge from her face. It was almost like he was both suspicious and cautious in his movements as he held her up and away from her like someone who had to carry something but definately didn't enjoy doing so.

".......How do you know her?," he asked finally breaking the silence.

She flinched and blinked at the sudden question and all she could ask was, "W-what?"

"I SAID how did you meet the girl?"

"I-I-....S-She rescued me from prison." Well it was the truth. Even if it technically wasn't actual jail or a traditional dungeon. It was still prison to her.

He hummed and brought her around from the left side of him to the front to get a better look at her but still kept her at arm's length for obvious reasons. He was still dealing with the inner turmoil of emotions suddenly busting inside him, but if there was one thing he was good at it was keeping his mouth shut and his true emotions hidden. Right now he was feeling...He didn't know exactly. Anger? Guilt? Resentment? Maybe a little bit of happiness? He didn't know. Oh no no. Not angry at her or anyone else, but at Vanessa. If the kiddo really rescued a 'lady wearing an apron' (his yellow eyes glazed over her brown leather work apron) and it was Poppy, when it really wasn't a maid or cook after all. Then that also meant that......She was right there the whole time in that heavily chained room. ...And in all the few times he was there he never bothered to look inside ....she was so close...Right there. Which raised a whole bunch of other questions. Was she an ice statue like the others? How long had she been in there? Was she locked in there before or after he was chained up? Did-.....D-Did she know it was because of him? Oh peck! Did the kiddo say anything to her?! Did she recognize him?! Poppy hadn't given any indication she even recognized him so that was probably a big fat no. So then ....Did she resent him? D-Did she even know the reason she was locked away by the mad queen? Did she blame her friend? Guilt and anger at himself bubbled up from himself and he growled. STOP IT SNATCHER!! How many times did you have to tell yourself it's NOT your fault!! ALL OF IT WAS VANESSA'S!! HERS NOT YOURS!! The sudden growl made her jump and he snapped his thinking back towards her movements. The sight of her still scared form seemed to calm her down a lot making him sigh(or give a sigh sound since he didn't have lungs) and frown. Less intimidating than the harsh scowl. And he hoped it wouldn't scare her now that-.......Now that she was...She was back..POPPY WAS BACK AND SAFE! That one thought made him halt in his movements causing her to lightly swing in his grasp at the sudden stop and she blinked at him. His eyes looked over her studiously before she found herself slowly being lowered down, she was placed on her feet and the giant claws retreated back to the ghost who once again towered over her quietly. He studied her dirty still damp self yellow eyes stopping at the twinkling peice of gold around her wrist and blinked at the dirt covered gold bracelet. Yellow eyes widening at it before his ghost brain(if he even had one) kicked into high gear and years of experience being in this scenario rammed back into him making him hum and look back to her confused, lightly scared face. Poppy was safe...For now at least. But what if something happened again. He hissed and was still angry at himself for allowing this to happen to her. Her whole life was stopped because of him and now she had to pay the price for it....but what if-....HE COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT NOW!! YES!! He was so puny and weak back then, but now he had the power to do whatever he wanted. He could take care of his forest, his minions, those kids, and himself...Why COULDN'T he do the same for her..He could..Make it up to her. Make amends and make up for everything he couldn't do for her...YEAH!! Well first he had to seal a deal with her, which meant no one could ever hurt her again. Just as a safety precaution. He'd done it before. And he knew jjuuuust the way to do it.

"This is a nice accessory you got here," he complimented pointing a claw at her wrist. "It's ok if I keep it, right? It's sparkly. I like that. It looks magical."

She blinked and looked to her wrist..And immediately pulled her wrist up and to her chest, her other hand clutching it as she scowled. "NO peckin' way, Ya purple onion reject! I don't know who ya think you are, but there's no way I'm giving you this. It's the only thing I got left from my home!"

He smiled at the sudden gesture even if it didn't nessacarily mean she wasn't giving it up because she missed him. "Im sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Snatcher. Im the one who takes all your stuff when you forget it under the couch, or deep in the closet....Or in this case. Your SOUL!!" Again her face twisted onto one of fear and he continued to smile and hold up a clawed hand, making a small blue fire appear. "I took it the moment we touched. This small flame is your life force." It really wasn't but he was great at acting when you were a scary prince and people feared you. They beleived anything you told them.

"Y-You...PECKING DIRTY VARMANT!!" She suddenly charged and started jumping and grabbing at the small flames. Horrified and angry her 'life force' was being held hostage by some swamp monster. She was DONE absolutely DONE with her poor life. "GIVE IT BACK!! GIVE IT BACK GIVE IT BACK PLEASE!!"

"You can't have it back. It belongs to ME now. What are you gonna do? You're just a little girl. Only fire magical hurts me, and you're not a fire spirit." He lightly tainted smiling and still staring almost in a happy way at her. This was always too easy. "No one enters my forest and doesn't face some sort of consequences. But tell you what. I've got a piece of paper here, and a nifty one at that too. I've got some work that'll suit you just fine with your spunk." His hand with the tiny flame was suddenly engulfed in blue fire and as she gaped at it like many mortals he's seen. A moment later the bright light dimmed away completely to show a big scroll in his hand without the flame. In one swift motion he unfurled it and lowered it and himself down to her. His head practically upside down as he held it a foot from her face and the other hand grabbing one of her shoulders. "How about a deal!? You get to keep your body, mind, and soul and in return you help me with just a few minor things I can't do as a human. "

"......Deal?", she asked unsure before looking back to the long piece of paper and her hands reaching out to take it from him. He let her and watched in anticipation as she read over the thing. It was almost half her height. A deal with a swamp creature...There's something you don't see every day. The paper looked old and slightly torn around the edges here and there. At the very top of the paper was a fancy drawing of the creature before her with the face and his arms outstretched, beneath that was some very fancy writing that read "CONTRACT" in fancy bold captial cursive letters. The Rest was also in fancy cursive but lucking she could read it pretty well reading someone's fancy cursive order of flowers all the time. It read as followed:

CONTRACT

SERVE THE DEAD WITH WHAT THE AGREEMENT STATES

You have been caught trespassing in the Subcon Forest owned by the benevolant and merciful the Snatcher. The punishment for invaded and disturbing the dead's sacred resting place will be your life long servitude and loyalty to said ruler The Snatcher. Refusing to comply will result in the reposession of one's soul as payment for your crime. But you are lucky enough to have been selected as few mortals to help the eternal after life and anything the Snatcher requests within reason of the servants morals and abilities. The following territories of the forest shall be availble for the signer to visit willingly as they please.

-The Subcon Forest

-The Employer's Home (with special permission)

-The Subcon Forest

These parts shall NOT be availible for any reason and will not be negotiated unless the employer says otherwise.

-The Haunted Manor

-The frozen bridge

-The Subcon Swamp

-The Subcon Well

-The frozen territory

-Any place my employer has said is off limits

By signing this the signer shall be paid for their service and loyalty with immortality, protection from the Snatcher and those under him, a home, and anything the signer requests within reason. Binding by contract means your soul shall remain bound to the contract which cannot be broken by any means except by will of the employer, a.k.a the Snatcher. And in return the signer shall do ask the Snatcher asks with they're full cooperation. If the Snatcher at any point terminates the contract the signer's soul shall be released from his care and they shall live a normal rest of their life. By agreeing you shall also be safe from other supernatural entities and their influences whatever they may be, including influences from the employer and other minions. Also by signing this the signer agrees to willing do this and become a certified minion of The Snatcher. If you have complaints, suggestions, or other, the signer must report them to their employer immediately. As a down payment for all provided by the Snatcher, he shall be given the contract with your soul will be bound to for eternity unless decided otherwise, but the servant will be allowed free of will, full freedom, tasks the employer asks something of them, mind, body, and their soul in their body.

SIGNED

And then there was a small line for her name. Poppy's blue eyes stared gobsmacked at it before rereading it again.......Before closing her mouth and looking up to the smiling spook with a raised brow.

"Do you REALLY expect me to hand over my life to YOU?!"

"Hey! You get to keep literally EVERYTHING. You're soul won't even belong to me. Only the contract it'll be connected too. Plus you don't literally have to do anything except minor tasks. Like going to the book store. You really can't expect me to easily buy books as I am do you?"

"NO! This is ridiculous! I'm not gonna-"

"Look, Po-...Miss." He almost said her name but made a clear throat noise and straightened back up looking down at her. "Perhaps I should've been more...Specific about what you owe me. You see this forest has thousands of spirits here. This is their home. They died here, they were buried somewhere here, and there's lots of obvious graves. Like or not you crashlanded into sacred burial ground disturbing them and annoying them all whether you like it or not. It doesn't matter if it's an accident, to them you invaded their sacred place. Which is also mine. There's a few powerful spirits here but none as powerful as myself. Im offering you a VERY generous deal, I even gave you your soul back once the flame left my hand." He smiled as Poppy suddenly blinked and looked at herself patted herself down as to check to see if her soul was still there. "All I want is a mortal helper to assist me in things I have trouble doing myself being an all powerful spirit. I even offer you anything you want in return. Within reason of course. Maybe you want out of here? To have the spirits forgive you?......Maybe some dry land by the looks of it. By refusing my offer you'd still be invading the undead's home and I don't think many are going to be as generous as I."

Her scowl quickly became a look of concern as she still stared at him. So he was a spirit huh? Was he right? Was there really big bad spirits like him around the swamp. She didn't think she'd ever see a spirit before like this. The guy was MASSIVE and obviously gave off danger vibes to her, but he offered her a deal, and....technically she DID kinda, sorta trespass on his home even if not intentionally. If she was a spirit she'd probably be upset someone walked into her final resting place too. Did it happen often if he was genuinely this annoyed about it? Was it true another spirit would get her if she didn't take his offer? Snatcher smiled wider showing off those fangs when she blinked and reread the contract over again....She didn't know documents too well, and she wasn't exactly an expert in laws like her old friend was, but it all seemed legit. Wasn't anything really underhanded in the paper except for the loyalty of becoming his 'minion' and doing as he asked without question. Boy her life just kept getting weirder and weirder by the hour.

"And what exactly kind of work would you have someone like ME do, Mr. Purple Shadow?," she asked raising a brow. "It's not like I have any special magical powers or anything."

"I don't need anyone else with magical powers around believe me. It's caused me nothing but trouble in the past anyways. Like I said, I only want a mortal helper to help me out with a whole bunch of things a big scary but handsome ghost like me can't."

"Like what?"

"Well as much fun as it would be to scare out an entire town and take the things I want, seeing everyone outside my forest scream and run away from me when I'm trying to simply buy books or something. It would be SO much easier if I had a normal looking mortal to do it for me and bring me things I want, and all kinds of other things a dead person like me can't. You like kids right? Live kids?" That question came out of no where and she rose a brow at how strange and sudden that one was. But he knew the answer was yes anyways, she always remembered how much she'd smile and laugh sweetly at all the children's antics. His minions were techincally those kids, and ...there was the girls. It WOULD be handy to have a lady who loves kids on hand right?...What would've their children have looked like if they ever had the chance to- He shook his head and looked back to her still confused face waiting for an answer.

"Uh....Y-Yes. I think they're some of the cutest creatures on the planet!'' She meant that bit too. "Why do you care though?"

"Because I have two small kids that drive me up a wall all the time. I could use a hand keeping them out of my hair."

