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Stakeholder Labs CEO Matt Joanou On The Secret Sauce For Shareholder Loyalty | Bullish Studio Pod
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Oct 4, 2023
When customers become shareholders, they become better customers. No one knows this better than Matt Joanou -- CEO and Co-Founder of Stakeholder Labs. A former Reddit employee, Matt got a front row seat to the rise of the retail investor and the power of community. Stakeholder Labs is helping bridge the relationship between loyal shareholders and loyal customers of publicly traded companies through enterprise software. Their flagship product, Roundtable, enables companies to verify shareholders, measure their customer loyalty, and offer unique shareholder rewards. Lucky for us, Matt joined Bullish Studio CEO Brian Hanly on our latest episode of the Bullish Studio Podcast to talk about Shareholder Labs and share his insights on retail investing, consumer fintech, shareholder engagement, and beyond. Here's a breakdown of our chat: 00:00 - Intro 01:15 - Matt's background 02:38 - The issues Stakeholder Labs is tackling 05:19 - Thoughts on Dumb Money movie 08:26 - Humanizing retail investing through digital tools 11:24 - The financial benefits of tapping into shareholder loyalty 13:25 - Stakeholder Labs product experience 14:56 - Stakeholder Labs x Selina Hospitality Partnership 17:14 - Companies Matt is excited to work with 20:06 - Understanding and reaching the right communities 21:51 - What's next for Stakeholder Labs
View Video Transcript
0:00
what we've found is that shareholders
0:03
tend to be better customers and so this
0:05
is something the cruise lines have known
0:06
for a number of years if you offer
0:08
shareholders an incentive to travel on
0:10
their Cruise Lines they'll show up again
0:13
because there's this connection that not
0:15
only are they receiving some sort of
0:17
reward but by going on those Cruise
0:19
Lines they're actually improving the
0:21
health of their investment and so with
0:23
our software connecting those dots with
0:25
consumer companies we're able to show
0:26
that when customers become shareholders
0:29
they become better customers
0:32
thank you
0:35
welcome back to another episode of the
0:38
bullish Studio podcast I'm Brian CEO of
0:40
bullish Studio
0:42
today I am joined by Matt janow CEO and
0:45
co-founder of stakeholder Labs
0:46
stakeholder Labs is a new company
0:48
helping Bridge the relationship between
0:51
shareholders and customers for publicly
0:53
traded companies
0:54
I'm really excited about stakeholder
0:56
Labs as they are working on a very
0:58
important topic allowing companies to
1:00
understand their most valuable customers
1:02
and also their most valuable
1:04
shareholders and bridging that
1:06
relationship together
1:08
please enjoy my conversation with Matt
1:09
and please make sure that you're
1:11
subscribed to the bullish studio YouTube
1:12
channel and follow us wherever you get
1:14
your podcasts tell me a little bit about
1:16
yourself what's going on tell us about
1:18
your background what what's up
1:20
yeah well first off thanks for having me
1:23
excited to chat with you uh as you know
1:26
uh co-founder CEO of stakeholder Labs we
1:29
are a platform for publicly traded
1:32
companies to digitally authenticate
1:34
their shareholders and what that allows
1:36
them to do is engage more directly with
1:39
retail investors and most importantly
1:42
measure their effectiveness we've been
1:44
doing this for a year in change before
1:46
that I was at Reddit for about five
1:49
years so I saw the proverbial rise of
1:53
the retail investor had a front row seat
1:55
to the power of communities and
1:58
the way before that I was actually in
2:01
digital loyalty and digital advertising
2:03
so have a non-traditional path into the
2:06
world of corporate finance but we feel
2:09
like that gives us a unique advantage in
2:12
how we approach shareholder engagement
2:13
and what that means to this new
2:15
generation of shareholders that's
2:17
exciting yeah and I think you know a lot
2:19
of the stuff that we've been discussing
2:20
on this part cast really talks a lot
2:22
about you know retail investors where
2:23
they've been and where they're going and
2:25
obviously during 2020 2021 we saw a huge
2:28
rise of interest in stocks like GameStop
2:30
AMC and others and just generally in the
2:32
market and I think we're still seeing a
2:34
lot of that uh Traction in q1 with a ton
2:36
of retail inflows coming in from retail
2:38
so can you talk I guess a little bit
2:40
about you know what you saw at Reddit
2:42
and I think you know with your
2:43
experience and loyalty
2:45
um what what is the issue that you're
