I’v been sick all week so spent it reading quarterlies from Jan 21 onwards. Some thoughts:
- Specific customers or opportunities were lighter than I remembered. Rather the line “growth in existing customer spend and new customers added” tops quarterlies.
- RnD and strategic focus on marketplace platform was huge. Seemed to peak Apr/ Jul Qs 2021. Culminated in a long term customer piloting due to trust. Marketplace was clearly steered away from Oct quarterly as realisation Here data was not up to standard. Cannot underestimate the hit this would have had on bottom line.
- Utilities really were chugging along well. Up until mid 22 this was on track to justify high multiples. The stable was filling up: PGE, Eversource, SDGE, Seattle City Light, Tennessee Valley Authority. Would have been hard to hold these all down given sophistication of utilities requiring 3DP to play consultants too. Utilities all stopped at once, that is clear from receipts.
- 6 target verticals were moved into Oct 21 (on marketplace pivot). Given the number of BD headcount it was always going to be slow to penetrate all 6.
- Defence was always vague. 25 SBIR & STTR programs referred to repeatedly and entrusted to Defence BD appointment. Something went wrong here (sophistication of BD appointment?) and Pointerra playing catchup with CGO role. Mistake to carrot single massive opportunity.
- The platform itself has matured nicely. The product update Jan22 still excites with change detection/ auto classification etc. Amazon certification was much needed and a positive.
- Clear breakup with Bevan Slattery for reasons we will never know but can guess.
- Receipts Sept Q 22 were last positive quarter. Decline since then coincides with massive pivot in economy (bearish and all that it brings)
This was a haphazard brain dump post. Final thoughts:
Pointerra is seeking to be a data/ sensor agnostic platform that is used across large enterprises. This will take a little longer in what are slow moving sectors (on the whole). For Pointerra to be successful, it needs to develop a huge network affect. You want users jumping from org to org advocating for it and general user literacy increasing. I see the signs this is taking place with new survey and mapping customers popping up and Pointerra being a desired skill on job descs.
IF Pointerra can steady ship, turn utilities back on, continue growing across 6 verticals this can be a very successful company and thus a very successful investment. Reading a tonne of quarterlies was frustrating at times but in fact refocused my investment thesis. If not for a horrible economic turn (that was communicated poorly on the whole), this would be ticking along nicely.
