A couple of thoughts.., page-166

I didn't call you a hater. That's not what I said at all. I was speaking in very general terms about what goes on in here and why I'm going to be taking a bit of a short break.


I'm relaxed about the cricket (great stuff btw!), I'm relaxed about a great many things.

But this is serious. I've tied up serious cash into ADO and it's all looking perilously close to blowing up.

I really hope this company survives because we don't have long before we burn through that remaining cash, and we cannot afford to kick responsible Directors out, because of amnesia about the factual past and some kind of paranoid narrative that has been used to point the finger elsewhere.

After years and years of failure, bad decision making and irresponsible spending, apparently there are faint acknowledgements and humility filtering through from GC that indeed there been on top of the relentless 'bad luck', in fact some unfortunate errors of judgement!

('Ya think GC?? Do you think???)

Those are massive, massive stuff ups that went on for far too long.

Way Too little, Way Too Late is my assessment of his very weak and long overdue mea culpas , in conversations relayed in here via a few modest posts.

It's too dangerous to imagine this is enough when you look at the damage done, and the attacks on the people like AS, the Chairman and RS who from what I can work out, when you take this apart with a distant eye, must have actually worked hard to rescue the situation.

This included facing up to commercial realities, and unwinding the deal with Diasource by finding another buyer. GC enjoys partaking in the vision thing, until it blows up, apparently.

Due to a constant barrage of disinformation, AS was thrown under a bus and accused of disloyalty in here. What?
He had to apply the existing terms of the Diasource deal. And that deal reflected commercial realities.

Dangerous claims have been made from GC's quarter and repeated in here that are totally unsupported by the facts. I know they're from him because he told me this directly in a memorable pre AGM conversation.

Diasource is trying to steal our IP is one of the worst. People fall for this kind of stuff. (I used to).
Get to RS because he worked for Diasource and is part of the sinister plot (see above).
Diasource should have adopted our technology and paid for us to take them over and then we'd all be rich (see below)
JH is part of a sinister plot because he works for Ferghana Partners in a limited capacity (see above previous posts) etc etc ETC!

Then it started coming from the choir: notably @PeterFred the Chairman is plotting against us because of the voting methods at the AGM.

The last one is being tied to all the rest as if it proves all the rest. If you take apart each one, which I have repeatedly, they're not listening.

Because it is in fact, a very emotional situation and people are angry. They're angry at me, and they're angry at the wrong people IMO.

The only logical thing you can do is look at commercial realities.

You look at the tie-up between First Cape and RM, and how he was involved in bleeding shareholders with the constant and irresponsible spending and dilution, and they should ask themselves who is delusional here. They should look at GC's track record of promises and stop making excuses for the guy and consider how likely it is he can deliver in the future in his apparently declared target of Chairman.

People need to exercise independent judgement and look at this with fresh eyes.
The most we can hope for in terms of meaningful cash is some kind of deal on batteries but it's a race against time. JM would be under the pump and I can't see how he'd be impressed with these antics.

More ominously: not enough money in the bank means you desperately need the deal.
It means you won't get the best possible deal.
This is basic.
Why do people in here imagine the rules of the commercial world won't apply to ADO?

It applied to the Diasource deal and it will apply to all future deals.

It's called relative bargaining power in the commercial world and any deals done will reflect those commercial realities. Just as they did with the Diasource deal. We couldn't match our promises with deals. Couldn't finance our bid, and they wanted out. They were understandably wary of implementing our technology when the benefits were so far away. New tests only were possible, (which GC well understood because he told me at the AGM when the Canadians left us in the ditch) due to the regulatory costs. This is why the 60+ weren't interested in any big deals. Regulatory barriers. He must have known this, anyone in his position would have known it and he was remarkably quiet about these realities.

Instead we get this BS that if only Diasource had implemented our technology we'd have been saved. What evil b-stards!

No! They were dealing with us like any other commercial operator. Any benefit to them would have taken many many years and been marginal. It was obvious from the lack of takeup in other major deals which we couldn't produce after signing.

Diasource were looking after their own financial interests to not continue to finance their own 'takeover' and any other company would have done the same thing. This isn't fantasy island, this is the real commercial world.


If Diasource hadn't signed we'd have been history years ago as MB quietly attested post signing. (Where was he through all the strategic master plans and machinations btw... MIA or signing off without much thought?) More commercial reality.

Ellume is nice but it won't save the company because the deal simply won't be worth enough (and it still hasn't materialised). GC knows this, he told me. I'm amazed how much he disclosed to me because he must have been in a state of high anxiety over the constantly deterioriating situation he was presiding over and blabbed at times.

I respected the confidences because I trusted him like many others, AND I hoped for the best.
This was my mistake.
I didn't know the detail of the Diasource deal but I didn't think hard enough about what it must inevitably contain as a function of our weak bargaining position, which in turn was a function of our lack of attractiveness commercially.

The danger now is because of the massive dilution GC, MB and RM presided over we are dealing with a narrowing range of options.

The CEO would be wanting to exercise extremely careful decisionmaking and use all our available wise corporate talent.

We could face a consolidation which will obliterate the upside for LT holders like me. (about which GC was remarkably lighthearted in conversation..."I'm glad you realise the need for that" he said well pre last AGM as if I'm happy about it.).

Happy!?
Well I'm FAR from happy. But this is the reality.

My point is it's his overblown, wishful thinking management that drove us to this point. That lack of strategic reality, of accountability, the lack of commercial acumen, the lack of understanding of the real commercial world in innovations deal making, that's the worry. GC and RM have delivered a series of stuff ups so far, and this is going to continue if people fall for the spiel.

This is not a fun situation and sorry if I'm not laughing people have attacked me personally, instead of looking at the unpleasant commercial reality.


So yes, I'm tired and taking a break for a bit. Who wouldn't?