2:47
tackling with stakeholder yeah
2:49
definitely I I think what I learned at
2:51
Reddit was that small communities of
2:55
self-organized fans or consumers that
2:58
really care about a specific topic
3:00
passion point or interest can have
3:04
incredible leverage and we saw that with
3:07
uh the the Wall Street bets phenomenon
3:09
and really looking at what small
3:13
individual groups of people were able to
3:15
do when they interacted with the
3:17
financial markets and part of that is
3:20
the Confluence of trends that we've seen
3:22
over the last 10 years so this is not a
3:24
new thing but with the rise of consumer
3:26
fintech access is a lot easier for your
3:31
average investor they can download a
3:33
Robinhood app and within 20 minutes
3:35
they're trading financial literacy
3:37
through platforms like Twitter or now X
3:40
Reddit Finn twit has
3:44
really hit a level that we've never seen
3:46
previously and and then lastly there's
3:49
more of an appetite so I think these
3:52
Trends started before the pandemic but
3:54
during the pandemic you had several
3:56
years of people that were forced to be
3:58
inside so they were discovering new
4:00
interests new hobbies and leaning into
4:03
the markets in a way that they never had
4:04
and and what that resulted in is you saw
4:07
the average age of a retail investor
4:11
four years ago was 48 years old today
4:13
the average age is 35 years old wow
4:16
that's huge and as quickly as that
4:18
dropped too just a lot of young in the
4:20
last in the last five years
4:22
29 of retail investors are are brand new
4:26
they've invested for less than five
4:28
years so we're seeing this revolution
4:29
but I would say that Meme stocks are
4:33
they're isolated they they definitely
4:35
signal what's been happening on a larger
4:37
scale but they're very unique uh they
4:40
have high elements of nostalgia you look
4:42
at GameStop AMC uh Hertz Blackberry
4:47
exactly like there's this Nostalgia that
4:49
Millennials are feeling for some of
4:51
those companies but what it says about
4:54
the larger market is that uh
4:57
the rules of the game have changed a
4:59
little bit and individuals
5:02
are a huge opportunity for companies to
5:04
lean into because most of them have some
5:06
emotional connection to the company they
5:09
really care about the direction that the
5:12
company is heading and they want to be
5:13
engaged with in the same way that these
5:15
companies are engaging with them on a
5:17
marketing level they can apply that to
5:19
shareholders so Matt we just got back
5:21
from the dumb money Premiere what'd you
5:22
think
5:24
fascinating I I think having been a part
5:27
of this journey for the last few years
5:29
it's fun to see it in person I think
5:32
having worked at Reddit and seeing what
5:35
we saw within that Community seeing the
5:37
speed and velocity of that subreddit the
5:40
subscribers the comments the uh just
5:42
attention it was getting it's an
5:44
exciting moment to see this on the big
5:46
screen uh I think the the interesting
5:49
thing is they've really crafted it now
5:51
to have that mass Market appeal but if
5:54
you go back to the book that this was
5:56
based on the anti-social Network it
5:58
really got into the mechanics of why
6:00
this worked and why this small community
6:03
had this David versus Goliath moment and
6:05
while meme stocks have really caught the
6:08
attention I I think it speaks to the
6:10
power of community and the idea of a
6:13
shared language the idea of a shared
6:15
Mission the idea of a group of
6:18
individuals coordinating for a common
6:21
goal was really elicited in a great
6:25
visual format within this movie so glad
6:29
it turned out the way it did I I think
6:30
everything was was very impressive and
6:34
also excited for
6:37
the next generation of investors to
6:40
maybe use this as as kind of a Gateway
6:43
into their investing world so I enjoyed
6:45
it what do you think yeah no I loved it
6:47
I mean it's it's fascinating to see how
6:49
Wall Street bets went from just like a
6:50
couple thousand couple hundred you know
6:52
100 000 people to well over 10 15
6:54
million people in such a short period of
6:56
time the amount of action in that
6:58
company it was the only thing being
7:00
talked about you know in culture not
7:03
even on the internet in culture
7:04
everybody was obsessed with it and I um
7:06
yeah I love the way that they kind of
7:08
crafted everything together and told the
7:10
story and also kind of explain more in
7:12
depth of like why these things happened
7:14
uh for people that might not be aware of
7:16
how short squeezes like what they are
7:18
what happens when they you know occur
7:21
