Nah, he was confident of GO approval by end-2023 and he...

Nah, he was confident of GO approval by end-2023 and he massively ramped up the sales team in anticipation. AVH would also have been telling customers about the imminent approval of this fantastic new version of the product. These actions massively increased expenses and most likely tempered short term demand.

The CEO's (what turned out to be) unfounded confidence, has pushed the company to the edge of the precipice. It's had to take on very expensive debt and its opened the possibility of another cap raise. Given the CEO's many overly-confident ruminations on "how easily the company can become cashflow positive, its just a question of how aggressive the growth profile", any additional cap raise before delivering on the two-decades-wait for cashflow profitability will most likely see the end of the management team and (if not the end of the company), massive SP erosion.

It was a stupid, unnecessary risk to take - particularly in the light of the company's IP protection - and almost certainly due to his ridiculous incentives being revenue based rather than profitability based.

Get the approval. Make the sales. Grow the team.

Instead he put in place 200 salespeople, unable to sell the product the company had been talking up for a year, and with a built in excuse.

PS: the CFO is also a disaster who is entirely beholden to the CEO. He's so overpaid its not funny. Of course to maintain his position and remuneration, he's trained to genuflect at the CEO at each investor presentation and makes token share purchases out of his over-the-top remuneration.