CONNECT. SHARPEN. SUCCEED.

Our practice is to connect with entrepreneurs by treating them respectfully and their ideas thoughtfully. That requires a great deal of listening on our part, preferably in face-to-face meetings. Our preference is to meet with the full entrepreneurial team to develop both a strategic and a tactical view of the opportunity and the challenge. We're the first to admit that we don't know it all, so we frequently ask our Connectivity Partners to join us in these early meetings to focus and accelerate our due diligence.

We feel strongly that due diligence should be neither a high level reconnaissance mission nor a ground level inquisition. There should be tangible benefits for the time and effort, even if Appian ultimately declines the opportunity. The exercise should leave us and the entrepreneur more knowledgeable about the opportunity and technology than we began.

So the goal of our investment process is to help entrepreneurs sharpen their business focus and to connect them to industry resources that can help accelerate their progress. We often introduce one or more of our Connectivity Partners, portfolio executives or tech-savvy investors to the entrepreneurial team. Their industry expertise can help us quickly highlight the key issues surrounding the technology, market, team or strategy. They also make key introductions to the company.

Because our investment process results in a comprehensive and objective evaluation of the business, we are better equipped to facilitate the successful syndication of the investment, to maintain the spotlight on the critical milestones throughout the company's lifecycle and to identify where Appian can connect resources. By connecting the right resources at the right time, we hope to increase valuation and accelerate success.