Stockholders Meeting 2003 Synopsis...Part II
The Jacksonville Collaboration:
- The Jacksonville Collaboration is winding down. This was a good method of building the initial base of samples, but presented problems in that samples were varied and tended to trickle in a few at a time. They have had much better success obtaining sample SETS from a company in California, and they anticipate continuing that relationship and winding down the Jacksonville collaboration.
Increased Authorization & Warrants:
- Additional shares will only be issued if revenues are insufficient to fund operations. Right now, that is not necessary due to the success of Ancestry and DNAWitness 2.0. If additional capital is required, DNAP will be looking for a mezzanine type investor. Tony explained that he is not interested in a "venture capitalist" that is only interested in gaining access to discounted shares for the purpose of dumping them in the market. He is looking to secure an "investor", that will purchase shares and hold them so as not to depress the share price. He is looking for an entity willing to invest at least $2-4 million. That level of investment wouldn't require a significant number of additional shares, yet would provide the company the working capital it could use to accelerate product marketing, sales, and revenues. In addition, if a larger company wished to purchase DNAP, the shares are now available to facillitate such a deal. That is NOT his first choice, but as the CEO he would have a fiduciary responsibility to present favorable offers to the shareholders for a vote.
- Tony is still looking at the warrants plan and is not convinced at this point that such a plan is in the best interest of shareholders. He will want to be certain that whatever plan is implemented is successful in raising the desired capital and that it will not have a negative effect on share price.
Board Members:
- Jack Luchese was the architect of the warrants offering, but as I stated above, Tony is still reviewing the need and the impact to shareholders. Jack left to take the CEO position with another company which will occupy his time. Richard Gabriel is an experienced executive with specific experience in building successful companies from the ground up. Hector Gomez was also there and continues as a valuable member of the DNAP BOD.
General Observations:
We visited the company on Monday afternoon and spent about a half hour talking with Carrie and Phil Brooks. While we were there, the phone never stopped ringing. Carrie was on the main desk and was in constant discussion with potential Ancestry customers.
I would like to point out that Carrie came across as very personable, pleasant, and customer oriented. Her written communication skills may not be strong, but she was doing a good job of explaining the Ancestry test to the customers that called and was actively fielding questions and was obviously under duress given the volume of calls. She kept her cool and even jabbed at us during the brief breaks in the calls (She said, "Soooooo, are you guys on RB? lol)
Phil Brooks was also impressive. He was articulate, intelligent, and accomodating. He continued to speak with us and answer our questions, returning several times after having been interrupted to answer phone calls. Phil was the impetus for the change in the price of Ancestry. He explained that they are experimenting with the price to gauge the impact on sales volume.
Tony doesn't golf...I told him that was good because we like what he does in the lab! lol
Director Gabriel has extensive experience dealing with FDA and NIH. He explained that the FDA doesn't like to mandate methodology to pharma, but they will "suggest" strongly that certain information be included in a clinical trial data submittal. The recently posted information (mingwan0 posted it) concerning the FDA guidance regarding the collection of patient racial profile information as a part of all clinical trials is a good example. DNAP has submitted comments to FDA in support of that concept.
The group of investors that were there seemed very knowledgable and as others have pointed out, seemed to be good people with a common goal. You had people there from Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Germany, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, and other places. I enjoyed speaking with many of them and enjoyed being able to put a face to an alias!
I'm sure there was more that I've forgotten so if something else comes to me I'll be sure to post it. I also picked up a new investor packet. The Executive Summary is completely revised and is quite interesting. I'll post some excerpts tommorrow night.