and um our good old friend roaring Kitty
7:23
it was always you know the fearless
7:25
leader of everything
7:27
um but yeah I thought the film was great
7:28
and um you know I encourage everybody to
7:30
go check it out
7:31
um and I think there's also a few other
7:32
films coming out around you know various
7:34
different topics related to not only
7:36
GameStop but just the rise of retail
7:38
investors and crypto booming so
7:41
um yeah really excited to see see what
7:43
else is coming down yeah I think uh what
7:47
a lot of people forget within the
7:48
financial markets are often these are
7:50
human stories and ultimately there is a
7:54
human investing in the company owning
7:57
the shares investing in a fund investing
8:00
in a financial vehicle and
8:03
as we've seen this rise of the retail
8:06
investor Financial communities on the
8:08
internet I think it's a good reminder
8:10
that these are humans at the end of the
8:12
day and they're making investment
8:15
decisions based on their World Views and
8:17
their contexts and that's a huge
8:19
opportunity for the companies to lean
8:20
into that and really connect with them
8:22
on a human level and through digital
8:24
tools it's easier than it's ever been
8:26
yeah and I think that it's always really
8:27
exciting about especially with all these
8:29
younger investors you know a lot of them
8:30
are self-directed they're choosing the
8:32
first stock to buy and a lot of that is
8:33
driven by you know what's around them
8:35
and every investor for the most part is
8:38
you know a retail investor right it's
8:40
you know the the benefit of the stock
8:41
market and why it exists is so we can
8:43
all get exposure to the growth of U.S
8:46
companies or companies around the world
8:48
um but yeah there's a lot of kind of
8:49
challenges with that because what always
8:51
was surprising to me is that as a
8:53
publicly traded company if people go on
8:55
to Robinhood and buy their stock it's
8:56
very challenging to actually understand
8:58
who that person is and have a
9:00
relationship with them and I think so
9:02
can you talk a little bit about
9:03
um what you guys are doing in that world
9:05
for companies and you know why this
9:06
matters yeah definitely so part of our
9:10
suite of software allows publicly traded
9:13
companies to digitally authenticate
9:14
their shareholders and historically
9:17
knowing the actual individual who is
9:20
holding your shares has been difficult
9:22
because there are a number of
9:24
intermediaries that hold the stock in
9:27
different forms let's say street name
9:29
and so with what we're able to do in
9:32
this digital authentication the publicly
9:34
traded companies actually know Joe Smith
9:37
holds shares of Nike and so we can tell
9:40
Nike hey this person Joe Smith holds
9:42
these shares and we can give them the
9:44
opportunity to start engaging with them
9:46
and engagement can take a number of
9:48
forms it can be literally just giving
9:50
them more direct updates on the
9:53
financial performance of the company it
9:55
can be sharing news around product
9:57
around offerings or it could be in the
10:00
form of rewards and a huge part of our
10:02
platform allows publicly trade companies
10:05
to provide rewards for loyal
10:08
shareholders so shareholders that have
10:10
held the shares for a certain amount of
10:12
time that hold a certain number of
10:13
shares and the idea is that with this
10:18
data you can start to hone in on what is
10:20
a healthy shareholder look like to a
10:23
specific publicly trade company and how
10:26
do you engage in a healthy manner with
10:28
these shareholders to effectively build
10:31
more loyalty with that individual
10:34
shareholder or group or cohort of
10:36
shareholders at the same time yeah I
10:38
love that and I I remember like hearing
10:40
back in the day that like if you own a
10:41
bunch of shares in Carnival Cruise Lines
10:43
you could actually mail in your stock
10:44
certificate and receive a coupon on next
10:46
cruise and it sounds like you guys are
10:48
bringing that you know into the digital
10:49
world right yeah I it's funny because
10:52
you've had these programs for a number
10:54
of years and digital tools have really
10:57
progressed in the last 10 to 20 years
10:59
and the shareholder rewards programs
11:02
have not yet caught up to where those
11:05
digital tools exist and so we've really
11:07
taken a lot of those same mechanics but
11:10
embedded software to allow you to
11:15
build those programs more effectively
11:17
and efficiently so it's at a lower cost
11:19
you get a lot more information and most
11:21
importantly you're measuring how
11:23
effective are these programs totally
11:24