Her brows rose. "You have childre-..." She suddenly froze. Blue eyes widening and remembering what the small alien girl said to her. Her father...A spirit. Snatcher- She suddenly pointed at him. "YOU'RE THAT LIL ALIEN'S FATHER?!"

He rose a brow. "Glad you finally caught up with what I was s-"

"She said you could help me!" Usually he'd be annoyed anyone would dare to interrupt him, but he just blinked at her sudden statement. "L-Look." SHe held out her hands holding the paper. "I-I just want some help! She told me you could help, but I don't know how! I'm lost, and everything's not where it should be, and Im having a very hard time believing anything is happening right now! I was frozen dead for a thousand years and rescued by an alien and now I'm talking to a giant purple ghost! I'm afraid I'm going crazy!''

"....Well, I can tell you everything you just said probably happened since I'm definately not an imaginary boogie man. But tell you what. You're lucky. That piece of paper there allows me to provide any help the signer might want within reason. You can clearly read it at the top there." He frowned a little bit. "I'll tell you this. I can't send anyone back in time, and wouldn't want to. But I can make life a lot easier for someone like you, and I can tell you already had it hard as it is. You lost so much already. So don't lose this too. Trust me, you'll regret it." Now she was put on the spot as she froze again and gave a helpless look between him and the paper...and gulped. "You know, you would also be untouchable to Pecking Vanessa. She'd be powerless against me therefore you too in a nutshell. Isn't it worth the price knowing you won't be a block of ice again."

Her eyes widened and she looked back to the paper with a sigh. "B-But...I don't h-have a pe-" He snapped his claws and a feathered pen appeared right next to her. She blinked at it for a moment but to his utter delight she reached a shaking hand up and grabbed it looking back down to the paper. "....W-What if I don't sign it?"

"Then another angry spirit will come and try to have at you for tresspassing. Im not the only ghost in this forest. Just the most powerful.~.....Sign your full name now."

The silence of the forest was interrupted by the soft scratching of a pen against paper slowly. Snatcher's smile became wider, and wider, and wider as she nervously signed away until she wrote the last 'n' of her last name. Once she did the pen disappeared in a small puff of smoke and she jumped, her grip on the contract loosening enough for the giant ghost to snatch it from her. At the same time a giant burst of energy throbbed hard within the very core of her body. Temparaily knocking the wind outta her. She gasped and fell to her hands and knees at the sudden tight feeling within her. Her body emitting a small purple light in the dead center of her chest before as soon it came it left and she stayed her gasping and blinking at the sudden sensation that came and left. Leaving goosebumps across the pale flesh and her shaking like a leaf again. Coughing and eventually snapping a scowl up to him. He smiled reading over the contract before it disappeared in a puff of flames too.

"That seals the deal, Lady! We're in business!"

"W-W-What the PECK was THAT?!," she demanded glaring at him.

"Relax. You're unharmed. It was just the bond ceiling between us and the magic forming a strong protective shield around your soul. Don't worry. You're safe now." His voice went a little soft there at the end as did his expression as he continued to stare at her. Poppy. His Poppy. His Princess of Flowers. She was safe. Free from any danger, out of Vanessa's grip, and safe at last. And with him after all this time. ....He shouldn't be happy about that. He still felt very guilty about her being locked away and frozen for a thousand years but I digress. But things were ok now. He would make sure of it. "SO. New Errand Girl." Still keeping up the act for now as he watched her get back onto her feet. "Tell me all about this little problem of yours. And follow me. You'll want to see you're new work place."

He went to grab her again but she took a step back and held up her hands still lightly scowling. "No thanks. I can walk."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. Now. Are you going to tell me why the old blooming pecker locked you up and threw away the key?" he started forward again and she reluctantly followed. No sense in staying in the fog anyways right.

"To be honest I don't really remember." She gazed down as she walked, arms crossing over her chest. "It's...kinda fuzzy."

His full attention was on her as he scowled and hummed. "What do you remember?"

"I...remember these two big men in suits grabbing me from my stands when I was closing the shop. I think they might've been the Queen's knights." Snatcher scowled harder remembering those two very well. He could still almost feel them using their insane strength to hold him to the wall and chain him. "And then I was taken to the Queen's summer home and saw this monster...I mean the queen."

"No. You were right the first time. She was always a monster, it just took her a while to show everyone what was really inside. So don't give her any credit. She was never a queen, just a spider wearing a pretty mask."

She looked at him surprised. "Oh....Did you know her? I think the little alien said something about you were my age."

He bristled purple hair puffing up for a moment as he stared at her...before he scowled again. "Who DIDN'T know her?! She was Queen and then cursed EVERYTHING!!" He gave a small growl...before forced himself to calm down because she was looking at him funny and gave a sighing noise. "There's lots of spirits around here that was a poor victim of her tantrum." That wasn't a lie. There was lots of minions and dwellers that froze from her curse. "I'm sorry for what happened. But...A-Anyways, what happened after you met the crazy dame? What did she lock you up for?"

"I-......*sigh* I don't know. I think she said something about treason, but it's all fuzzy. And I SWEAR to you." She gave him an almost pleading look. "I didn't do anything but sell flowers in the square! I've never even met her before!''

He held up a hand. "OH! Believe me I believe you more than I would believe her. Lots of innocent lives were lost by her...But please. Feel free to continue." A guilty feeling bubbled up in himself and he had a pretty good idea what 'treason' Vanessa locked her away for.

She looked back down sadly...and shrugged. "That's about it. They threw me inside this big empty room, and locked me in. And then..." Her brows furrowed in thought. "....Uh. I don't remember what happened. All I remember was I was really cold and it was dark...and it was still so cold when I woke up. I could've sworn I was unconcious for a few hours."

He held up a hand again. "And let me take a guess at what happened next. Hattie blew the door down and took you back to her weird place in the sky, right?"

She nodded. "YES!! That's exactly it! She used her magic umbrella thing and there was this other little girl and then ..Hattie said you were a ghost and could help me. I still don't know how but ...I don't know. I guess knowing someone from my time was here after all was enough for me to get talked into getting teleported again. But then I ended up falling through the sky and crash landing into those poor trees." She looked at him. "H-How big is this Swamp, Mr. Snatcher Ghost?"

He rose a ghostly brow. "Don't call me Mr. Snatcher Ghost. Im known as Snatcher and nothing else and I would appreciate it if you'd call me that too. ...But the swamp's not that big. Maybe a small percent of my whole forest and territory. Subcon's a big place."

She stopped walking for a moment and looked at him. "Subcon..A-As in the Subconia or Subconette Kingdom?" She wondered which one she landed in.

He gazed at her silently for a moment before shrugging. "Both. A lot's changed over a thousand years, Lady. Those kingdoms don't exist anymore. Just some reminders left behind."

That was it. The thorn that pricked the skin. Poppy stopped staring there right at him for a good long moment....before the weight buckled from under her and she fell to her knees with a blank expression glanced to the ground. Immediately he floated over and held his hands arm unsure.

"H-Hey! Lady?!.....P-Poppy. Are you alright?" A choke came from her and fresh tears came down her face as she started crying, and he froze. A sudden feeling of guilt and worry bubbled up at the sudden crying. All the emotions and situation finally hitting her hard like a punch to the gut and finally breaking her down for him to see. Snatcher floated there for a moment still unsure what to do ....before unsurely putting one arm around her and his other hand being engulfed in flames, a hankercheif appearing in it before he awkwardly offered it to her. "Uh....There, there? It's ok. You're alright, right?"

She grabbed the small cloth from her and uselessly wiped at her face. "I-I LOST EVERYTHING!! AND EVERYONE I EVER CARED ABOUT IS G-G-GONE!!" She blew her nose into the small cloth and sniffed wiping her face with her arm. "W-W-What am I supposed to do?! My life is over!!"

"H-Hey! That's not true I-.....*sigh*" He rubbed the back of his head and tried to scramble for a solution. He was NOT good at having heart to heart talks even to himself, so...what would he say to this? He looked back to her as one thought crossed his mind. "I-I...I know exactly how you feel." He scowled. "Yeah. I know EXACTLY how that feels. Vanessa took everything from me too when she froze everything!" He growled and his grip on her became a bit tighter if he was being a lil protective. "I pecking didn't see it coming until it froze me right before my very eyes! I died before my life even took off the ground and now I'm stuck like this....But you aren't." He ...attempted a smile. "Listen, Poppy. I'm not good at this speaking from the heart stuff, but Im pretty good at speaking from experience stuff. So trust me when I saw you still got your whole life plus more ahead of you. It's....probably going to take a while for you to process this properly and start to move on like I did...But your friends wouldn't have wanted you to wallow over them. You can still do things now you're not a frozen statue locked in some room like Vanessa's trophy. And.....I-I promise I will help you. Alright?" And he meant it too. He owed it to her after all that happened. He'd help his dear friend-

"W-What AM I supposed to do now?...E-Everything's-"

"Gone?", he finished for her sighing again. "Look. I ....can't change the past no matter how badly I want to. But I can change the future, and so can you. Think of all the things you can do now without anyone to hold you back!" He might've been speaking from what he perceived as a positive but she gave him a funny look. "Uh...By that I mean vanessa of course. She's not holding you prisoner anymore."

"Gee...T-Thanks for the swell pep talk, Buddy. *hic*" She wiped her eyes again before trying to give back the cloth, to which Snatcher cringed and snapped his fingers making it disappear.

"Hey. I said I wasn't good at that kind of stuff....Hey." He rose a ghostly brow and looked around. "You said the kid brought you here. Where is she?"

She blinked and stared at him for a moment. "I-....I-I don't know. All I remember is falling and landing in swamp water."

He hummed and thought for a moment. Poppy blinked when she was grabbed and raised to her feet by him again. "I have a good idea about where she went. Come on. On your feet. I want to see if my hunch is right."

***********************************************************************************************

"MS POPPY!?"

The shouting of the children still echoed through out the forest as the small hatted girl ran down the dirt path towards the tree house. Blue eyes frantically looking around at every dead tree, tombstone, and dweller that she passed. Desperately looking for a moment of pale skin and red hair. Bow was bounding behind her right on her tail also wearily looking around the forest passing dwellers and subconites alike as she hightailed it after. Both were worried Poppy would soon end up on the wrong side of the forest by now! The swamp! Snatcher's traps! ....GOOD PECKING GOSH!! WAS SNATCHER EVEN BACK YET!? She'd be dead meat without one of the girl's to explain why a grown woman was suddenly walking around in his forest. How could she have let go of her hand and not realize it!? She felt like crying once the sight of the ghost's familiar home came into view. Getting another rush at seeing it, she bounded towards it as fast as she could. Pulling back on her heels digging into the ground and grabbing the hat on her head as she came back to a sliding stop in front of the empty home. Panting and startling the ghosts around it. After a few seconds, Bow ended up stopping right behind her and falling to her knees gasping and wheezing after the long run they did as her friend looked around at everything. No one but the ghosts and Rough Patch that was curled up in Snatcher's chair looking like someone randomly placed a bush in his home.

"Are you looking for the boss, Newbie?," one of the subconites asked pointing in the direction Snatcher previously rushed off too. "You missed him. He left 'bout fifthteen minutes ago."

"OH NO!! OH NO!!" Hattie immediately turned and began running in the direction the minion pointed leaving Bow heaving and sitting there too tired to follow anymore. Running blindly into the woods wasn't the best idea but what was she supposed to do at that now? What if Snatcher spotted Poppy? What if she fell into one of his traps? What if- The child suddenly came to a screeching halt at what emerged out of the woods before her with a scowl. "....Snatcher?!"

