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Fixing Healthcare Funding with AI | Sharmeen Aqeel of Lyyvora | The Brainiac Blueprint Podcast

  • Acy Rodriguez
  • Mar 15
  • 22 min read

In this episode of The Brainiac Blueprint Podcast, we sit down with Sharmeen Aqeel, Founder of Lyyvora, to unpack why so many healthcare clinics struggle to secure funding - and how AI can help bridge the gap.


Sharmeen shares her journey from product designer to founder after facing more than 40 bank rejections herself. She explains how traditional lenders rely too heavily on backward-looking financials, often ignoring future bookings, growth potential, and the realities of running a modern healthcare clinic. Through Lyyvora, she’s building tools that educate clinic owners, assess borrower readiness, and match clinics with alternative lenders more efficiently.


We also explore how Sharmeen uses AI across her workflows, why trust and education matter so much in healthcare finance, and how Lyyvora is designed to support founders - especially women entrepreneurs - navigating one of the hardest parts of building a clinic: access to capital.


Full transcript below.


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⏱ In this episode, we discuss: 

00:00 | Intro

02:10 | Sharmeen’s background and the origin of Lyyvora

05:40 | Why banks reject healthcare clinics

09:30 | The disconnect between lenders and clinic realities

13:20 | Borrower readiness and alternative funding paths

18:10 | Using AI to match clinics with lenders

22:45 | Funding thresholds and common eligibility blockers

27:30 | AI tools Sharmeen uses day-to-day

33:10 | Data security, trust, and responsible AI use

38:20 | Supporting women founders in healthcare

42:50 | Advice for first-time entrepreneurs

47:30 | What’s next for Lyyvora

50:10 | Rapid fire questions


🔗 Sharmeen Aqeel


🔗 Lyyvora


📲 Connect with Left Brain AI


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If this episode inspired you, taught you something new, or gave you a different lens on AI in healthcare, share it, leave a comment, or tag us.


Let’s help more people stay brilliant.


Know someone who would make a great guest? Email us at podcast@leftbrainenterprises.biz



Episode Full Transcript:


Kyle: Welcome back to another episode of the Brainiac Blueprint, where we discuss the intersection of AI and how it impacts business and the world around us with our esteemed guests. I'm Kyle Lambert, founder of Left Brain AI and Action Hero Marketing.


In today's episode, we discuss the complexities of healthcare clinics and what they undergo when attempting to receive funding. With that being said, today's Brainiac is Sharmeen Aqeel. Welcome to the show, Sharmeen.


Sharmeen: Kyle, I'm super excited to be with you in this podcast. Thank you for your welcome.


Kyle: I'm excited that you're here. I think you have a very interesting story as the founder of Lyyvora. So let's jump right in. If you don't mind telling everybody who you are, what Lyyvora does, and we'll just kind of kick things off from there.


Sharmeen: So yeah, Kyle, I had been a product designer for more than a decade and had been in the design leadership for the last seven years. I always loved to solve complex problem systems, especially when they were directly related to the users.


There was a turning point in my career where I started seeing this financial problem, this disconnect between healthcare clinics and finances. The bridge which should have been technology making things easier for both parties is not there.


I started interviewing clinics because I came to know two clinics who were working extremely well—my massage therapist and my dentist. When they wanted to get extra capital from a bank, the hustle started. I wasn't able to understand it because I knew they had booked future appointments and the clinic was growing, but they were having a hard time getting capital. This is where I started my journey of understanding the problem. In June of 2025, I took the decision to create my company, Lyyvora, to make this problem easier for clinics.


Kyle: Very cool. You have an interesting why behind this. So I think it's going to be cool to dive in a little bit. For anybody who's listening, Lyyvora is L-Y-Y-V-O-R-A.com.


Before we jump into more of the business and how you're using AI, I would love for you to finish the prompt that we discussed. I think AI is...


Sharmeen: AI is a constant reminder of nothing is permanent.


Kyle: I love that. The only constant is change, right? I'm curious, are you a fan of change? Do you typically fear change or how do you approach it?


Sharmeen: AI is sometimes extremely exciting and I just can't believe how I am improving my workflows. On the other hand, certainly there is this anxiety of am I running behind? What's upcoming? Is this the best software to do that?


