Hello Esketit investors. Hello, P2P-anlage.de blog readers! Today, we start the new Esketit video series. Usually, we, as platform managers, are interviewed by different bloggers and publishers. But today, we will do the opposite. We will interview our investor, who at the same time also is one of our biggest affiliate partners for us. He has his own blog, and he writes about investing. So today, we have Andreas Tiellman, the author of the P2P Anlage blog, with us. We will have a conversation about investing, about the p2p world and everything around it. So hello, Andreas, and nice to meet you in the Esketit office.

Hello Vitaly, thank you for inviting me.

Yeah. It’s always a pleasure to meet investors at our office, especially you, who have been blogging about us all this year. So yeah, let’s start with the question, who are you, and what do you do for a living?

I’m Andreas Tielmann, I live in Germany. I was born in Russia and then came as a child when I was three years [old] with my family to Germany. So I have lived in Germany my whole life.

And what do I do for a living? I work as a CNC cutter. It has nothing to do with the financial world, but I do manage my peer-to-peer portfolio. It took time also. And then I write a blog and do such work also. But maybe the next time, I will lower the hours of work as the CNC cutter and work more to manage a portfolio and write about my experience and so on.

OK, interesting. And how did you start investing in P2P, and for how long are you already doing that?

It was a very long time ago. I was 28 when I first read about it. It was a platform from Germany, and I read about it, and I said, “Oh no, I don’t want to want to invest there. It’s too high risk for me.” But I tracked this peer-to-peer model, and then three years later, in 2011, I started to invest in a German platform.

And German platform because I know the German market and so I started there, but with low money, because it was new for me and so I start there. I watched it for two years, and then in 2013, I saw the results. I had a loan that was defaulted, but it was recovered fruitful, so it was a good experience in the beginning, and then I said, OK. I saw that it works, and most loans were repaid. And then I said, “OK, I will put more money there and test it.” And so I started with the German market, and later I went into the other countries as well. 

OK, interesting. So it seems that you have pretty extensive experience in this world, which is kind of, in a way new investment sector. So you are one of the most experienced in it all. How did you get to know about Esketit?

It was last year that I got to know that the Cream Finance Group will put loans to Esketit, their own platform from the same founders. And I have known Cream Finance for a long time, and so I decided, “OK, it’s an alternative investment,” and so I started in the last year to invest in Esketit. Yes, so it’s about the background of the Cream Finance Group.

And what did you like the most about Esketit when you opened the site and checked it and maybe also throughout all this time that you are now using Esketit? What do you like the most or what impressed you the most?

There are many things that are good. For example, during the whole time, I had almost no bugs on the platform. But yeah, the most important thing is that you have a secondary market that works from the beginning, and it is free of charge. So if I wanted to sell my loans, I could do it every time. And I like the Esketit strategies. I tested them in the last month, and so I can liquidate some in a very short time and free of charge, so that’s a very good thing. That it’s very rare in the market because sometimes, on other platforms, you have to put many loans manually, so this [automated strategy] is very good. Yes, of course, also the background of the Esketit founders from Cream Finance [is important]. So, I liked the business model. I have known the business for years now, and so I liked that too.

Sounds good, and I think it also goes together with the article that you wrote at the beginning of this year, where you wrote that you have decided to invest €100,000 throughout this year by using the Esketit platform. How did you come up with this plan? 

Yes, I started last year, and then I think it always for me is in the beginning. I start low and to get the first experience, and so it was with Esketit a very good experience at first, and then I thought I had at the beginning of the year around €10,000 there, and so I saw that it’s for me a very good business and I decide to deposit money to €100,000. Of course, not at once because I have to withdraw it from other platforms to Esketit or the salary.

So I decided a year is a good time frame, and it could be before the end of the year. But now it’s more than half a year and more than half over the goal. It was the aim, and it’s already there. So yeah, I decided a year is a good time frame to do that, and I think it will be this year that I aim to go.

Of course, we are happy about such investors’ decisions, and we are really thankful that you have decided to do such a thing. If I would ask you a bit of an opposite question. Is there anything maybe what you don’t like about investing with Esketit? And maybe what we could improve with time? Is there anything like that?

You can higher the interest, but that’s not possible, I think (laughs) because there are so many investors there. But with the business, you know, everything works, so I have no suggestions as to what you can do better because I like what I have done. And like I had said that you are transparent in how you do all the things. So, for now, I can say it is all good. I don’t know what the future will bring, but for now, it’s good. 

OK, happy to hear this. And if you don’t mind, let’s change the topic. So maybe let’s have a bit broader conversation and talk about the other investments that you do. So what other investments do you do outside the Esketit or maybe outside P2P? What do you think about that?

I have investments in other P2P platforms, and all the peer-to-peer platforms are the most in the percentage of the portfolio, but I spread it over several platforms. I invest outside the peer-to-peer business: I invest in stocks, startups, in crypto as well but not large sums. That’s all my portfolios at the moment.

OK, and how do you usually choose a cooperation partner for your investments? For example, when you are selecting a platform—it could be a P2P platform or maybe a platform for investing in startups or whatnot—what’s very important for you to make that final decision to start a cooperation with someone?