yeah and a lot of these companies have
11:26
you know tens if not hundreds of
11:28
thousands of retail investors and then
11:29
hearing everything that you know in the
11:31
marketing World about how important
11:33
loyalty programs are you know you're
11:34
bringing these kind of two unique data
11:36
sets that a company you know owns and
11:38
bringing them together so can you talk a
11:40
little bit about you know what is the
11:42
financial benefit to a company you know
11:44
by being able to see into their
11:46
shareholder base and also kind of
11:48
compare that to their loyalty yeah
11:50
definitely I think you're touching on
11:52
consumer companies this is two sides of
11:55
the coin so one we're looking at
11:57
shareholder loyalty but through our
11:58
platform you're also able to tie into
12:00
their existing digital loyalty or CRM
12:03
and what we've found is that
12:06
shareholders tend to be better customers
12:08
and so this is something the cruise
12:10
lines have known for a number of years
12:11
if you offer shareholders an incentive
12:14
to travel on their Cruise Lines they'll
12:16
show up again because there's this
12:18
connection that not only are they
12:20
receiving some sort of reward but by
12:23
going on those Cruise Lines they're
12:24
actually improving the health of their
12:26
investment and so with our software
12:28
connecting those dots with consumer
12:30
companies we're able to show that
12:32
shareholder X
12:34
is customer X and we're able to compare
12:38
that to non-shareholders and prove that
12:40
there's actually an incremental lift
12:42
when customers become shareholders they
12:44
become better customers and that just
12:46
makes sense in theory right if I'm a
12:47
shareholder of somebody like Google I'm
12:50
probably a Google customer and I want to
12:52
you know basically be able to promote
12:53
that and I think you know bringing those
12:55
two together can makes a more loyal
12:57
customer and shareholder yeah definitely
12:59
and and this is one of the first times
13:01
that the investor relations team can
13:04
actually look at driving revenue and
13:07
again what we're finding is that when
13:10
given the choice
13:11
shareholders tend to spend their dollars
13:15
with companies they're invested in they
13:17
have that brand recognition and that
13:20
belief that long term that's better for
13:22
the company and improves their long-term
13:23
financial position as well that's
13:25
amazing so I guess can you now talk a
13:27
little bit more practically about the
13:28
product so what does the experience look
13:30
like for you know your average user I
13:32
have a Robinhood account and I own a
13:33
bunch of shares of a bunch of publicly
13:35
traded companies what is the experience
13:36
with stakeholder look like yeah
13:38
definitely so not to get too into the
13:40
weeds but we've built an SDK that lives
13:44
in the background so similar to a
13:46
Shopify or stripe and can be embedded
13:49
into the actual customer experience so
13:51
whether it's the Nike app or the
13:53
Starbucks app or the Lululemon shopping
13:55
experience we can actually provide a
13:58
button within that experience where
14:01
people verify that they're a shareholder
14:02
and it's all opt-in so the shareholder
14:05
opts in they provide their credentials
14:07
let's say they're holding their shares
14:08
in Robinhood to Robinhood and opt into
14:11
sharing their data with Lululemon Nike
14:15
or Starbucks whoever it may be and
14:17
through that we're able to map that data
14:19
to them as a shareholder and also as a
14:21
customer at the same time and provide
14:23
that data back to the customer to show
14:25
this increase in shareholder loyalty or
14:28
customer loyalty and the other piece
14:31
that we we offer is Standalone websites
14:35
so a lot of companies as a first test of
14:39
these types of programs want to have
14:41
something that's built out and stood up
14:42
on its own so we'll build a website as a
14:45
wrapper where shareholders can land they
14:48
can verify that they're a shareholder
14:49
and it's all tied to a specific set of
14:53
rewards that on the back end will talk
14:54
to their loyalty program love that and
14:57
uh you know we've been working together
14:58
on a partnership with Selena Hospitality
15:00
uh do you want to talk a little bit
15:01
about what what that looks like and how
15:03
it's been going yeah yeah of course so
15:05
Selena is a hospitality company that
15:09
really caters to Millennial and gen Z
15:11
Travelers folks that are working abroad
15:13
uh they have a very loyal customer base
15:16
and after they went through uh being on
15:20
the public markets for their first few
15:23