There is on one hand this excitement and happiness that I can get this done in a few minutes instead of hours. On the other hand, am I running behind? Things are changing and keeping up with the change is a constant reminder for us that the AI which you see today is not going to be the same tomorrow. So keep adapting.


Kyle: I think there's two reasons why that's true. It's still so new. It's still in its infancy. So all these changes, products, and all these systems, they're eventually going to die out because not everyone's going to have value and not everything is going to be able to continue to grow. Whatever provides the best bang for your buck is the one that's going to stand out. I always equate that to the dot-com bubble and so many other industries in the past. It just keeps changing so fast. Whoever can really accelerate their growth is going to be the leader.


Before we dive deeper into AI, I want to jump into you a little bit more. One of the things that you mentioned in our discussion earlier is that you turned 47 bank rejections into your mission. It probably sucked for you in the moment going through that, but I'm hoping you can elaborate a little bit and tell us about what happened and what you were going through.


Sharmeen: One of the qualities of a product designer is to understand and be in the shoes of the user or client. When I took the decision that I'm going to work on this problem, my first thing was to start interviewing all those clinics who had a hard time getting funding. The number is unfortunately not 47 anymore. It's now way above 47.


Initially I started looking at different angles of the same problem. There is not only one reason that banks were rejecting the application. Most of the time, this is something new.


Giving you two examples: one clinic she was with the same bank for the last three years. When she needed funding, she got rejected. The top reason was because she had $1,700 of loss in her P&L statement. I knew that the clinic was growing and she had all the pieces to show that it was growing. But just because of one document, her application was rejected. It took her seven months finally to get approved by different people.


On the other hand, another med spa clinic, she has been trying to get a loan but she did not have enough collateral. She had to put her own house as collateral for her business. The stories are extremely diverse, which comes back to a few common areas.



The one thing that I see repetitively is that the traditional way of funding is more based on papers, your P&L statement, your revenues, but not the vision or the story. They are not looking at why you hired people or why you bought this new equipment. You have 50 plus bookings in the future, but they are not looking at those client commitments. They're more looking at history. If I can resume all my interviews into one area, I would say that most of the time the banks are looking at the papers and not the ambition or the story of the clinic.


Kyle: It feels to me like they just have this black and white checklist. If you don't meet that very explicit set of criteria, they're just like, no, there's no wiggle room or anything. It's nice that you're providing this service. The bank is going to be a pain.


Sharmeen: One of the reasons why is because they have a lot of good loans and good companies. Why would they have this extra pain to justify 50k? By the way, 50k is extremely hard because banks are not interested in 50k. They're more interested in 300 or 400k. That's another problem. If the amount is too small, the underwriting process costs them way more than the profit they might have. They just don't take it.


Kyle: Is there a typical amount that you would say these clinics you've been working with are looking for?


Sharmeen: There's not one typical amount, but when the amount is lower than 50k, it's getting harder for banks to justify the whole process of underwriting. There is something that they offer like a line of credit. But again, the problem is in a line of credit, you have a certain amount that you can take off at a time. If your equipment cost is 45k, but at one time you can only take out 25k, then you have to restart doing this paperwork again with the bank. There is no straightforward answer with the bank if you're going for a lower amount.


Kyle: And so when you were working with these organizations, were you hired as a consultant or something like that? What was your role with them?


Sharmeen: First of all, I was their client. I was their friend and client. Another friend who was a financial advisor also told me that this is one problem that we see again and again. One of the first steps I took is that if the bank is refusing, then who else is allowing?


This is where I found this world of alternate lenders who want to give the loan and can approve within one week. Most of the clinics that I talked to, they did not even know that there is another way to get loans. This is where I started my education. I'm also consulting the clinics that if you want to be approved in the next six months, what are the things that you need to get done today so that you get approval?


Kyle: You said your training and experience is in product as opposed to healthcare or finance. Did you have experience maybe through university? Or is this a clean slate where you had to really beef up your knowledge to understand how you could build a service for these clinics?


Sharmeen: First of all, I wouldn't have even imagined that I can step into something where you need to have financial knowledge. But thanks to all those summaries and everything, I'm getting it now. In the last six months, I know finance. I also have someone close who had been in the finance world for many years. That was one big reason that I was able to ramp up my financial knowledge.