The spirit scowled and laserfocused on the little girl right in front of him....Before edging a little bit to the right revealing the red haired tired looking woman behind him. The two girls locked eyes for a solid moment...Before Hattie sighed in releif and wiped her forehead.

"Kid. You have got a lot of explaining to do."

#flowercrown #a hat in time snatcher #a hat in time florist #The Florist #florist #snatcher #florist x snatcher #snatcher x florist #a bloom in time

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subconwell · 5 years

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Title: Insufferable Relationship: Snatcher/The Conductor Description: Due to a mishap on set (and a spur of the moment contract), the Conductor finds himself working alongside Snatcher. There's more common ground than they expected, which only makes their budding relationship more terrifying than it should be. Word Count: 2,786

My first Snatchductor fanfiction, with multiple chapters to boot! If you enjoy it, please feel free to leave a comment and kudos here on its AO3 page!

I’m going to also put it up on my blog for people that prefer to read fics that way.

Chapter One: Bargain Bin Deal

It was, by all accounts, a stunt gone wrong.

The Conductor, by nature, is overly ambitious. When that’s paired with his tendency to be stubborn, that’s just a disaster waiting to happen. He strives for every movie to be bigger and better, especially as far as the Bird Movie Awards are concerned. Sure, he may find ways to rig the system, and yes, he hasn’t been known to play fair. This year would be different. The entire incident with the small hat child only reignited his desire to win through his stunts, his ideas, and most of all, his bloody train.

Of course, that’d be more helpful if there was a bloody train to use―even now, the Conductor can’t tell what started the whole mess in the first place. His first instinct, as always, is to blame everyone around him for it. An Express Owl messed up the bomb’s timer, the owl in charge of pulling the stunt off hesitated, the owls brought him the wrong kind of bomb to use, every excuse in the book that absolved him of blame. He knew the truth, though: he, the director, made a gross oversight, and now there is no train to work with. Not for the movie, and especially not for his main line of work: conducting the only train on the entire planet.

Luckily, it’s still the weekend. He’s made up an excuse for why the train isn’t running, but there aren’t any owls (that he’s not using for his current movie, of course) heading to work until the week starts over again. The owls who witnessed the explosion were threatened not to tell a soul, of course, so most of the population doesn’t know.

Yet.

What a disaster of a word that is, he thinks to himself, nearly stumbling over an exposed root. Where is he, anyway? The Conductor swears he was just at the bar, drinking his sorrows away and vaguely lamenting. Maybe he a wrong turn on the way home somewhere? He’s been so lost in his own thoughts that, admittedly, he was not paying attention to where he was headed. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. There’s no train, there’s no feasible way to get a train in such a short amount of time, and frankly, he doesn’t quite see the point in existing in the moment as long as he doesn’t have his train. He continues to mentally lament the loss of his livelihood, drinking the rest of the contents of his flask (that he may or may not have filled on the way out from the bar while the bartender wasn’t looking) and trying not to fall over.

“You really thought you could step into my forest in that condition?” A sigh. “Normally, I’d have to trap unsuspecting visitors, but I can’t trust you to walk far enough to see it!”

The voice catches him off-guard, but the Conductor recovers quickly. “Eh?” he says, leaning on a tree and trying to figure out where the voice came from. “Who said that?”

“Look up.”

As soon as he does, he realizes he’s come face to face with a ghost. At least, he’s assuming that’s what this guy is. A shadow, maybe? A specter? Oh well, whatever. He’s not sure, and frankly, he doesn’t care.

“What, ye own an entire forest? Ridiculous!”

“Actually, yes, I do,” he insists. “That level of disrespect from a drunkard is a punishable offense, you know.”

“Then do somethin’ about it, peck neck!”

“Thanks for your permission! I was going to regardless!”

“There’s not much left for me without me train,” he says. “Go ahead! I’m not afraid of whatever yer gonna do!”

The other gives pause, tilting his head (and whole body, for that matter) to the side. “Your train? You’re giving up on living because of a train?”

“What about it?” The Conductor leans on the tree more heavily. It’s getting difficult to keep standing. “It’s me whole career! Well, that and movies, but I need me train fer that too!”

The spirit puts a hand to his chin, looking deep in thought for a moment. “As much as I don’t like you already, I get the feeling I should be merciful to some degree. Fine, I’ll strike a deal with you, and it’ll benefit the both of us. What do you say?”

Truth be told, the Conductor is not as coherent and put together as he usually is. Something about the drink causes him to not fight things as much―heck, it’s why he does it in the first place! It’s a way to unwind. Of course, the anger does end up seeping through, but he lets things slide much more easily. His judgement is in shambles. His ability to stay upright is gone. He is not in any condition to be making a deal.

“Aye, sure, throw whatever you have at me.”

He’s going to be making a deal anyway.

“Going to do it the easy way, I see.” There before the Conductor is a freshly made contract, with its own quill pen to boot. “Go ahead, read it!”

“Nae,” he says, “I’m not sober enough fer this.”

“Can’t even be bothered to read it, huh?” The ghost before him makes some ‘tch tch’ noises, frowning. The bird is unable to tell how authentic this is. “Am I feeling merciful enough to give a summary? Hmm... We don’t even know each other’s names, and you want this kind of thing from me. You’re really asking a lot out of me.”

“The Conductor,” he helpfully slurs out.

“Great, don’t care!”

“Then why’d ye bring it up in the first place, peck neck?”

Although he doesn’t have pupils, he can still somehow tell that the ghost is rolling his eyes. “Fine, I’m the Snatcher, at your service! See, all I really require from you is your soul, and―”

“Ye just want me soul? Pfft!” He laughs, nearly losing his balance in the process. The Conductor grabs onto the tree. “Fine, take it! Not like I’m doin’ much with it anyway! Actually, didn’t know I had one, now that I think about it.”

“Normally, that is all I’d want,” Snatcher says. “But since you’ve been giving me a hard time, and you interrupted me while I was speaking, I’m going to ask for something else from you: let me be in one of your movies.”

The laughter stops. “What!? No! I’m not letting ye just walk up and decide yer gonna be in my movie!”

“And I’m not letting you have an entire train without some form of compensation since your soul alone won’t cut it,” he replies. “It’s quite simple, really. You’re asking a lot out of me, bird brain, and I can only be so generous.”

“Nae! Pick somethin’ else, I’ll do anything besides that!”

“You’re not exactly in a position to negotiate, you know.” He leans in, looming over the Conductor as he continues. The bird isn’t phased. “Either you take the deal as it’s presented to you, or you get absolutely nothing at all. In fact, I think I’ll take your soul regardless!”

Unfortunately, this forest entity is right. There aren’t a whole lot of options left for him at this point. He can swallow his pride and give in to desperation, or he willing gives up his life (that doesn’t have a point to it without his train anyway). Actually, now that his alcohol addled mind thinks about it, both options involve the sacrifice of what little autonomy he has left. It’s live or die, and which would he rather do?

“Hand the contract over before I change my mind, peck neck,” he says, sliding down to the ground. The Conductor has given up trying to stay standing while also voluntarily giving up his soul. Hey, at least he’ll have a reason to live! Does he even want to at this point? Well, too late now, he supposes, sitting up and trying to sign the document with the wrong side of the pen. Snatcher, albeit reluctantly, helpfully flips it for him. He tries to mumble that he had it, but no, he really didn’t.

“There ye are.” The bird tries to hand the pen and contract over to the ghost, but it disappears out of his hands fairly quickly. “So, when do I get me train?”

Snatcher smiles. “In due time.”

Then, he wakes up.

The Conductor sits up, bleary eyed and trying, for the life of him, to figure out where he is. It feels unfamiliar, and yet he’s clearly on one of the couches in the VIP room of his train. He doesn’t even remember going here, let alone falling asleep. The massive headache that he has coming on isn’t helping matters much either. Rubbing his temples, he tries to process everything, the room seemingly spinning as he tries to stand up, so he lets himself sit back down again. Why’s this room tinted purple, anyway…?

“Ooh, careful, you shouldn’t be getting up so quickly after drinking that much.”

Ah, peck.

He turns around, holding his head after such a quick movement aggravates it. Snatcher, eternally smiling, looks at him from across the room. “What’re yer doing in here!? How long have ye―”

“You sure do yell a lot.” He moves closer to the Conductor, leaning on the back of the couch. The bird scoots himself as far away from him as he can. “Can’t imagine that’d be good for your hangover.”

“Answer me, peck neck!”

“For your information, my minions directed me here.” The ghost motions to a couple of small, purple creatures in the doorway, who only wave enthusiastically. “They’re the ones who put you in here after you passed out in my forest. I was just coming by to ask you where your set is.”

“Set?”

“Your movie set?” Snatcher tilts his head to the side. “Don’t you remember our arrangement?”

“Our… Arrangement?”

“You know, I’ve been wondering what kind of bird you are, but at this rate, I think I’ll assume you’re a parrot from the way you’re repeating everything back at me.” With a snap of his fingers, a contract appears in front of the Conductor. “You can read over it now if you want! Pretty sure you’re sober now, right?”

“Wh―” He grabs it, skimming over the words. The events of last night before his untimely blackout hit him as soon as he sees his signature at the bottom. The Conductor can’t bring himself to finish the entire document, and he lowers it, looking over to the Snatcher. While he tries to stay calm―he’s taking deep breaths, telling himself it’s not as bad as he thinks it is―his anger ultimately wins out. “Why yer no good noodle lookin’ contract writin’ PECK NECK! I WASN’T IN ME RIGHT STATE OF MIND WHEN I SIGNED THIS!”

“What was it you said before? Something about there not being much for you left without your train?” The Conductor freezes in his tracks, and the way he stares back at Snatcher only causes the latter to laugh. “Oh, you forgot you said that, didn’t you?”

The bird takes a deep breath, letting a hand run down his face. Quietly, he says, “I didn’t think I said that.”

“That’s too bad! You did, and you completely screwed yourself! Now, are you done looking that over?”

“Nae,” he says, “let me get something straight first: yer giving me this train in exchange for being in one of me movies.”

“Correct.”

“And if I say no?”

Snatcher smiles. “Then you should also say bye to this little locomotive of yours.”

“Can’t we make another deal?” he pleads. The Conductor hates swallowing his pride for this, but what else has he got to lose? He already lost whatever was left of his dignity the night before. “I’ll give yer anything else! I can’t afford to mess this up!”

“Are you assuming I’ll do something to ruin your movie?” The ghost’s smile fades. He just looks disappointed, but the Conductor feels nothing. “Oh, I’m absolutely hurt. A stab in the nonexistent gut.”

“Yer not even good at acting,” he grumbles. “How am I gonna win the Annual Bird Movie Awards like this?”

Snatcher blinks. “What, that’s it? You’re trying to win some trophy?”

“It’s about more than the trophy, peck neck!” The Conductor huffs, his voice getting louder the more he speaks. “It’s about the recognition! Being the best there is! Keeping me winning streak! Proving me movies are better than DJ Grooves’!” He spats out his rival’s name like it’s venom on his tongue. Snatcher only seems more intrigued. “That lousy good fer nothin’ thinks his movies are better than mine, and I can’t have you comin’ along and ruining that fer me, can I!?”

“That’s great and all, but that doesn’t change anything.” Was the peck neck even listening? “As much as I want to be heavily invested in your little rivalry, the fact of the matter is you’re stuck with me! Doomed to star in whatever bargain bin trash you’re making this time!”