Very important for me is the transparency of the company – so the financial data, what they publish about the year, last years and the transparency of the whole business. If a business does not regularly publish the financials or is not transparent, then I Say, “OK, I will not invest or go very low to get the first experience.” So for me, it’s very important that they are transparent. So I think Esketit is very transparent with the Cream Finance Group behind them. And then I start with low sums. Then, if I get the experience with the time, I decide to invest more of the portfolio.

Yes, I think it’s a very clever way how to think about such things and how to make decisions. But of course, when we talk about investments, every investor must probably have had some failures on their way. So what failures have you had in your investing experience? And maybe how have you learned from them?

Failures… I could say I have sold crypto too early. Because I was there [in that situation] in 2016 – I bought not much but still something. And then I sold too early. I saw that I could not go higher, so I sold many. So it’s a little learning that I have to be at the investment and not change your mind so much or too early. That was a failure of the last time, but it was a good investment all in all. But it could be better. So the failure was that how to say… I sold too early to decide something.

Got it, and most probably, you have also had some investments where you have lost your money. So what were those? 

So that wasn’t in the first years, but I tested out buying gold. I traded gold and was a little bit active. But then I lost money a little bit, so I decided that that was not my thing to buy and sell every day, day trading was not for me. I lost money, and yes, that was one of the important things. Of course, [there were] other investments in startups, but I know that before, if I invest in 10 companies, new companies, nine of them will be lost and maybe one will be a good investment. But that I knew before so I cannot say that’s a bad decision.

If you keep that fact in mind in the beginning, then you don’t feel bad at the end. So that, I think, is most important. If I know the risk before, I know that many companies will fail, for example, and so I can decide.

And what do you usually pay attention to when you make those decisions about making those investments? For example, when you make decisions about investing in some startups or maybe some other decisions that you make about some new investments? What do you usually pay attention to, or what do you usually check before making this final confirmation to do something?

I think the important thing is to understand the business. What is the business about? Where comes the money from? So if there is a return, where comes the money from? It’s not out of nothing. So maybe, for example, the peer-to-peer business. The money comes from the borrowers, so it’s clear. For other businesses, it’s clear to understand what are the risks. What can we have? What can happen in the worst case? What can happen in the best case, of course, hopefully in the best case? So that’s for me, the most important factor to read about the business to understand the business. What is the main business? What are the other parts of the business? What is the most important thing of the business? And then to look at the scale, if the company can scale up the business in a wide range. So this is the most important thing, I would say if I look into the business.

OK, sounds reasonable. And as I mentioned at the beginning of the conversation, you have your own blog where you write about those investments you make, and as you have this blog, you also have readers who read that blog. What do your readers think about Esketit? Do you also receive some questions from them about Esketit? And what’s their opinion about our platform?

Yes, I get questions about it. For example, why I increased the investment portfolio on Esketit and they think…. They think a little bit like me because they look at the history of Cream Finance Group, for example, and so they decide if they look into their financial data, then they decide to increase the value. That’s my experience so far in the last months, so they are almost, I think, nearly all the same, but of course, every investor has their own portfolio and their own decision they make, so I cannot say to the others, “do that or do that,” so I only can say what my experience is, what my feeling is, what my experience is with the platform, and how I see the financials of the company of Esketit. And of course, with time, how long are you on the platform? How long is my experience? It’s better to have more experience. So, for example, if I were new to the peer-to-peer business, I would go very much lower to gain more experience with time. But I know many businesses, so I tell others what my experience is, what my feelings are. But I already get questions about Esketit, and then I write the answers in the blog.

And what do your readers think about the P2P world in general? Like about all the current events that are happening and their effect on the P2P world? Do you receive any feedback or any questions from them in regards to that?

Yes, I receive questions about the topic. They want to know how I see the whole world now. But it has to do with [the fact] if the investors have experience, [with], for example, the 2020 time where the corona crisis was there, there was very much [questions]. They don’t know what to do at this time, and so if they had their first experience in this market two years ago, they are not, how to say, they’re not experienced. They have the experience of that time now, and they can decide better.

Of course, you have to look at the whole peer-to-peer world. It’s very different for each investor. Somebody is careful in these times about the recession in general, but other investors keep investing how they do it. So every investor is different. For me, I can say that I invest further, so I look at the market, the whole market, and then decide what to do, but for me – I do invest further to attract the whole peer-to-peer business.

What is your suggestion for all these Esketit investors?

Of course, if they are already Esketit investors, I can only say for me, I invest further in Esketit. If you are not yet an investor at Esketit, you can test it out at the beginning, and then, if you have a good experience, then you can increase the sum. But I think you will have a good experience, so for me, and I [also] speak for other investors who have already large sums at Esketit, so that’s what I can say. 

Yeah, I think this is definitely a good suggestion. And yes, and we are, as most probably all the investors who are already investing with us, they know that we are always available for any of their questions. And for new investors — feel free to join us. And as Andreas suggests, you can start with lower amounts just to see how it works. How automated strategies are working, how liquid they are, and then everything connected to that. Then, with time, understand whether to go for more or stay with the same amount. So thank you to everyone who watched this video. Thank you for listening to the great conversation that we had with Andreas, who I think answered a lot about his thoughts about the Esketit platform and his thoughts about investing world in general. We hope this information will be valuable for us, and we plan to continue having such conversations with our investors and other people who are connected to our platform also in the future. So thank you.