The problem is not directly related to finance. It's not that I can solve one financial problem and then they will be eligible to get the loan. It's more about the process. If the bank had an understanding of how the clinic works, they might have taken different steps.


The way I'm designing the product is understanding what the requirements of the lenders are and what clinics can provide. My lenders have the whole knowledge of finances. They are the risk takers. What they are providing me is, "Sharmeen, if you can give me this, this, and this, we can work on it." Then I go to the clinic and ask how they can provide that. They say that actually they don't have an accountant. If you don't have an accountant, what if we work on a template?


It seems like it's a financial world, but I can see it more as a user experience problem where they both don't understand each other and then the system breaks. Then there is some financial education they need.


Kyle: Interesting. That makes sense. You're almost like a translator between the two, saying you need to speak this language to have a better acceptance of your application.


Sharmeen: Exactly. And again, I'm building this product. On January 10th, I will launch a borrower readiness portal, which will show the clinic what is their score to be approved by the lenders or by the banks. Lenders are giving me the criteria that need to be fulfilled. I'm making it as a form in the software, which will calculate the clinic's readiness. This is how I'm translating the problem so that the clinics don't need to dig in and go for 10, 20, or 30 paperwork pieces just to see if they're ready or not.


Kyle: Smart. I like that. Let's elaborate a little bit on Lyyvora and the product and your service. What can a clinic expect if they decide to partner up with you? What does the process look like?


Sharmeen: The number one thing is their revenues. There are two things that you need to be qualified for if you get the loan today. Number one, what are your revenues? If they're lower than 10k per month, then you need to start building your revenues just to a level that you will be able to reimburse the loan afterwards.

If you have revenues from 10 to 15k, you can get some funding from the lenders. If you need 20k to cover up the future paycheck of your employees and you're already earning 15k, you can easily get this 20k loan that will help you to pay the salary for next month for your employees and then you will be easy to reimburse. These are extremely quick to get. The lenders that I'm working with are releasing the funds between 48 hours to one week.


Second criteria is number of months of business. If you're starting out, it would be way more difficult for you to get those loans. But if you were in the business for the last six months, it seems that you know the business, you have a clientele, you have something going on, and then things get easier. Your revenues per month and number of months in business. It's not rocket science. Everyone knows that. This is where they start being qualified. If there's a higher loan, I start educating them on what are the things that need to be fixed in order to get this higher loan in the next few months.


Kyle: I'm sure that's valuable information. It's kind of hard to see the forest from the trees sometimes. You mentioned that you have these different lenders that you are working with. Do you have a pool of vetted lenders that are sitting there waiting for a Lyyvora application? Or is there another way to be thinking about this?


Sharmeen: All my lenders—I have almost 10 lenders today working in Canada and the US. The way we work is in my portal, whenever a clinic applies for an application, I match them with the credit box of the lenders. If there are three lenders who are interested in this criteria of the clinic, they send their offers to me. I look at them and recommend the clinic which offer is best for them.

But the clinic does not have to go with me there. For example, another lender who's giving a longer term with a different interest rate, they are okay to go to the other one as well. The biggest value proposition that we are giving is that with one application, they can get multiple offers within 48 hours.


Kyle: Oh, that's nice. It's good to have that speed component to it. This is a super broad question, but I always like to think about this kind of stuff. When you were starting this up, this was a net new process for you and you were starting to see some light bulbs go off from your conversations. Was there something that really stood out to you that was just very surprising?


Sharmeen: There is one thing when I started analyzing the criteria of clinics that needs to be fulfilled when the lenders are approving an application. With the typical bank criteria, I found there are 35 to 40 questions that need to be filled.

Then I, by working with AI and other financial experts, turned them down into 20 questions. Then I had my meeting with the lenders. I was so sure that they're going to say, "You know what, you're not asking enough. We need these more criteria." But my biggest surprise was that they said, "You're still asking too much." Then they turned them down into 12.


Give me one example: a med spa. They were looking for a loan for an expansion. I said that the lease for the new location is mandatory from the beginning. Then they said, "No, not from the beginning. You can make it optional." My biggest surprise was that the lenders reduced the criteria that I already have reduced. That was one good thing that I got to know—sometimes we are just making things too complicated. It doesn't have to be so complicated.