months started to notice a trend that a
15:25
lot of their customers were also
15:26
shareholders and they started to see
15:29
that those shareholders were great
15:31
customers and so to reward that type of
15:35
customer they created a shareholder
15:37
benefits program and they rolled that
15:39
out about a month ago through that again
15:42
we were able to provide that data and
15:43
map it against their CRM and start to
15:45
understand what did the shareholders
15:47
care about what was important to them
15:49
and the the Beauty and the kind of The
15:51
Virtuous cycle that was created is we're
15:54
also starting to see them
15:55
spend more at Salinas to book more at
15:58
Salinas and advocate for these types of
16:00
programs so it's been an incredible
16:03
incredibly successful program and really
16:06
speaks to this next generation of
16:07
millennial and gen Z
16:10
shareholders and customers and and how
16:12
you can create that that overlap that
16:15
really enables the company to leverage
16:17
that small group of self-organized
16:19
individuals to their benefit right and
16:21
even just owning a couple thousand
16:23
shares you can get pretty steep
16:24
discounts to where you know all of a
16:25
sudden from a customer standpoint it
16:27
starts to really make sense to invest in
16:29
the company and receive discounts and
16:31
you can you know see a benefit long term
16:32
for that and that's the company
16:34
rewarding you yeah I I think any any
16:36
benefit again it goes back to those two
16:39
points of if you're a Selena shareholder
16:41
and you're looking at where to stay in
16:43
let's say Mexico and you have Hotel a or
16:46
Selena and they're somewhat comparable I
16:49
think you're more likely to stay at a
16:51
Selena because of your investment but to
16:55
really tween the deal and and Foster
16:57
that loyalty giving that access to a
17:00
party or that first drink or that
17:01
discount on the room really makes these
17:04
shareholders feel like they're they're
17:06
owners in the company and that Selena is
17:08
saying hey thank you we appreciate you
17:10
as an owner and we know that you're also
17:12
a customer and want to give you these
17:13
benefits yeah makes sense and I think
17:15
there's something like what six thousand
17:17
publicly traded companies on the stock
17:18
market and you know you mentioned that
17:20
your service is mainly focused on
17:21
companies that are consumer facing where
17:23
there's a consumer relationship what are
17:25
some of the companies that you're
17:26
excited to you know work with or you
17:28
know just talk a little bit about that
17:29
yeah it's a good question I I would
17:31
caveat and say uh consumer is definitely
17:34
an area that we uh we thrive in but we
17:38
are starting to explore more B2B energy
17:41
manufacturing because retail investors
17:44
are investing in these companies and I
17:46
think knowing who they are and knowing
17:48
why they made that initial investment is
17:51
really important to the publicly trade
17:52
companies so that they can speak to them
17:54
in a manner that makes sense and that
17:57
they can lean in in a way that drives
17:59
that long-term loyalty from those
18:01
shareholders
18:03
circling back to the consumer side I
18:05
think looking at companies that have
18:09
that loyalty on the consumer side so
18:12
companies like Starbucks companies like
18:15
Nike like sweet green where you have
18:17
those very loyal customers and you also
18:19
have folks that feel like they've been
18:21
on that Journey with the company so for
18:23
example
18:25
I am a huge sweet dream fan I've I've
18:28
been eating their salads for a long time
18:31
and and being in the world that I was in
18:33
you kind of saw their journey and you
18:35
felt like you were supporting them as a
18:37
customer and uh I I think
18:40
when I would get to a city where there
18:42
was a new sweet green I would be telling
18:43
my friends hey like the sweet green just
18:45
opened up down the street and when they
18:47
went public that was that opportunity to
18:49
actually
18:50
buy into the the long-term upside and I
18:53
think companies like that that can lean
18:56
in and really double dip a little bit in
18:59
their loyal customers who are already
19:01
investing in other companies why
19:03
wouldn't they invest in a company that
19:05
they believe in as a consumer right but
19:08
Lululemon Ulta beauty very large
19:10
publicly traded companies that have you
19:12
know die hard you know consumer bases
19:14
around them and I think that makes total
19:16
sense sure exactly and I think the other
19:18
thing I would say is going back to my
19:20
Reddit days
19:22
we would try to identify companies that
