Crowdsourcing – Asking the Audience…
One of our favourite TV quiz shows of recent years is “Who Wants to be a Millionaire“. In this show, each contestant aiming to win the ultimate cash prize has three “lifelines” that they can use once at any time they’re unsure about the answer to a question posed to them by the quizmaster.
These lifelines, if you’ve ever seen this classic show, are:
- Phone a Friend
- 50-50 (remove two of the possible four answers)
- Ask the Audience
These lifelines can be crucial to staying in the game. Who would say that these lifelines aren’t invaluable and at the very least a great comfort for the contestant?
The game of successful investing makes great use of these lifelines too. Here’s how…
Phone a Friend
Phone a Friend is about offering help from trusted parties to share insights that the investor may not have about the investment they’re considering.
50-50
The 50-50 lifeline is where risk of a wrong answer is reduced by 50%. A superpower of good due diligence is giving the investor an advantage by quickly eliminating false or irrelevant information about an investment and introducing clarity from an overwhelming set of unknowns.
Ask the Audience
Ask the audience has a double meaning, though. In the game it’s like phone a friend, but here you;re relying on a larger group of individuals to vote on the right answer. This is often valuable insight but nothing in life is a certainty and the majority can still be plain wrong. In the game, that’s part of the fun for the viewer – not so much for the contestant!
In due diligence we relate this to the essential work of unearthing the history of success (or failure) of investment providers and property developers through desktop research, but also using our insider network of experienced industry experts.
And now – Ask the Audience : what do you need from us?
At Diligent Eye we’re using Ask the Audience in another way too. One of our innovative approaches is to effectively “crowdfund” our due diligence reporting by asking OUR audience of investors which investment(s) they would like us to report on for them. If there’s a consensus – large or small, then we’ll go ahead, quickly but thoroughly carry out our meticulous research and then share the cost equally among those that have pledged to benefit from our findings.
It’s pretty simple but very cost-effective. Like all crowdfunding, pledging investors do not need to have any connection to or knowledge of any of the others. And as its a vote, it puts our customers firmly in the driving seat. It works brilliantly for launches of new-build residential or student apartment blocks for example, where the due diligence is virtually identical for each apartment, and equally well for Property Bonds or similar types of Loan Note where many investors are being sought by fundraisers on equal terms.
This is one reason why we specialise in researching the three investment classes of New-build apartment blocks, Purpose-built student halls and Property Bonds. These are where this model truly shines.
To find out more about our Ask The Audience approach, drop us a line or a comment today. We’ll soon be introducing the system into our due diligence reporting platform, The Vault, and we want your thoughts in order to make our service the best it can possibly be for you. So keep a lookout for announcements based on your valuable feedback.
