Meeting was worth the trip.
First, there was probably 50-60 people in attendance. Some notables: PP, JP, Vines3, SOG and a bunch of others who post infrequently and many lurkers. Heck many in attendance said oh you're hangdog, etc.
I just dropped SOG off to be picked up by the Southwest Mother ship to take him back to BWI. He will surely report in once he drives home and unwinds.
Where to start? I will give a few details and have to defer to later since I just 'worked' all day.
I am pumped. We have a great little company which is growing at a fairly rapid pace. In fact, I asked HR what was on tap. 8 people will be starting with NEOM next week. I personally believe that when the lease ends they will probably be moving to a larger facility.
Stock options: Before the vote the big question was can we trust the stock option committee to do the right thing as they have done in the past which is to grant stock options at the market price of the company. The answer is YES. Why? When NEOM grants options they have to expense them on the day they are granted. So if the stock closed today at .32 and they granted 1,000,000 shares at .01, then NEOM would have to show this as deferred compensation in the amount of .31 per share or $310,000. Therefore the company will continue to grant options at or near the market price of the stock to minimize the costs and to incentivize the person to help grow the company.
Why the hang up with BSDS? Short answer, we bought Mobot. Basically the Mobot announcement before the closing of BSDS has resulted in the SEC asking for more information about the Mobot deal. I believe the premise of this from the SEC is that did NEOM announce Mobot to artificially inflate NEOM stock so that less shares would be given to BSDS. BSDS should be finalized shortly following one more filing about Mobot's audited results. Once this occurs I expect BSDS to close and then Mobot.
News/PRs/Info from shareholders? At the end of the BSDS closing expect to see an agressive marketing campaign about paperclick, etc.
How is NEOM going to get paperclick adopted? Two or more paths. Adoption by service providers, adoption by marketing firms, adoption by individual companies. Eventually reach tipping point where the software gets out there and is adopted as the platform. Downloads, email attachments. Demo showed how the user can control what information is presented via paperclick and what the user wants. When you download paperclick you register its usage and thus customize your experience? Ex: what language, what age, male/female, etc.
I get the impression that things in Europe will happen first. (See page 28 of paperclick) Saw demo one in Spanish and the other in English. Depends on the settings.
Where is NEOM headed? Merger and acquistion of enabling technologies and possibly marketers? Look at the pie chart on page 8 and think of the possibilities. We will win against ScanBuy.
Big players? Google, yahoo, microsoft, aol and any other company involved in using or developing mobile search to be approached by NEOM or vice versa. They have the need. We have the IP. That's it. Would we partner with a big player? Yes. Is there talks? Cannot say. I would expect that some things are occuring based on the interest in mobile marketing.
Many don't care about paint but the paint business is growing extremely rapidly. Why? We are in the right places. The manager Paul G is from Dupont after 24 years there. Why is he here? All the possibilites. Pretty interesting that he comes in and gets a contract with PPG to work together in the Chinese market. Pretty awesome.
Relisting on major exchange. I would expect listing on Amex in 2006. This would get us off the OTC BB.
We have not used one dime of the Cornell $100,000,000 line of credit. Our burn rate is going down as we grow revenue and thru acquisition of BSDS. Eventually may not need to tap because of revenue. Use it to make major purchases or guarantee major purchases.
My advice is to hold on to your shares tightly. I personally will be buying more shares.
I came here to kick the tires, look in managements' eyes, and ask questions. Everything I saw convinced me that I have invested my hard-earned money wisely.
See you in LV, sooner than later.
Your humble servant,
Hangdog
