In the world of investment, transactions such as capital increases have further accelerated their migration to increasingly “automatic” methods, remotely: each party electronically approves the documents, sends a power of attorney by email, and everything go to the notary.
And yet, among these “proxy” events, there is sometimes an opportunity to put the human back into the process.
This week, I participated in the round table of a promising start-up, with investors bringing together institutional funds, and a few business angel with an enviable course. For once, this transaction took place “face-to-face” at a well-known notary on Avenue Louise, with investors who had, for some, traveled several thousand kilometers to join us.
Parties that until now had only met through the screen of a teleconference meeting, finally saw each other in real life, In the flesh. An opportunity to meet, to exchange also futile things, at the coffee machine, to talk about common knowledge, hobbies, to realize again that we humans are not machines. And once the deed was signed, it was an opportunity to meet in a restaurant, at the invitation of the founders, very sensitive to the relational side of business, and to talk about various subjects.
Eyes sparkle, glasses and cutlery clink, conversations are playful around this new joint project.
And I understand once again why I love this job: the enthusiasm that circulates in a shared entrepreneurial project.