“IT’S NOT TRASH!” He pauses. “Bargain bin!?”

“If you admitted that you’re a parrot, this entire conversation wouldn’t get on my nerves as much as it has. C’mon, pal, give me a chance to say something in my defense.” Snatcher slips an arm around the Conductor, who promptly smacks it off. “Ooh, you’re a touchy one, aren’t you?”

“Me movies are better than yer makin’ them out to be! If they’re so bad, why do ye wanna be in one so much!?”

Snatcher shrugs. “It sounded interesting at the time! Frankly, I regret making this deal too, especially after having to put up with whatever the past few minutes have been!” He moves away from the bird. “But, hey, a deal’s a deal. As much as I want to go back on it, I’m a man of my word. So, I’m stuck with you until production wraps up, which is…?”

The Conductor sighs. “A couple of months at least. I’ve fallen behind schedule enough as it is.”

“Wonderful! I’m going to hate every second of it.”

So am I, the Conductor thinks to himself, rubbing his temples. His headache persists, and he’s not sure it’s coming from the hangover at this rate. He has to force himself to calm down―the Annual Bird Movie Awards is fast approaching, and every second he spends trying to debate with this thing is time wasted. Deep breaths, Conductor, deep breaths. He looks down at the contract again, trying to actually finish what he was reading before. He rolls it up, shoving it into his pocket. “We need to head straight to the studio, then.” He walks past Snatcher. “That’s where I was last shooting. It’s going to be a pain trying to fit you into this movie, but I can do it.”

Snatcher smiles, floating alongside him. The Conductor tries very hard to walk ahead of him, but it’s not working. “So, what, going to rewrite it all so it’s all about me? That’s very generous of you!”

He turns on his heels, pointing a finger at the ghost that’s, admittedly, much taller than he is. Height never stopped him before. “I’m going to make this clear once and fer all, peck neck: yer not STARRING in MY MOVIE! Nothing about what I read said you’d have to be the main focus, and yer not going to be! You’ll be in it, you’ll get a role, but that’s it! Do ye hear me!?”

Snatcher stares at him for a moment, and then starts laughing. Wheezing, hysterical laughter. As the bird rares up to begin another tirade, the ghost speaks. “Okay, okay, I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting you to notice that part of the contract. Normally I’d go back, make up some excuse, maybe change it to something that makes your life a lot harder, but I’ll give you a break.” He almost pats the Conductor on the top of his head, but thinks better of it, retracting his hand and putting it on his own hip instead. “Don’t think I’m going easy on you, though! You still have your contractual obligations to fulfill, and I won’t stop being a nuisance until you properly include me. That’s up to my own judgement.”

Better than nothing. There’s some relief (and satisfaction) in being told that he finally has some sort of upper hand on the other, but it feels like a hollow and forced victory. “Fine, fine. Let’s just get to set already.”

Lord knows Snatcher’s going to make this shoot a lot harder than it needs to be. Ultimately, the Conductor will adjust―he’s always been one for a challenge.

#ahit #a hat in time #ahit conductor #ahit snatcher #snatchductor #the snatcher #the conductor #dev fic tag

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whipplefilter · 6 years

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How does Harv deal with Lightning, his star client, continually turning down Tex Dinoco’s offers? In the first movie, getting Tex to make the offer was the major goal. :) Thanks!

By still charging Lightning what he’d be charging him if Lightning were racing for a bigger team, LOL.

So I guess the question we need to ponder first is, what difference does it make for Harv if LMQ is racing for Rusteze or Dinoco? I figure Harv has two concerns with regard to his job as an agent: 1) notoriety and 2) money.

How the money works in the Piston Cup/the Cars world is something I wonder about a lot, and am probably unnecessarily intrigued by, so let’s tl;dr the living heck out of this!

It seems like there are three major sources of team funding in the Piston Cup:

sponsorship (the main team sponsor and other supporting/contingency sponsors)

the purse

kickbacks from media appearances, merchandise, etc.

In NASCAR, the race team and its sponsor are not the same entity, so there is potential for race teams to use money from other ventures they have (like team owners’ sizable personal fortunes)–which in addition to attracting bigger/more generous sponsorship deals is probably a leg-up that big teams in NASCAR have over small teams. At least from a fiscal standpoint, there would seem to be a bit more parity in the small vs. large teams debate in the Piston Cup than in NASCAR.

R&D seems to be less of a thing in Piston Cup racing. Since there don’t seem to be extremely strict rules with regard to body design or aero, teams probably don’t have to spend as much researching that. They clearly still do (or are beginning to–we see Sterling has a wind tunnel, so aero research must count for something), and I imagine the Piston Cup does test things like best brake pad compounds, or best air filter, etc. Maybe R&D is something that happens earlier in the chain for Piston Cup racers–like, whoever/whatever made Lightning, or made Storm, invested money in a new race car design at their inception, and probably gets a cut of whatever success they have.

(SIDEBAR, I wonder if whoever designed Storm then sold “generic Next-Gen body prototype design” to other custom fabricators, which spurred the burst of other Next-Gens. Which would mean whoever designed Lightning either didn’t sell/didn’t make more Lightning-shaped cars, OR they weren’t successful??)

Anyway, I feel like because there’s less R&D the bigger part of a Piston Cup team’s budget would be the talent. The racers are… the car… so it would make sense that those budget line items would be paired closer together. XDD The team would need to be able to offer enough money to entice a talented racer, while also paying for their other staff salaries (which again, staff seem to be fewer in the Piston Cup world).

Things a Piston Cup team would have to pay for: payroll, car parts (to replace worn or damaged components after each race), tires, travel, extremely fancy simulators and training centers that clearly Rusteze never in its pre-Sterling life ever had anyway

Things the racer probably pays for separately: car/health insurance, agent fees, lawyer fees, living expenses

Staying with Rusteze over Dinoco meant the sponsorship money available was significantly less. Tires, travel, and car parts are going to cost the same no matter the team, so the main difference would be money spent on payroll and training (which they didn’t spend).

Less money not being an obstacle to Lightning’s success probably, then, hinged on a few things:

Payroll Savings. While going through the trouble of hiring multiple crew chiefs over the first year was probably expensive, lolllll, Doc probably didn’t take a salary as Lightning’s crew chief; and the rest of Radiator Springs was probably content to not be paid much (by the racing world’s standards), either. (The racing world’s standards for “not much” are very different from small-town Arizona’s.) After Doc’s passing, Lightning didn’t hire another crew chief–likely for a whole plethora or reasons, money not being a very important one, but not having a crew chief undoubtedly saved money, as well.

Win a lot. More winning, more prize money! Meaning the relative lack of sponsorship money would mean less. Lightning did a lot of winning, so all good there. XDD

Managing the sponsorship/winnings split? In Cars 3, Lightning has fewer supporting sponsors than he does in Cars 1, which might mean that Rusty/Dusty wanted to manage Lightning’s time and energy (not having to do as much sponsorship stuff beyond Rusteze), and also that they were okay with taking less sponsorship money from these other companies. Maybe in the Cars world since teams/sponsors are synonymous, supporting sponsors also get a cut of the winnings. If Lightning was winning a lot, keeping purse money in-house might have made more sense than taking in sponsorship money but also paying out some of the purse to those sponsors/teams.

Don’t crash! Even if it’s not a medically-threatening crash, crashing is expensive. If Rusteze’s budget were going to work, Lightning would need to be damaged a below-average amount. While I’m sure he still got collected in his share of misfortunes and mess-ups, Lightning’s racing style is already very invested in never touching anyone else (as we see in both the Southern 500 in Cars 1 and at Thunder Hollow), so that likely lent itself well to this plan.

Lightning himself would need to be willing to make a lot less money, simply because there wasn’t nearly as much to go around. He’s evidently fine with that by the end of the first movie, and aside from putting money into the town and getting very glamorous paint jobs very often, his expenses aren’t much. Sally probably doesn’t even charge him for his Cone. XD And probably doesn’t charge anywhere near as much for her legal services as the previous lawyer did.

So, to come back around to the actual question, Lightning’s major expenditure might actually be Harv (and insurance). But, following my earlier headcanon about Harv taking on a lot of Lightning’s marketing himself (rather than Rusty and Dusty doing it), Harv might also have essentially paid for himself. I feel like Rusty and Dusty’s idea of marketing was setting up their little EZ-Up and inviting their customer base to the races. The bobbleheads and stickers and TV spots (beyond the Rusteze commercial) and all of that? All Harv.

Harv says he gets “10% of your winnings and merchandising. And ancillary rights in perpetuity” which–and I say this knowing very little about how money works–seems like…. a lot? According to this article, agents in the NFL get 3% of the player’s salary. Obviously the Piston Cup is not the NFL, but 10% still seems high, and LOL at “ancillary rights in perpetuity”–which means that even if Lightning were to fire Harv, Harv would still own Lightning’s merchandising/etc. rights for all time, forever, no matter what. Harv could kill a man and unless Lightning took it to court, he’d still need to pay Harv for publicity, lololol. Which certainly lends credence to the idea that Harv set himself up as Lightning’s marketing guru/business manager in addition to his agent doing normal agent things, since he negotiated for the rights in the contract.

In short (LIES, this none of this was or will be short), I think Lightning’s success at Rusteze was largely dependent on… Lightning’s success at Rusteze. That team would only work, at that level of success in racing, in one way–and it happened to be the one Lightning was able to actualize. If anything else had been different, or gone awry, it’s possible Lightning wouldn’t have been able to be as competitive as he was on a team of that size.

As for Harv, as long as it was working–well. Then it was working. As long as Lightning was willing to take the cut and pay Harv the same as he would if he were making Dinoco money, when it’s all good. Harv probably also doubled down in his moonlighting role as business manager/marketer, which is certainly not something that would have been open to him at Dinoco, anyway, since Dinoco already has many cars that do that job. So Lightning’s decision might actually have benefitted Harv in terms of the money. And in terms of the notoriety, Lighting having the success that he did would have given him that no matter what team he raced for–but Harv’s marketing and agent-ing solidified it, and doing it with a small team probably made it all the more impressive. Win-win!

And just in case we’re worried that Lightning got the short end of all the sticks here:

He really just wanted to race, anyway. Money was appealing to him in the first movie because what else was there? He didn’t know. But if you sign with Dinoco, you know your team is never folding and you always get to race. Rusteze? Ehhhhhh. Maybe one day you wake up and suddenly Rusteze didn’t sell enough bumper cream, and there’s no more money, and therefore no more racing. That’s a material reality Lightning probably wanted to avoid.

Even taking major pay cuts and paying out the wazoo for Harv, Lightning has probably still taken home more money than this entire fandom will ever make, all together, for our entire lives. He embarked on a next-day multi-stop international journey without even pausing to think about the cost of short-notice international jetsetting. He’s fine. XDDDD

#tl;dr #pixar science #the business of racing #pixar cars #cars fandom #longpost #lightning mcqueen #harv #my man harv #the world's greatest agent #H A R V #asks #cats-cradle56

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fey-caress · 4 years

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What is An Angel Investor?

This post first appeared on What is An Angel Investor? For Startup Investments check out https://www.nexea.co

What is an Angel Investor? This article is your ultimate guide to angel investors, who are they, what is the angel investor funding process as well as the most commonly asked questions regarding Angel Investors.

Who Are Angel Investors?

