I recently read an article about Fran Tarkenton and his new book, The Power of Failure: Succeeding in the Age of Innovations. He is the former pro football Hall of Fame Quarterback. Most books are about how to succeed, where this one is about failure. The premise of Tarkenton’s book is that he has learned more from failure than success. He says, you have to own failure. He quoted Thomas Edison when asked how many experiments did it take to get the light bulb and he said “tens of thousands”. “Didn’t you get discouraged?” “No, I knew I was closer to the answer.”
While I do not equate Serge with Thomas Edison, I do see a similarity in his dogged pursuit of the perfect product. We all know there have been many innovations to the DynoValve, since we first bought this stock. It has been improved many times, with innovations that make it able to be installed in any vehicle (the DynoCap), and substantially decreased the installation time and effort with innovation. Also, we know Serge has not been successful in getting his product sold in the quantities that he needs for success, but he has sold enough to keep the doors open.
In addition, we have had some people complain that Serge has done nothing other than line his pockets with the money he has raised through selling more stock, but I for one do not buy that. If he was just interested in lining his pockets, he would be gone, not continuing to go to China and to Dubai trying to sell his improved product and going to Korea to sell his new product as some people on this board have suggested. It just does not make any sense. Plus, I believe it takes a substantial amount of money for these continued innovations.
So, on this Thanksgiving Day in 2015, 10 years after I first bought this stock, I am thankful we have Serge as our resident genius. I do not know whether he will succeed, but I do take full ownership of my purchase if it turns out to be a failure. I will not blame poor management, I will be thankful for the effort to keep this company and the dream going for all these years.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL WHO HAVE REMAINED HOPEFULL
