Nebula, this post is in your honor, since you have the most established record of patience with me...
For a change of pace, let me write about the company rather than about the stock. As a now-retired CFO, albeit in the not-for-profit sector, I imagine myself reasonably qualified to offer suggestions to the company based upon my very limited knowledge of which end is up at company headquarters. I'm basing my ideas upon my memory of reading the company's SEC documents, and my memory is very imperfect in my old age. But here goes...
Regarding Governance I have a few suggestions. First, the company says it could really benefit from having outside directors, but it can't yet afford them. I believe that the company's need is so pronounced in this area that they should think of asking the local MBA schools to suggest somebody to do a one year practicum on the VHUB board. Second, this would require the company to assess whatever Directors and Officers Liability Insurance policy it has. It's always good to assess your D&O policy annually. Third, I believe that the company should formally adopt a transparency policy which would, for instance, mean that the recent increase in authorized shares would have been explained more deeply into the breakdown between the shares required for Typenex and the shares required for the incentive compensation plans.
Regarding Marketing, again I have a few suggestions. First, I would suggest that the company endeavor to do what Stanley Steemer has done in the house-cleaning field, namely to secure an endorsement from some smoking-cessation organization as being that organization's designated vaping-alternative provider. Second, I would market the heck out of the company's stated non-involvement in the marijuana market. There really are, I believe, lots of potential investors out there who have enough of the "social investing" bug in them that they wouldn't touch a marijuana stock but would feel quite OK investing in the explosively-growing vaping industry. Third, I think the company ought to emphasize that it doesn't sell product to minors and doesn't encourage minors to take up smoking, e-cigarettes, vaping, and anything else along those lines.
Regarding Financial Management, these are my suggestions. First, I think it was a poorly thought out idea to retain Winther & Company, CPAs, which is lending money to the company, as the auditing consultant to address the company's self-identified material internal control weakness in regard to segregation of financial duties. It just looks bad, and somebody else needs to assess whether the problem has been adequately addressed and remediated. Second, I believe that the company ought to fully declare its adherence to FINRA rules, including stating for the record that it had nothing to do with the Investor Edge pump & dump of last spring (incidentally, Investor Edge seems to have done a similar number on BTFL in recent months). Third, the company needs to carry forth with its stated plans to control general and administrative expenses, plus get a better handle on inventory growth in the midst of a period of declining sales.
Regarding an idea which I've plucked out of my Tochas, I'll repeat from an earlier posting of mine which offered the idea that the company consider getting into franchising vape shops. It seems that ECIG already has won the counter-space war, but I haven't heard that any producer other than VHUB has entered the vaping shop trade.
I've counted up ten ideas in the paragraphs above. If just one or two have any merit at all, I'll claim that I merit forgiveness for having taken up your time, this message board's time, and the company's time with the ideas that don't have any merit.