Angel investors are individuals who are providers of funds and/or capital for a business start-up normally in its early stages of the business, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Since angel investors are very often individuals that have been at executive positions at large firms, they can often provide useful advice and introductions to the entrepreneur based on their own experiences, in addition to the funds.

A Harvard report provided information on how angel-funded start-ups had a higher chance of survival, likely up to four years more in comparison to non-angel invested firms.

Alejandro Cremades, the author of “The Art of Startup Fundraising: Pitching Investors, Negotiating the Deal and Everything Else Entrepreneurs Need to Know”, states that angel investing has not only become trendy and highly profitable, but it has also emerged into being a powerful source of fuel for the national economy, jobs and new innovation.

Taking a peek into the world of angel investors, using the United States as an example, GeekWire Statistics reveals that Angels are more diverse than venture capitalists and the majority are women with the number increasing by the minute. However, the statistics will differ in every country.

How Does Angel Investing Work?

This is a step-by-step process and not something that reaps success overnight. New startup businesses or individual entrepreneurs often seek out for angel investors to pitch in capital to their business in return for a stake in the company they invest in. It’s not just limited to the capital, their experience and knowledge in the industry hold immense value as well.

To put this timeline into perspective, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos himself benefited from 22 “angels” that supported his startup, Amazon in the 1990s when it was a struggling online bookselling service. Many of Amazon’s initial investments came from Bezos’ family and friends, an input of $50,000 secured 1% of the company. Today, those shares are worth more than $8.5 billion. That investment saw a 17-million-per cent gain 25 years later! However, this is just an example and this does not mean that your angel-funded business will take decades to be successful too!

Lifecycle of a Startup Business

According to MintyMint, angel investors enter the lifecycle of a startup in these early stages where they are in need of guidance and capital the most.

Let’s start with the most basic question: Why and when do you need an Angel Investor? This type of investment is targeted to those entrepreneurs in need of business expertise and financing for their startup. Usually, a method of recommendation and referrals also allows investors and entrepreneurs to meet together. Entrepreneurs are usually provided with the angel investor’s profile and vice versa. Both parties will have their own series of requirements; a checklist of expectations.

The screening process for entrepreneurs will include their requirement in terms of investor skill and capacity of capital input whereas for investors, they need to look out for any “red flags” within the business and how attractive is the investment opportunity based on the input of time, money and attention.

What is an Angel Investor expecting from your pitch? Pitches like this can turn out to be quite stressful for the entrepreneurs because of a lot of reasons: they are time-sensitive and they need to be able to fit all information regarding their business in that time slot for the angels, the environment may also have a stressful impact on the entrepreneurs pitching and often sometimes leads them to forget their numbers. Amongst all, it is of utmost importance to remain transparent with the investors and provide them with all the key figures.

Important components of your Investment Pitch

Once both parties have agreed upon working together before the angel investor funding process begins, there are some angels that might prefer to invest straight after a pitch but the majority are interested in a little due diligence at first. This may include going through scenario building or a certain checklist of things to be approved by the angel. Before ending the due diligence process, it is at this point that both parties sit down together and agree on their deal terms, goals that are mutually accepted and beneficial as well as the deal structure and meeting notes that are to be shared with the diligence report once it is complete.

Once all the legal implications are completed, a closing date is assigned, documents are signed. The process is a lot more time consuming and further technicalities are involved. Described above is a brief summary for quick understanding!

As a summary, Neil Patel, New York’s best selling author, and renowned online marketer, having helped renowned companies like Zappos, Amazon, Viacom, Airbnb and the list goes on; explain in detail what angel investing is all about.

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“But how are Angel Investors any different than Venture Capitalists?”

Many people often confuse the two and fail to notice the differences between the two entities. Here is just a brief outline to clear out any confusions you may have regarding the difference in both. Angel investors are individuals willing to spend their own money whereas venture capitalists (VCs) come from a venture capital company. Angel investors have limited funds and prefer the investment amount under a limit whereas venture capitalists prefer large amount of investments.

Angel Investors vs Venture Capitalists

Most angel investors prefer investing at the start-up stage of a business in comparison to VCs that prefer entering the business when they see a potential to progress further. A few further characteristics are detailed in the diagram above detailing what is an angel investor and how is it different from a venture capitalist.

What are the Top Qualities to Look for in an Angel Investor?

What is an angel investor’s ideal qualities? Angels step in as saviours for budding entrepreneurs to help them kick start their business. Therefore, it is important, for an entrepreneur, to know and understand the characteristics and qualities to look for in a potential angel investor. This debate can be divided into three sub-sections:

Personality of Angels

Finding a trustworthy angel for your business is crucial because you do not want to provide your private and confidential information to someone who will later use that privileged information against you. What is an angel investor’s personality trait that is suitable for your business? It is important for angels and entrepreneurs to build a relationship on mutual trust and reliability, not only for monetary assistance and protection but for guidance and knowledge as well. They must have good decision-making skills and the ability to remain calm under pressure. They have a quick eye for talent (based on their years of experience, of course!) and potential in your business and give you the verdict straight away whether they see potential in your business idea or now.

Patience is truly a virtue, a patient angel understands the business environment and dynamics and that profits do not start rolling out overnight. They possess the ability to see through the bigger picture and focus on the long-term operation and not be afraid of whatever challenges that may come their way. An angel should not only be in it for the profits but also enjoy nurturing, mentoring and have the thrill to deal with challenging situations alongside the entrepreneurs.

Investment Decision Skills

Seasoned business angels rely heavily upon due diligence before making any commitments or signing contracts. What is an angel investor’s focus when it comes to investment decisions? They prefer getting into the ‘nitty-gritty’ details to prevent any risk of fraud, scams or other unfavourable circumstances. Angels also need to possess great networking skills, they will help bring on board more individuals if they are well-connected in the industry.

Angel investors will follow the principle of diversity and know that not all business models are the same therefore they won’t yield the same results upon investment. When investing in multiple businesses, they understand that no two ventures are going to work on the same dynamics.

Coaching and Support from an Angel

Secondly, it is also important to note that what is an angel investor’s top mentoring skills that you should keep track of? Along with having the aim to make money, angels should also be relationship builders for successful business partnership and understanding. They also need to have great mentoring skills as the majority of their time will be spent engaging with the entrepreneurs and coaching them and their teams on how to make it big in the corporate world.

Other than their monetary input, angels also need to be willing to remain actively involved in the venture in terms of advice and their knowledge on brand management, networking, product and service strategies.

Where Do I Find an Angel Investor in Malaysia?

What is an angel investor’s role in Malaysia? Every country will have their own means to approach an angel investor usually through an angel investor directory. But, if you are reading this article and in need of an angel investor, you came to the right place.

Visit the NEXEA Angel Investors Network and submit your application for approval to get funded!

“How Do I Become an Angel Investor in Malaysia?”

What is an Angel Investor’s registration process if any? It is not required that you register yourself as an Angel Investor, you can still be an angel investor without registration. However, according to the Malaysian Business Angel Network (MBAN), if you are to register yourself as an accredited angel investor in the country, you would then be eligible to enjoy a tax benefit amounting to RM 500, 000 under the Angel Tax Incentive Programme.

For registration purposes, you are to meet the following requirements:

Either A High Net Worth Individual (Total Wealth Or Net Personal Assets Of RM 3 Million And Above Or Its Equivalent In Foreign Currencies)

A High Income Earner (Gross Total Annual Income Of Not Less Than RM 180,000 In The Preceding 12 Months; Or RM 250,000 Jointly With One’s Spouse)

Tax Resident In Malaysia

On the flip side, if you are a startup seeking an angel investor, according to MBAN, your startup is to fulfil the following requirements:

Company Has To Be Minimum 51% of Malaysian Citizen Ownership

Company’s Core Business Must Be Technology Related

Been In Operation For Three (3) Years Or Less

Cumulative Revenue Of Less Than RM 5 Million

On A Parting Note

What is an angel investor? Hopefully, this article would’ve helped to increase your knowledge about angel investors. Angel investors are playing a more and more important role in financing many new businesses, even though in comparison to other sources of financing, they individually invest relatively small amounts of capital in the early stages of enterprise development.

Visit the NEXEA Angel Investors and take advantage of the most experienced network of investors and Startup Mentors in Malaysia.

References

How Angel Investors And Angel Groups Work

How Does Angel Investing Work?

How to create an effective pitch deck: A data-driven analysis of what makes successful slides

Jeff Bezos told what may be the best startup investment story ever

Startup Funding 101: investment rounds and sources

For more, check out NEXEA For Startup Investments check out https://www.nexea.co

source https://www.nexea.co/what-is-an-angel-investor/

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lauramalchowblog · 5 years

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9 Things Every Healthcare Startup Should Know About Business Development

By ANDY MYCHKOVSKY

In this post, I write down all my strategy and business development knowledge in healthcare and organize it into the top 9 commandments for selling as a healthcare startup. I think everyone from the founder to the most junior person on the team should know these pillars because all startups must grow. I should also note these tenets are most applicable for selling into large enterprise healthcare incumbents (e.g., payers, providers, medical device, drug companies). Although I appreciate the direct-to-consumer game, these slices are less applicable for that domain. If your startup needs help developing or implementing your business development strategy, shoot me an email and we can discuss a potential partnership. Enjoy!

1. Understand Everything About the Product and Market

You must also understand the competitive landscape, who else is in the marketplace and how they appear differentiated? What has been their preferred go-to-market approach and is your startup capable of replicating a similar strategy with your current team members? Also, do you understand the federal and state policy that most affects your vertical, whether that be pharmaceutical or medical device (e.g., FDA), health plans (e.g., state insurance commissioners), or providers (e.g., CMS)? For example, if your company is focused on “value-based care” and shifting payment structures of physicians to downside risk, do you intimately understand The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and the requisite CMS Demonstration Models from the Innovation Center (e.g., MSSP, BPCI-A, etc.)? Make sure you do or at least hire someone to explain what is important now and in the future.

2. Create A Compelling Pitch

In my opinion, creating a startup’s compelling pitch to an incumbent healthcare entity requires satisfying three factors: strategic, financial, and clinical. Surely, your healthcare startup’s machine learning, AI-backed, blockchain-enabled data analytics platform may someday deliver better clinical results in some way, however, if it has no monetizable value for the incumbent healthcare entity, your idea is not going to sell. Also, you cannot just focus on financial benefit, without weaving in some tangential use cases to further the clinical mission and receive buy-in from the medical community. These are complicated entities with a variety of stakeholders and macro environmental challenges that must be somehow improved by your product.

For example, a hospital is not equipped to move 100% of their payment into a full downside risk value-based care contract just because you have a care management platform and iPhone app. These entities employ tens of thousands of workers and operate on very slim profit margins and continual reinvestment into building new facilities. They also employ a ton of nurses performing care coordination, discharge planning, and bedside care, who have their own opinions on what works best for their local community. At the end of the day, these providers receive payment from private and governmental health plans, at varying negotiated rates. If your healthcare startups business model is predicated on keeping commercially-insured patients out of the hospital and instead, treated at home, you are literally cannibalizing the hospital’s highest margin revenue. Therefore, how do you suppose to improve their financials and support their recently opened new hospital wing by keeping patients out of the hospital? You better have a very compelling reimbursement argument and concept that satisfies the CFO’s concerns.