Kyle: That's interesting. I would have never guessed that they would be like, "Hey, let's simplify even more." That's a big win right there. Let's jump in. You've mentioned AI a couple of times. It seems like you are a big proponent. I'm curious in terms of what tools you're using the most, how you're using it, and if it's infused in your product or just in your workflows.


Sharmeen: Kyle, if you asked me the same question two weeks back, I might have a different response. Today I have a different response. It's evolving every day.

I would say the number one software that I had been using from the beginning is ChatGPT. But the way I started using it is evolving. Now I created the personality. I created the folder where we have all my history of Lyyvora. People say that AI is like a co-pilot. For me, it's kind of a co-founder. It knows where I started, what am I missing, and what should I be working on. ChatGPT creating this folder helps me a lot.


The other software that I'm starting now to get the most accurate information is Perplexity. Now I'm using Grok. I am extremely surprised how far they can go whenever I ask them to give me the latest update on bank rejections and the reasons. Extremely fast. Grok and Perplexity are my second tools which help me.

Second is I'm very committed to educating my audience about what's going on. When I create posts, I post regularly on LinkedIn. I use multiple software to post it. First is CreateUp. Creating my post on Stanley. Stanley knows my language, the way I speak. Second is Perplexity and Grok to understand the trends and give me new information. Third, ChatGPT to correct my speech style. Fourth is Canva and Gamma, who help me to create the image.


It seems like a lot, but in reality, it's just making my things more efficient and more pointed to the answer. To my user, it's something easy to understand and this is what they want. Lastly, being a designer, I also use UX Pilot to create the prototype and the workflows for the software that I am making. I am working with software engineers. They are the ones who are coding, but I do provide them the workflow and the mockups and I use Figma and UX Pilot for that.


Kyle: You got a lot of things being plugged in there. I'm curious, how have you decided on platforms or when to switch? Is it trial and error or is it just research?


Sharmeen: I follow a few people on LinkedIn who know better than I do. I just keep looking at what's going on today. As I told you, AI sometimes creates anxiety that maybe this is not the best software I'm using. Keeping myself updated with those people whose life is giving information to everyone helps. Trial and error, yes, of course. Whenever I see something I'll start using it.


For example, Gamma I tried three months ago. I did not use it the way it should be and I said, "No, this is not my tool." Then one of my friends told me exactly how he is using it. Then I came back to Gamma and started really reusing it and then I said, "Okay." So many trial and errors and so many coming back to the same tool that I already rejected two months ago.


Kyle: That resonates so much with me. I've been diving in headfirst to all of these and in the back of my mind, I keep having Claude pop up and I haven't used that yet. I even got a streaming TV ad earlier today and it's like, yeah, I need to try Claude. It seems like there's a very technical aspect of it. That's not who I am. So we'll see if it works out, but you gotta give it a shot.


Sharmeen: Claude is one of the top AI softwares and I'm not using it. Guilty also.


Kyle: Maybe we'll get Claude to sponsor us and then we'll start using it. I'm curious if you have run into any pushback from either lenders or clinics if they know you're using AI. Both finance and healthcare are historically slower to adapt and highly regulated.


Sharmeen: There's one thing that I'm not using AI for and that is clinic's personal information. The system that we have built so far—we are still making it—we call it military grade protected so that the information without their consent is not leaked. Third parties will not start using those information that I'm taking. I haven't got any pushback from lenders, but I'm personally a bit conservative whenever I'm collecting the financial information of the clinics. Instead of uploading those documents into an AI, I try to just make the scan, hiding the name and a few things manually before I upload things. So no pushback so far, but being extremely vigilant.


Kyle: It's smart to be conservative, especially when it comes to finances and PII. You mentioned for this portal that's coming out in January that there is a matching process between a lender and an applicant. I assume there's an AI component there that is reviewing who the clinic is and who the lender is.


Sharmeen: There is a huge AI component. All my lenders gave me their credit boxes of what kind of clinics they're interested to work on. What we created is that AI that whenever I fill up the clinic's information, the AI is going to analyze which one is the best lender who can give the best offer to this.


Kyle: Is this maybe like an agent that you've built or is it off-the-shelf software?


Sharmeen: This is a question for my engineers. They are the ones who are building those. What I did is being a designer, I give them the workflow and the mockups. They are the ones who are building it.


