I held bit of a Q and A with Neil. As for my reaction to the responses, I am very happy shareholder to say the least. These next few months and especially this year is going to be mind boggling. Get ready
ME: I'd like to congratulate the team at BrainChip! Milestone 3 is great progress towards turning the concept into real-world applications -- and of course, commercialization of the technology.
BRN: Thank you. The team has and continues to work very hard on this task. We are very impressed with our team. We are focused on generating revenue for the company and this last milestone has placed us in a position where we are extremely confident of delivering on the next milestone in the short term.
ME: How many companies would you say BrainChip is currently in negotiations with about commercializing the technology?
BRN: BrainChip has/is in discussions with approximately 15-20 brand name/well known companies about commercialisng the company's IP. This number is expected to increase significantly via a number of initiatives we have in place. First and foremost we are engaging with new companies on a regular basis in addition to those that have helped form the technological milestones. Secondly and of importance is the alliance we have with ABR. This alliance can broaden our reach dramatically and in addition to this we are endeavoring to form further mutually beneficial relationships that will broaden our reach geographically and deeper into the AI sector.
ME: Is the company still talking to said Fortune 500 companies that assisted with achieving Milestone 2? If so, are they within the technology sector?
BRN: Yes. Yes and a range of different sectors that have embraced Ai for their end user products.
ME: Facebook's Head of AI, Yann Lecun, has recently criticized BrainChip's technology saying it's not as good as the team at BRN are claiming + also reinforcing when asked about BrainChip he responded, "I've been quite critical of this line of work.". Do you or anyone from the team have any response to that?
BRN: I’m not sure I would agree with your statement that he “criticized” our technology. First and foremost he is not in a position to criticize the technology as he himself has not seen the technology. Mr Le Cun’s interests are in Convolutional networks and neither Facebook nor he has branched into Spiking neural Networks which of course is what SNAP is. We invite Facebook and Mr Le Cun to view a live demonstration of SNAP after which he can then decide its merits and comment in public about it. Like I said to a shareholder today, we know what we have and we know we have solved the problem of unsupervised learning. Some in the field will not be happy about this and will have been thwarted by our achievements with a small team and limited capital.
ME: With the recent achievement of Milestone 3, how are developers from companies going to access the Client Server Interface/API? Is the team at BRN reaching out to them? Will it be free or will they have to pay? Will they have to sign non-disclosures?
BRN: Remotely/online. Yes we are proactively marketing SNAP and this tool to a wide audience. We will decide who gains access after verifying their intentions for the technology and gauge their interest in licensing the technology. We aren’t interested in playing games or the like. We are interested in generating revenue from this technology. Yes [about non-disclosures], This is standard for the industry.
ME: There hasn't been any mention of finding a CEO as of late. What has the process been like? How many candidates did you meet? Were they off high caliber? Will Peter be remaining as permanent CEO?
BRN: We have been all hands on deck with the technological advancement and marketing initiatives. Peter as interim CEO is perfectly placed to perform this role with our collective support whilst we maintain focus on delivering technological advancement and business development. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the process has been halted but as per my previous answer we have placed a high level of importance on delivering the technology as we are focused on early revenue. The CEO process is resuming now. [We've met with ] approximately 10 [CEO candidates]. [Were they of high caliber?] Yes. [Peter will not be permanent CEO] whilst very capable of performing the role [of a CEO], [he] is [a] valuable asset to remain in this role from a technological standpoint.
ME: What is the current outlook for burn rate, will their have to be a CR anytime soon?
BRN: We have sufficient capital to get us through until August. We are conservative with our capital and recognize that we are viewed as a potential candidate for a raise. This of course is true but we will manage our cash carefully and raise when appropriate to fund the business plan.
ME: Also, in a made up scenario, if BRN did have to raise capital, through what platform?
BRN: Traditional placement or Share Purchase Plan (SPP)
Hope this answers most sh's questions
I'm very excited for what's to come in the short, medium and long term.
GLTAH.
(20min delay)