3. Organize Stakeholder Outreach

There are a million different ways to engage with prospects nowadays. If you use email campaigns, be sure to obtain verifiably accurate contact information. You can scrape information from online sources or publicly available lists. You can ask conferences to provide attendee lists if you sponsor a table or event. You can work with trade associations to obtain contact information on members who are most relevant to your product. Whatever you do, make sure you’re sending simple, yet compelling emails through an automated mailing system to track engagement and follow-up. Try different subject lines or sender names. Don’t include attachments or external links unless you’re willing to risk being diverted into the spam folders.

Regardless, don’t just rely on email blasts. That’s lazy thinking. You need to think multi-level marketing to crack through that executive ceiling. Are you attending the right conferences with a set list of individuals to target? Maybe you need to pay someone who has the right connections and is willing to make introductions in-person? Are you providing free content in the form of webinars or podcasts that is co-produced and therefore advertised by independent organizations that have already garnered the trust of a particular audience? Are you willing to sweet talk office managers at a local medical practice to get 15 minutes of the founding physician’s time? You need to find creative ways to engage your target audience, without ridiculous tactics like sending gingerbread houses during Christmas season to multi-billion dollar health system executives or solely relying on targeted Instagram ads. Remember, healthcare is hyper-local. If you need a meeting with the head of a single cardiology practice in Atlanta, GA, go find the head of the former board chair of the American College of Cardiology’s local chapter.

Over the past few years, a ton of digital health startups have focused on the self-insured employer market due to contracting flexibility. If you focus on self-insured employers, think about the pros and cons of working with channel partners. There are a couple giants that own the entire employee benefit design and health insurance broker game, including Willis Towers Watson, Aon, or Mercer. Typically, brokers receive a healthy 3-6% commission fee off the total premium covered for all employees. If you want immediate distribution of your product or service to millions of employees across the country, you might have to pay one of these brokers an extra fee to offer your goods. In addition, the brokers will be looking for your startup to benefit their clients, employers, to save medical spending and improve employee engagement.

4. Identify Early Themes During Initial Pitch

We all have great ideas. They sound good on paper, and the team is bought in. You even received executive approval from the founders to initiate your sales process. The only problem is that during the first few meetings, which were 30-minute introductory calls with non-decision makers, the pitch hasn’t resonated. It feels like you’re selling an Apple Watch when the buyer only wants to talk about sun dials. I thought healthcare was ready for innovation?

The reality is that your product, back to lesson #2, is not satisfying their strategic, financial, and clinical needs. Or you’ve done a poor job clearly articulating the vision and how your small startup will be able to meaningfully improve a problem the healthcare incumbent encounters. Perhaps you’re pitching a $5,000 per month SAAS solution that could yield 3 times the ROI in savings to an organization? The problem is, the same company just spent $500 million on an Epic electronic medical record (EMR) installation and is concerned about losing $10 million this quarter because of contract disputes with a large payer. Sometimes your product just isn’t big enough to garner an executive audience. In that case, think about positioning your product with flexible pricing or partnership terms in a way that a middle-manager won’t need executive approval to sign.

Maybe you’re talking to a health plan about reducing dermatology spend because you have the latest and greatest technology, but the entire healthcare market is focused on providing cheaper transportation benefits to patients to reduce missed appointments (i.e., Uber, Lyft). That’s all anyone ever talks about at conferences you attend. If you’re the 10th most important thing that a Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is thinking about, either create a more compelling reason why they should change their list or find a different size stakeholder who is more immediately affected by your service.

5. Maintain Interest Level and Dig Deeper

Now that you have initial interest, continue to build momentum. It is incredibly easy to walk out of an initial meeting, with both parties having enjoyed the 30- or 60-minute conversation, but never move forward. Life is complicated and people get busy. You might think your healthcare startup is the next best thing since garlic knots, but that healthcare executive has 5 more pitches this week from other companies in your space. They also have budgets, HR issues, and bosses to deal with themselves. After a while, your follow-up emails and phone calls seem akin to your ex-boyfriend’s pitiful attempts. Reassess your strategy before further annoyance.

Can you introduce them to compelling referenceable clients that will speak kindly about your startup? Not in a way that seems cheesy, but able to articulate the good, the bad, and how your startup remedied the bad so it never happens again. If possible, these should be peers. A vice president at a fortune 50 drug manufacturer likely doesn’t want to talk to a junior-person at a small biotech startup. Know your audience and adapt. If the references don’t exist, are there other things you can do to “wow” the client? Do you have a demo? Can you analyze some of their data? Is someone on your team able to answer one of their questions via a mini-consulting project? Do you have an invite to a closed-door event that features some interesting topic area? At the very least, you have a Board of Directors, management team, and investors. Hopefully one of those can help build rapport at an executive level, in addition to your individual efforts.

6. Develop Detailed Partnership Terms

I am a strong proponent of protecting the company you work for during partnership discussions, but sometimes startups need to acknowledge the importance of closing a new partnership deal. You need to be flexible. You are a small healthcare startup negotiating against a large, bureaucratic organization with tons of legal representation. Don’t waste time debating term sheet after term sheet. It doesn’t matter if its non-binding. Discuss and agree on the high-level key structure, and then propose a draft of your definitive agreement or master services agreement with all the bells and whistles. This is going to take a while, so buckle in and try to set expectations on closing. By this time, if you’re good, you will have likely already signed an NDA and perhaps, a letter of intent (LOI) discussing the spirit of your partnership discussions with appropriate confidentiality and expectations around timing of a go or no-go decision.

Now you need to actually put pen to paper and define what your startup will provide to the healthcare company. They will want more details on data privacy than you have to provide. They will want to know detailed clinical workflows describing your process. They will want a detailed step-by-step breakdown of all the resources and time required by their staff and management, in order to be successful. Worst case scenario is that your product requires more time to be successful by the client’s team, than the benefit your product provides. You need to just survive and answer all their questions to the best of your ability. If you hit a brick wall, at some point just tell them honestly that you’re working on addressing a few of their concerns and they will be finalized before go-live.

7. Be Flexible Yet Confident During Negotiation

How important is this deal to you and the startup? If this potential client is your Moby Dick, then be prepared to make some adjustments to your base terms. Nothing in life is 100% favorable, nor should it be since a partnership includes two parties. One good referencable client can help make a splash in media, attract new investors, improve morale of the team, and light a fire under other potential clients who are dragging their feet. However, at some point the deal doesn’t make any sense for your startup. It pays too little, with too many requirements, and too low a probability that the partnership will expand by the time you need it. If this is the case, I hope your creative top-of-funnel strategy has successfully opened the doors of a few different clients at the same time. You should be moving down the funnel with as many prospects in parallel as possible. Don’t get sucked into focusing all your time on one pursuit, because Murphy’s Law exists.

Is the contract value of a new deal significant after go-live and highly sticky in terms of client retention? Meaning, once you sign this new partnership, do you have this healthcare incumbent locked in for a few years that drives significant revenue for your startup? If yes, then don’t die on the hill over fighting about implementation fees. Sometimes the cost of doing business in the medium or long-term requires short-term pain. If you need more funding to build functionality, think about managing your burn rate to account for this potential scenario. Does it feel like the liability section of the contract grew twice as large and shifted most of the responsibility to your tiny startup? That’s probably going to happen and you can’t do much about it. When you’re first starting out, the healthcare incumbents have the most leverage. It’s not a perfect scenario, but make sure the key fees and services are reasonable, and unfortunately accept the rest as the price of doing business.

8. Set Clear Expectations for Implementation and Go-Live

I love closing deals. But don’t set your implementation team up for failure. If they physically or technologically cannot meet the standards you’ve promised to the healthcare incumbent executive, and you’ve placed accompanying service level agreements (SLAs) with financial penalties owed by your startup, this is a bad deal. If you sign a deal that so drastically exaggerates the profitability of the partnership by limiting the minimum operational expenses required to perform, this is a bad deal. Don’t leave the account lead and operational teams out to dry, because there are real reputational risks associated with a bad deal in the healthcare industry. Executives all grew up together, hang out with one another, and move from organization to organization. If your startup is known as the one who can’t deliver on its promises, that will likely come back to bite the business development efforts and certainly impact churn rate and likelihood of harsh renegotiations with existing partners.

Overpromising and under-delivering in healthcare has real consequences. It won’t result in just someone’s food arriving late or e-commerce store unexpectedly shutting down, healthcare startups could meaningful harm a patient’s life. This of course represents the constant tension between sales and operations. I do believe that business development teams should do a better job at explaining the intricacies of the deal-making process to ensure the rest of the company understands the need for some flexibility. If everyone else feels like the sales leaders are the dumbest people at the company, you should remind them that everyone gets fired if the company doesn’t grow. Just don’t be an awful human being while discussing this matter.

9. Celebrate

No matter the outcome, a good business development team should celebrate the large and small wins. I’m not talking about trips to Hawaii, but you need to infuse some degree of optimism in your startup. Lack of growth causes a lot of problems. Sometimes you will get lucky, and the incumbent healthcare entity will take a chance on your product or team, despite lack of case studies or sophistication. However, that is increasingly becoming rarer each day. Therefore, any new partnership that will further the mission and grow the startup should be rewarded both financially and publicly across the company. With that being said, don’t act like your business development skills and compelling personality single-handedly closed the deal. Your team members across a variety of other departments all played a part, directly and indirectly. The engineering team built the product that was ultimately sold. The marketing team helped elevate the brand in the marketplace. The operational teams satisfied existing partners expectations so that they would provide positive reference calls.

In addition, the business development lead oftentimes has significant support in putting together materials, prepping for meetings, setting up logistics, managing subject matter experts, and reviewing legal contracts. I can bet that certain business development leaders think they’re Michael Jordan. Except, they forget that the Chicago Bulls didn’t beat the Detroit Pistons without Scottie Pippen and the rest of the team. Basically, if you’re the head of business development, show your team lots of love for the hard work and hours they’ve put in for far less financial reward.

Andy Mychkovsky is the creator of Healthcare Pizza. Follow him on Twitter (@AMychkovsky) and LinkedIn for future thoughts and updates. This post originally appeared on Healthcare Pizza here.

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kristinsimmons · 5 years

Text

9 Things Every Healthcare Startup Should Know About Business Development

By ANDY MYCHKOVSKY

1. Understand Everything About the Product and Market

2. Create A Compelling Pitch

3. Organize Stakeholder Outreach

4. Identify Early Themes During Initial Pitch

5. Maintain Interest Level and Dig Deeper

6. Develop Detailed Partnership Terms

7. Be Flexible Yet Confident During Negotiation

8. Set Clear Expectations for Implementation and Go-Live

9. Celebrate

Andy Mychkovsky is the creator of Healthcare Pizza. Follow him on Twitter (@AMychkovsky) and LinkedIn for future thoughts and updates. This post originally appeared on Healthcare Pizza here.

The post 9 Things Every Healthcare Startup Should Know About Business Development appeared first on The Health Care Blog.

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

Text

Revealed: The Explosive Secret Recording That Shows How Russia Tried To Funnel Millions To The “European Trump”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albertonardelli/salvini-russia-oil-deal-secret-recording?s=mobile_app

An Explosive Leaked Recording Reveals How Russia Secretly Tried To Funnel Millions To The “European Trump”

Exclusive: Three Russian operatives and a close aide to Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini were caught on a tape obtained by BuzzFeed News negotiating a plan to siphon money from a billion-dollar oil deal into Salvini’s far-right Lega party.

Alberto NardelliBuzzFeed News Europe Editor | Published July 10, 2019, at 6:00 a.m. ET | BuzzFeed | Posted July 10, 2019 |

Six men sat down for a business meeting on the morning of October 18 last year, amid the hubbub and marble-columned opulence of Moscow’s iconic Metropol Hotel, to discuss plans for a “great alliance.”