I'm extremely surprised. You asked me what is one thing that I was surprised by. I'm working with students and those students are in the third year of software engineering. While my generation is more adapting AI, they are starting off with AI. It's so exciting to see that it's just by default they start everything with those things. The way they are using AI, I'm just saying that maybe I have to again learn a lot to be at the same level as them.


Kyle: It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. You're a mom, so you've probably seen it—how kids today just know instinctively how to do a touchscreen. The next generation is going to be like, "Oh yeah, I just built this program at five."


Sharmeen: My son who's seven years old, usually in the car we have Google and I just turn on the mic and he asks questions. Google was unable to understand. It was not Gemini, it was just Google. And for the first time, my son said, "Mommy, can you please ask ChatGPT?" He's just seven years old, but I think AI—it's impossible to avoid the hype and the information going on, even for the kids. They know that there's something more intelligent around here.


Kyle: Especially since OpenAI is supposed to IPO next year and the valuation is expected to be a trillion dollars. That's something that can't be ignored even at seven. It's absolutely crazy to think about. I'm sure you're excited about the portal coming. I'm curious if you have another iteration or another feature that's in the back of your mind for how you're going to keep building on this.


Sharmeen: Another near future thing that I'm working on today is those templates. I've seen many med spas who are a one-man show and mostly they are women entrepreneurs. They cannot afford an accountant, especially in the early stages of their business. They are experts in their own domain and not in finances. I see this gap of how I as Lyyvora help them understand how to prepare those documents.


The readiness portal will tell them what their score is and what they need to have. But what I'm building today in parallel to that is how to create the P&L statement. What's your debt ratio? Those kinds of things I'm building so that in a few months, if they need some handholding or templates, they can have them without going to any professionals in order to apply for a loan.


Kyle: That's great. I'm sure it'll make the whole readiness process easier and make you even more valuable. This is a random question, but I'm curious if there's any meaning behind the name Lyyvora.


Sharmeen: There are two things in Lyyvora. The first part signifies lion. More than a lion, I think lioness, because I know that there are so many women entrepreneurs who had been living a tough life, being a mother, being a wife, daughter, so much load on them, but still they are entrepreneurs and they are going forward. I salute all of them and I'm saying you're the lioness.


Second is Vora—it's coming from light. It's that even going nothing but the bright future for us and for our future generation. For building their own identity, but also creating an example for their kids. This is the two areas of the meaning: lion and light.


Kyle: Very inspirational. I love that. What language is it?


Sharmeen: I'm not sure. I think it's a Latin word, aura. There is a light Latin inspiration in these words.


Kyle: Have you always envisioned yourself as a founder or an entrepreneur prior to this? Or is this just like you saw an opportunity and ran with it?


Sharmeen: I never thought this before. People told me before when I was in school doing my masters in product design, I was seeing that the one thing we are learning in the whole journey is solving a problem. Sometimes it's related to a physical product, sometimes related to a system, but we are solving one problem.


A few times in my career, I found that the one who's really solving the problem is the entrepreneur because it's from all different angles. He has the whole power in their mind to solve it. While if you're a product designer, you have to go through many stakeholders and many approvals. An entrepreneur is just go, go, go. I never thought that one day I will become one, but I was always looking at that person—the entrepreneur—as the one who has everything to solve the problem that he wants to solve.


Kyle: It's so funny. Since I became an entrepreneur in 2022, I just feel this extreme bond with people that have just gone through the fire. You know the moments of in the morning, you're fist pumping and you're excited and you're ready to go. And then you're banging your head on the desk because something went wrong. And then an hour later... oh, we got a guest. There we go.


Sharmeen: This is my daughter. The vacation is about to come and they're like, "Okay, mommy, what are you doing?" They're ready to go.


Kyle: That's awesome. I'm curious in terms of today, how are you reaching out to new clinics? How are you getting the word out about Lyyvora?


Sharmeen: So far it has been word of mouth and so much education on LinkedIn, but now I'm starting also Instagram and Facebook. I'm a firm believer in education. I believe that if you give the right amount of education, you will create this flywheel of the growth of your product.