19:26
already are starting to lean into
19:29
community and Community is very broad
19:32
these days and it's used in a lot of
19:33
different contexts but you can see the
19:36
brands that are supporting their
19:37
communities on the ground the brands
19:39
that like Lululemon are supporting the
19:42
yoga Community they're supporting now
19:44
the running Community because
19:46
that's what their customers care about
19:48
and they want to Foster that sense of
19:50
community on the ground and they do the
19:51
hard work building Community isn't easy
19:53
it takes a lot of small actions
19:56
at a Grassroots level and I think those
19:58
companies on the public markets are
20:01
ideal candidates for starting to
20:04
understand who their shareholders are
20:05
and engaging more directly yeah and
20:07
we're also seeing this too with a lot of
20:08
public company Executives on Twitter X
20:12
um you know talk about you know
20:13
corporate updates we've got you know
20:15
spotify's you know CEO and president or
20:18
is on Twitter actively talking about new
20:20
updates or you know uh correcting any
20:22
misinformation out there and I think
20:24
you're seeing that more and more
20:25
executives are leaning into this and
20:27
finding you know investor communities
20:29
because at the end of the day you know
20:31
institutional investors are looking for
20:32
very particular things and the war can
20:34
be won with retail and other
20:36
self-directed investors so yeah I think
20:39
it's a broad ecosystem right now and I I
20:41
think the channels of communication are
20:44
a huge opportunity to companies and
20:48
the examples that we're seeing in the
20:50
market again there there are different
20:52
tiers so you're you're seeing the kind
20:54
of Adam Ahrens of the world who are
20:56
extremely active and they like to go
20:59
direct to their shareholders and then on
21:00
the other side you see uh the CEOs that
21:03
are a little bit broader and and they're
21:05
using
21:06
their platform for corporate
21:08
Communications I think there's a lot of
21:10
room in between and really again it's
21:12
about understanding who are your
21:14
shareholders and what do they care about
21:15
and you you really can't craft a
21:18
communication strategy until you
21:19
understand who they are what do they
21:21
care about and then do you want to get
21:23
in front of more of those types of
21:25
investors do you want to go after a
21:27
different type of investor but really
21:28
understanding who they are is important
21:30
to start and then looking at okay what
21:32
are my options are most of my investors
21:36
at the retail level gen Z are they on
21:39
Tick Tock should we be using that as a
21:40
platform is traditional email very
21:45
effective should we go down that road
21:46
but again it starts with understand who
21:48
they are and then build a strategy
21:50
around that love it um could you share I
21:52
guess a little bit about where people
21:53
can find stakeholder and you know what
21:55
yeah a little bit about yeah definitely
21:57
so uh we are on most of the platforms
22:01
that I just mentioned on Twitter or X
22:03
under at stickler Labs uh also have a
22:07
newsletter that we push out every week
22:09
this is really taking our customers and
22:13
a lot of the ecosystem on our journey of
22:15
Discovery there's a lot of topics that
22:18
are on that bleeding edge that are being
22:21
discussed that are being debated and we
22:24
like to share kind of our learnings and
22:26
what we've been able to kind of
22:29
understand through the discourse it's
22:31
called the Roundtable Roundup if you go
22:33
to our website
22:34
stakeholderlabs.com you'll be able to
22:36
click on the round table Roundup And
22:38
subscribe and then on LinkedIn as well
22:41
and if anyone would be interested in
22:44
learning more feel free to reach out to
22:47
me directly Matt sticklerlabs.com happy
22:50
to provide more information or just
22:52
generally educate on where retail's at
22:54
today where we think it's going in the
22:56
future and what are the opportunities to
22:58
engage love it anything else you'd like
23:00
to share
23:01
I think we're good for now I appreciate
23:03
you having me on Brian it's been a
23:05
pleasure to work with you guys and and
23:06
looking forward to more Partnerships
23:08
ahead that's it if you're a publicly
23:09
traded company please reach out to Matt
23:11
we would love to see more of these types
23:13
of Partnerships and programs in the
23:14
future but thank you for tuning in for
23:16
another episode of the bullish Studio
23:18
podcast we'll see you again next time
23:21
foreign
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