A century earlier, the grand institution was the scene of events that helped change the face of Europe and the world: Czarist forces fought from inside the hotel as they tried and failed to hold the Bolsheviks back from the Kremlin in 1917, and it was here, in suite 217, that the first Soviet Constitution was drafted after the revolution succeeded.

The six men — three Russians, three Italians — gathered beneath the spectacular painted glass ceiling in the hotel lobby last October had their eyes on history too. Their nominal purpose was an oil deal; their real goal was to undermine liberal democracies and shape a new, nationalist Europe aligned with Moscow.

BuzzFeed News has obtained an explosive audio recording of the Metropol meeting in which a close aide of Europe’s most powerful far-right leader — Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini — and the other five men can be heard negotiating the terms of a deal to covertly channel tens of millions of dollars of Russian oil money to Salvini’s Lega party.

The recording reveals the elaborate lengths the two sides were willing to go to conceal the fact that the true beneficiary of the deal would be Salvini’s party — a breach of Italian electoral law, which bans political parties from accepting large foreign donations — despite the comfort with which he and Europe’s other far-right leaders publicly parade their pro-Kremlin political sympathies.

“We want to change Europe,” said longtime Salvini aide Gianluca Savoini — who dined alongside Vladimir Putin at a government banquet to celebrate the Russian president’s visit to Rome last week. “A new Europe has to be close to Russia as before because we want to have our sovereignty,” he continued over the clinking of coffee cups and buzz of conversation around the lobby.

As well as releasing excerpts of the Metropol tape — the existence of which is being revealed for the first time today — BuzzFeed News is also publishing a transcript of the entire recording.

Salvini — described enthusiastically by the Russians on the tape as the “European Trump” — did not attend the meeting himself, but he was in Moscow at the time. The previous day he gave a speech in which he denounced sanctions against Russia as “economic, social, and cultural folly” before reportedly meeting with the Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Kozak, and a powerful member of Putin’s United Russia party named Vladimir Pligin.

Although BuzzFeed News has been unable to identify the Russians at the Metropol meeting, the tape contains clear indications that high-level government figures in Moscow were aware of the negotiations — including those with whom Salvini had reportedly met the previous evening. The Russian negotiators can be heard referring to “yesterday’s meeting” without specifying the attendees, saying twice that they would have to feed details back to the “deputy prime minister,” and explaining they were hoping to get the “green light” from “Mr. Pligin” the following week.

The Lega leader has vehemently denied ever receiving any foreign money to fund his party.

But the Metropol tape provides the first hard evidence of Russia’s clandestine attempts to fund Europe’s nationalist movements, and the apparent complicity of some senior figures from the far right in those attempts.

While it’s unclear whether the agreement negotiated at the Metropol hotel was ever executed, or if Lega received any funding, the existence of the recording of a detailed negotiation raises serious questions about whether Italian laws were broken, the links between Moscow and Salvini’s Lega party, and the integrity of May’s European elections.

European politics has been shadowed for years by the suggestion that Russian commercial transactions with far-right leaders had a hidden political purpose.

French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen took €11 million in loans from Russian banks, including one close to the Kremlin, in 2014 — a year after she publicly backed Putin’s annexation of Crimea — but insisted the deal was commercial, not political.

Ahead of Britain’s EU referendum in 2016, Brexit’s biggest financial backer, Arron Banks, discussed gold and diamond investment deals offered via the Russian Embassy in London that promised vast profits. Banks, who is currently being investigated by the UK’s National Crime Agency over the “true source” of £8 million he donated to the Leave.EU campaign, has said he ultimately declined the offers and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The leader of Austria's far-right FPÖ party, Heinz-Christian Strache, was forced to resign in May after being caught in a sting in which he was filmed discussing the exchange of public contracts for Russian campaign support. The leaked video was published by the German news outlets Süddeutsche Zeitung and Spiegel, though it remains unclear who set up the sting.

The Metropol meeting bears all the hallmarks of a real negotiation rather than a sting. And while questions remain unanswered about Russia’s previous financial maneuvers with nationalist figures, the recording offers X-ray clarity on the Kremlin’s relationship with the powerful Italian Lega party, and a clear model for how exactly Russia uses commerce to mask naked exchanges of money and power.

Opening the discussion in faltering English, Savoini, who has been described in the Italian media as Salvini’s “sherpa to Russia” and who uses a picture of himself shaking hands with Putin as his WhatsApp avatar, was explicit about the grand political ambition behind the proposed deal.

“Salvini is the first man that want[s] to change all of Europe,” he declared. Victory at the European elections taking place the following May would be just the start.

Listing nationalist “allies” across the continent like France’s Le Pen and Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, the 55-year-old Italian, who can be heard later on the tape describing himself as the “connection” between the Italian and Russian political sides, concluded: “We really want to begin to have a great alliance with these parties that are pro-Russia.”

The Russian response was positive. They can be heard describing Salvini, who is also Italy’s interior minister, as the “head” of Europe’s resurgent ultra-right nationalist movements, stretching from Italy in the south to Sweden and Finland in the north.

The negotiation — which lasted for an hour and 15 minutes, interspersed with cigarette breaks and fueled by espressos — would involve a major Russian oil company selling at least 3 million metric tons of fuel over the course of a year to Italian oil company Eni for a value of around $1.5 billion. The buying and selling would be done through intermediaries, with the sellers applying a discounted rate to these transactions.

The discount would be worth around $65 million, based on fuel prices at the time, according to calculations provided to BuzzFeed News by industry analysts, and it is this money that would be secretly funneled to the Italian party via the intermediaries.

The participants were clear that the purpose of the deal and the discount mechanism at its heart was to support Lega, in particular its European election campaign.

“It’s very simple,” one of the two other Italian men said some 25 minutes into the meeting. “The planning made by our political guys was that given a 4% discount, 250,000 [metric tons] plus 250,000 per month per one year, they can sustain a campaign.”

At the time of the meeting, a loophole in Italian law meant that it was legal for parties to accept money from foreign donors. But the maximum amount that could be taken by a party was €100,000 — a fraction of the tens of millions Lega stood to receive under this covert arrangement.

In January this year, new legislationclosed the loophole, making it illegal for Italian parties to receive any funding or support from foreign governments or entities.

Savoini can be heard telling the other Italian participants that he had a “good feeling” about a deal materializing.

He and the other Italians repeatedly emphasized to the Russians that “quickness is of the utmost importance because elections are just around the corner” as they pushed for the first shipment to be in November.

Savoini can also be heard underlining to the other Italians the importance of keeping their relationship a tightly held secret. Describing the three of them as “a triumvirate,” he said they needed to be a “watertight compartment” and “more than prudent.”

The Italians were explicit that they were “not counting to make money” from the deal for themselves. The purpose was “not professional, it’s just a political issue,” one of the men told the Russians. “We count on sustaining a political campaign which is of benefit, I would say of mutual benefit, for the two countries.”

And in response to the Russians asking about extra “commission” for themselves — later euphemistically described as “an amount to be returned” to the Russians — Savoini made clear he was fine with them taking that cut. “They take even 400 or whatever the fuck they need to take,” he told his Italian colleagues later. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a guarantee. It means they will always do that and for us it’s OK.”

The recording blows apart statements issued by Salvini and Savoini after the meeting and some details of the negotiation at the Metropol were first reportedin February by two Italian journalists, Stefano Vergine and Giovanni Tizian, in L’Espresso magazine.

At the time, Salvini’s spokesperson declined to answer questions about the Metropol meeting, dismissing them as “fantasies,” while Savoini told the Kremlin-backed news outlet Sputnik that he had not taken part in any negotiation. In a message to BuzzFeed News at the time, he described the story as “the plot of a fiction.”

On the recording, however, Savoini can be heard telling his colleagues that he was the “total connection” between the Italian and Russian sides, and that the other Italians were his partners. He said he’d been told this by “Aleksandr” — a possible reference to Aleksandr Dugin, a high-profile Russian far-right ideologue and political analyst, with whom Savoini had been photographed the previous day.

Approached by BuzzFeed News on Monday with a detailed set of questions about the Metropol meeting, Savoini wrote back: “Sorry but I don't have time to waste on these things,” adding that his lawyer would comment “if necessary.” No further response was received from Savoini or his lawyer.

The Italian journalists, who previewed excerpts from their book The Black Book of Lega in L’Espresso, also reported that Salvini met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Kozak on the evening of October 17 at Pligin’s office. The meeting did not appear on Salvini’s official schedule, which listed no engagements for that evening. Asked in February about the reported meeting with Kozak, Salvini did not deny it took place. “I can’t remember what I did the day before yesterday,” he said in an Italian television interview. “It’s hard to remember what I did on October 17.”

He added: “If the meeting did take place, it would be absolutely legitimate, and indeed proper.”

BuzzFeed News made multiple attempts to get Salvini’s response to the Metropol recording and the suggestion that he was involved in setting out the terms of the deal. He did not respond.

On Monday, Kozak denied that he met with Salvini at Pligin’s office on October 17. Brushing aside detailed questions from BuzzFeed News, his spokesperson Ilya Dzhus said in a WhatsApp message, “We have already commented on the so-called ‘investigation’ of the Italian edition of Espresso, it is built on unsubstantiated speculation…”

He continued: “Kozak was never personally acquainted with Mr. Salvini, they did not hold any official or ‘secret’ meetings. ... Russia and Italy have a large block of bilateral economic cooperation, including in the energy and industrial sphere. Kozak, as the relevant deputy prime minister, is focused only on this agenda.”

In response to a letter sent on Monday morning, followed by multiple phone calls, Pligin's office told BuzzFeed News that he was traveling and they had been unable to reach him.

Vladimir Putin has been able to count on Matteo Salvini’s unswerving and vocal support for years.

The Lega leader has repeatedly called for European Union sanctions against Russia to be dropped; he has describedthe annexation of Crimea as legitimate, even visiting the illegally occupied region in 2016.

He has also criticized NATO and the coordinated EU response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack by Russian military intelligence operatives in March 2018.

But it’s over the last 18 months that Salvini’s value as an ally to Putin has increased exponentially. His reinvention of Lega from a small regional force in the north of Italy to a nationwide, far-right, anti-immigrant party saw it win over 17% of the vote in the Italian general election in March 2018. Three months later, he became deputy prime minister and interior minister when Lega entered into a coalition government with the populist Five Star Movement.

Since then the party has grown to become the country’s dominant political force, doubling its vote to 34.5% in May’s EU parliamentary elections to become the most popular party in the world’s eighth largest economy. The result secured Salvini’s status in the vanguard of Europe’s nationalist far-right movements.

Putin and Salvini’s mutual admiration was on public display again last week during an official visit by the Russian president to Rome, where he praised the Lega leader’s “welcoming attitude towards our country.” After a government dinner for Putin, Salvini described him as “one of those characters who will leave his mark on history.” Also among the guests was Savoini, who tweeted a video of Putin, with Salvini in the shot over his shoulder.

Salvini has been a remarkably frequent flyer to Moscow over the years. There were three trips in quick succession between October 2014 and February 2015, another in January 2017, followed by another two months later, and he has already traveled to the Russian capital twice on official trips since taking office just a year ago. On each occasion he has been accompanied by his unofficial Kremlin fixer, Savoini.