Kyle: I agree 100%. It's the age of information. Anything that we do is out there. People can learn it and do it. But if they're going to open up their wallets or their trust, they got to know who you are and that you can prove that you've done it before. You have to build up that education, that credibility, and the trust before they're able to actually work with you, especially when it comes to their business and their wallets.


Sharmeen: Clinics and finance, we do need trust in it. If you type business loans on Google, you have five different companies that apply for it. But how can you differentiate them and who's the best? But if you are trusting someone that this person helped me to educate and this person is helping me to create relationships with multiple lenders, not with one, you started building this trust. This is my number one strategy to share who I am and what I am to clinics and to work with more and more people that I can.


Kyle: All right. Well, we are going to move on to the rapid fire section here. Five quick questions for you. This is one that I ask everybody. If you could just kind of click your heels and have a fully functional automation built out for you, what would that automation be?


Sharmeen: I have software. I don't need anyone. If there's a bug, there's a system which just solves all the bugs of my software. I don't have to choose a developer. A system which can solve all the bugs whenever they come. I just don't even see them. It's just solved.


Kyle: That would be quite nice. Going back to all those rejections that you were working with, is there one that stands out above the rest that was just weird or interesting?


Sharmeen: I would say the one that stood out was one clinic who had great business health. All the documents were ready, but that clinic was situated in an area that the bank was not sure if that's the right area to open a clinic. They might not have enough clients. Just because the bank was not sure that was the area which will bring her clients—and the funny thing is, of course, you are the one who's opening the clinic, you have done this research way before the bank does—just because the bank does not have enough information, the loan was rejected.


Kyle: Oh, that's so annoying. What is the first thing you do every morning?


Sharmeen: I don't look at my mobile. I'm the mother. I have to get the kids ready. I don't look at my work at all in the morning. No mobile, no work. Getting my kids ready, getting their breakfast ready. Once they're in school, my work starts. My kids are my priority.


Kyle: What is one thing that you didn't expect when becoming a founder?


Sharmeen: The efforts you have to make to get yourself out. I thought okay, I'll make a website and that's done. No, actually it's way more work than that. I never expected that the founder is the best salesman first before anything else.


Kyle: Sales is very difficult. It's definitely a skill you need to learn. Last one. What was the first ever job that you had?


Sharmeen: Babysitting. It was my first and also, apart from my product design work, the only job I had when I was a student. I'm not sure if it taught me something, but it gave me enough to continue my education.


Kyle: Probably taught you patience at the very least. Was this babysitting for family or was it like people in the neighborhood?


Sharmeen: People in the neighborhood. Then I started creating a network where me and my other fellow babysitters started sharing that okay, if you're busy I can cover you. It started with the neighbors and then surrounded by a network of babysitters where we were helping one another.


Kyle: Well great. So we've reached the open forum section here. Just want to see if there's anything that maybe we didn't discuss that you're really passionate about.


Sharmeen: Being a mother, it was extremely difficult for me to work a full-time job working with companies. I must say that I'm working more hours with my own company than I used to work for other companies. But it just gives you one kind of satisfaction that this is your vision. This is something that you choose.


I would say that if somebody wants to go on the path of entrepreneurship, just don't be afraid of it. Yes, it's going to be hard, but money is not only the reward. The satisfaction of you giving meaning to your life with your work is way above anything else. Entrepreneurship is kind of a blessing in disguise.


Kyle: Awesome. I echo that 100%. Like I said, I think entrepreneurship is very challenging but very rewarding as well.


Well Sharmeen, thank you so much for joining us today. Everybody can find you Sharmeen Aqeel on LinkedIn. Lyyvora is at Lyyvora.com. L-Y-Y-V-O-R-A.com. Is there anything else that you want to plug?


Sharmeen: No, those are the principal areas where you can find me. I try to squeeze in at least two appointments per week. This is what I can afford today. If ever you want to speak to me, you can directly book an appointment through my website or through LinkedIn. If you do need finance today but you have a problem, please feel free to reach out.


Kyle: Awesome. Well Sharmeen, thank you again. I really appreciate you joining us on the Brainiac Blueprint. If you don't mind, please look at the camera and say, "Stay brilliant, Brainiacs."


Sharmeen: Stay brilliant, Brainiacs.


Kyle: Awesome. Thank you so much, Sharmeen.


Sharmeen: Thank you, Kyle.


 
 
 

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