Savoini’s working relationship with Salvini spans two decades. He has been a member of the Lega party since 1991, and served as Salvini’s spokesperson. He helped organize all the Lega leader’s trips to Moscow and was central to enabling a partnership agreement between the Italian party and Putin’s United Russia in March 2017.

He is also the president of the Lombardy-Russia Cultural Association, which has consistently pushed pro-Kremlin propaganda since its foundation in 2014. The association’s website says its aim is to reflect Putin’s worldview based on identity, sovereignty, and tradition. Its activities have included contacts with officials and trade missions to Russia, annexed Crimea, and Donetsk, the region in eastern Ukraine under the control of Russia-backed separatists, as well as public events and lobbying to promote Kremlin-friendly policy and oppose sanctions.

Savoini’s precise status and role on official visits to Moscow remains unclear. BuzzFeed News reported in July last year that he had attended official meetings with Russian ministers and officials alongside Salvini, despite not being on the list of ministerial delegates. Savoini, who has no official government role, said he was there as a “member of the minister’s staff” and had known Salvini “since forever.”

The official reason for Salvini’s last trip to Moscow in October was to give a speech on the 17th at a conference organized by an Italian industry group. Savoini was at the event at the Lotte Hotel, where the Lega leader delivered his anti-sanctions message. Beyond this point, no official meetings appear on Salvini’s schedule, but it was that evening, according to L’Espresso, that the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Kozak took place at Pligin’s office.

Nothing is known about Salvini’s movements the next morning, but just after noon Moscow time, he posted a photo of himself on Twitter and Instagram enjoying a beer and a hamburger at the city’s Sheremetyevo airport — the only public record of what he did that day before flying back to Italy.

Spuntino dietetico in aeroporto a #Mosca, dopo aver incontrato imprenditori italiani e ministri russi, si riparte direzione #Bolzano! Chi si ferma è perduto, vi abbraccio😘

The Metropol tape obtained by BuzzFeed News, however, reveals in vivid detail how one of his most trusted aides spent that morning, as Salvini was preparing to leave Moscow.

Over the course of the meeting, Savoini, the other two Italians, and the three Russians discussed in fine detail the technicalities of the deal to channel millions to Lega, from the types of fuel required and the potential ports of delivery to “commission payments,” currency, and how to keep communications secure and transactions below the radar of the authorities.

The negotiations between the two sides were largely conducted in English, with each side repeatedly reverting back to Italian or Russian to confer among themselves because not everyone at the table spoke English.

BuzzFeed News has been unable to identify the five other men. One Italian was referred to as “Luca.” He led much of the technical discussion, described himself as a lawyer, and appeared to be based in London working for an unnamed English investment bank.

The other was called “Francesco,” only spoke Italian, and was at one stage jokingly referred to as “nonno” — granddad. He appeared to be responsible for figuring out the mechanics of getting the funding to Lega via the intermediaries, as well as the potential commissions.

On the Russian side, one of the three didn’t speak English, and mostly engaged through an interpreter. One of the individuals was addressed by Savoini and the others as “Ilya.” The names “Yuri” and “Andrey” can also be heard.

The Russians were clearly answerable to more senior figures outside the room, saying several times that they would have to discuss different aspects of the arrangement with “Mr. Deputy Prime Minister,” while “Mr. Pligin,” "the comrade," and "verkhniy" — Russian for “upper,” which appears here to refer to a higher-ranking official — can also be heard.

From the recording, it is clear that this was not the first time some of the six men had come together to discuss the proposed deal. At several points they referred to previous detailed conversations and meetings, including in Rome.

There was also lighter small talk among the men, such as conversations about holidays in Sicily and Sardinia. At one point, the Italians joked about wanting to send some people to the Russian “gulags” for “mental rehabilitation.” At another there was some banter about giving up smoking, with one of the Russians complaining about the graphic health warning images on cigarette packs in Italy, and an Italian joking that men in his country always ask for the one with the warning about not getting pregnant.

“Let’s close the deal and we stop together,” the Italian said.

“Deal,” the Russian replied.

But on the substance of the plan, both the Russians and the Italians, including Savoini, appeared serious and deeply immersed in the detail.

After his opening remarks about changing Europe, Savoini handed over to what he referred to as his “technical partners.”

"Now our technique papers are already made as they are ready to be given to Mr. Deputy Prime Minister," one of the Russians replied. "But we have to discuss latest decisions maybe," he added.

Most of the ensuing discussion centered on structuring the arrangement to find the right combination of oil companies, intermediaries, port of delivery, product type, payment terms, and timescale.

The proposed transactions would be structured around four firms: Italy’s Eni and a major Russian oil company — Rosneft and Lukoil are suggested — and two intermediaries.

"We have Eni who will be on the Italian side, yes?” one of the Russians said. “We have Russian oil company on our side, and we have two companies in the middle."

An Eni spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in an email: “Eni strongly reiterates that [it] in no way took part [in] transactions aimed at financing political parties. Moreover, the described supply operation never took place.”

The men explicitly discussed how to choose a second intermediary so that the deal did not come to the attention of European authorities by tripping “know your client” procedures and anti–money laundering laws.

The Italian referred to as Luca advised that it should be “a well-known company.” When one of the Russians asked whether it was better for the company to be in Russia or Europe, he replied: “Europe, definitely.”

They also discussed using the Russian arm of the Italian bank Intesa. An advantage of this option, one of the Italians explained to the Russians, was that Lega had "a man in there called Mascetti.”

The individual can then be heard telling the other two Italians: "We need to after this meeting talk to the guy who begins with ‘Ma’ and ends with ‘etti’ so that they meet after the fundamentals are closed. Why am I interested? Because Eni already has accounts with Intesa, and they [the Russian oil companies] do too probably."

One of the board directors of Intesa Russia is named Andrea Mascetti. He is a former senior member of the Lega party.

There is no suggestion in the recording that Mascetti or anyone else at Intesa was aware of the discussions that were taking place; nor is it known whether any officer of Intesa was contacted by any of the three Italians after the meeting at the Metropol.

In response to a request for comment from Mascetti, his lawyer told BuzzFeed News in an email that he strongly denied any knowledge whatsoever of the events as described and was “totally extraneous” to these.

The technical discussions covered the best ports of delivery, with Rotterdam, Novorossiysk in the Black Sea, and the Baltic route as the options put forward, though the Russians pointed out that there was limited capacity via the Baltic.

They also discussed the type of fuel to be sold under the deal, with the Russian acting as an interpreter inviting the Italians to provide options, which included aviation fuel and diesel, in a list. “We will give [the list] to the deputy prime minister," he said.

BuzzFeed News approached oil analysts to obtain an approximate valuation for the deal using one of the fuel options discussed, ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). Between November 1 and November 30 last year, the wholesale value of ULSD delivered into Rotterdam, for example, ranged between $693.25 to $556.25 per metric ton, based on the industry-standard Platts benchmark used by oil companies.

That means 250,000 metric tons — the proposed first shipment — of ULSD would have been worth $173 million on November 1 and $139 million on November 30, so Lega’s 4% cut that month would have been worth at least $5.5 million. Over the course of 12 months, assuming similar prices, the party stood to receive about $65 million.

At one point, the Russians discussed among themselves how they needed to wait for Pligin, the lawyer who reportedly had hosted the meeting between Salvini and the Russian deputy prime minister the previous night, to give them the go-ahead to proceed.

“We need to tell them that we are expecting Vladimir Nikolaevich’s return. We are waiting for him. Hopefully we’ll get the green light next week,” one of the Russians told his colleague who was interpreting into English.

“We are waiting for Mr. Pligin to return when to discuss,” the interpreter then told the Italians.

The Italian lawyer said he had checked whether Pligin could fly to Italy and he believed it would be OK as he was “not on red alert in Interpol,” despite the fact that the Russian was named on an EU sanctions list.

One of the Russian men can then be heard saying — in Russian — that he had talked to Pligin and he didn't want to go to Italy. "We have to explain that to our Italian colleagues," one of the others said, but the information was not passed on.

The Russians were keen to generate extra “commission” payments for themselves, raising the possibility of future contracts beyond the one-year political arrangement.

Reiterating that the motivation for this deal was purely political, the Italian lawyer said only the 4% discount was required to fund the election campaign — so the Russians could take anything above that. "I would say they have made their plans on 4% net. So if you now say it’s 10% discount, I would say 6% is yours,” he said.

The Italians were far more concerned throughout the discussion with making sure the money was flowing to Lega in time for May’s elections. The man referred to as Francesco said to his Italian colleagues at one point: “I want to say how important it is to us to do this by December even if it is then delayed two, three months. June, July — we don’t care."

That message was underlined repeatedly in English to the Russians by the Italian lawyer. “If we are very quick — but we need to be very, very quick — then I think [the] first delivery might be in November," he said.

"I agree with you because we have to act very quickly," a Russian responded.

The Italian lawyer later reassured Savoini that the Russians had got the message. “Everything is OK. I told and Andrey agreed quickness is of utmost importance.”

But there was still concern that the first shipment could be delayed into late January. “If we are quick — now maybe first delivery in November. If we are not quick then — maybe it’s December. And then December, we know in Italy it’s Christmas and everybody is very lazy.”

Savoini replied: “In Russia too. In Russia, Christmas in January. Holiday Italian then Russian, we have one month of holidays — 15 December, 15 January, Italy and Russia together is holidays.”

He also voiced concern about not being able to do the deal in US dollars because of Russian currency restrictions, but was told by the Russians: “We can work in any currency.” It would only be a problem if the deal were between two Russian companies, they said, prompting the Italian lawyer to say that the deal could be done in euros and converted into dollars anyway.

Savoini seemed unconvinced, suggesting a smaller initial shipment if that was less risky, and repeating his concerns about dollar transactions.

“He is saying to put some attention on the financial transaction not to incur any problems," the Italian lawyer told the Russians. “Can I say yes, we will work on it?" the lawyer asked.

The Russian responded: “If we make it in one bank, for example Intesa, it will not be a problem.”

In another exchange, Savoini returned to the reason for the deal: the nationalist political project. “We are changing really the situation in Europe,” he said. “And it’s impossible to stop. The history is marching, so it’s impossible. It’s really a new deal, a new situation, a new future for us. We are in the center of this process.

“But we have a lot of enemies. We are in a dangerous situation because our government is attacked from Brussels, from the globalist men — not Trump but the establishment of Obama is very, very strong and inside in Italy too. We are in dangerous [territory]. It is not so simple, but we want to fight because we are in truth.”

As the meeting drew to a close, both sides appeared to be optimistic about closing the deal. “Concerning the future contract, I think we have all the information,” one of the Russian men said in English. “I understand the urgency,” he added.

A few minutes later, the Italian lawyer listed all the follow-up items as he noted them down and promised to share a screenshot with the Russians.

“OK, gentlemen, I think it’s going in the right direction,” he said.

“And it’s my luck to make them act quickly and immediately,” his Russian counterpart replied.

“You will,” said the Italian.

By the time the bill arrived, the six men were in a buoyant mood. They can be heard joking over who should pay for the coffees. “This is not Rome,” one of the Russians said.

Savoini’s response was telling. Turning to one of his favorite slogans — based on a 16th-century doctrine that held the Russian Empire to be the successor to ancient Rome and Constantinople as the ultimate center of true Christianity — he replied: “Moscow is the third Rome.”

Tanya Kozyreva and Miriam Elder contributed reporting to this story.

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abloomntime · 4 years

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A Bloom In Time Ch 12