We are accustomed to shifting timelines, but for a change I would like to advance a timeline instead of delay. I had expressed the idea of getting another letter together for a mass email effort, and hoped to send it for feedback tomorrow, then revise and send the final copy on Friday. I'm now hoping to be away Friday, so I have the following for comment and feedback, with hopes to do the mass emailing tomorrow. Meanwhile, if someone can piece together a revised distribution list, that would be great. For your consideration...
Subject (for email subject line): Titan Medical Shareholder Letter
To Titan Medical Inc. Board of Directors and Management:
This letter is the second such document from our group of concerned shareholders who regularly communicate with each other via the InvestorsHub Titan Medical message board. We intend to continue to send these letters occasionally, and we hope they are received in the spirit in which they are sent, which is to encourage continued open bidirectional communications, and to express our concerns as well as our support and appreciation when we feel it is appropriate.
Toward the latter, we would like to acknowledge certain recent activities by the company. Shortly after our first letter was sent, Titan sent out a press release which appeared to address some of our stated concerns at that time, one of which was the scarcity of communications, and another pertained to the search to fill certain positions. We acknowledge that this press release may have been previously planned and its content largely coincidental with our request, or it may have been a direct response to our request. Regardless of the reason, we would like to thank Titan for the information and we hope it proves to be the beginning of a trend toward regular communications. Those memos can serve not only to address and allay some of our concerns, but they can also serve to keep Titan Medical visible to potential additional investors, and show the public a heightened level of corporate responsibility and responsiveness.
Another company activity which we surely need to address is the recent departure of John Hargrove. There are several of us in the group who would like to thank him for his earlier contributions. Many also felt that positive influences were confined to his earlier tenure with the company and that, evinced by the current development delays and funding crisis, his departure was overdue. Admittedly, it is much easier for us to place blame, even if misdirected, when we were unable to receive enough information to accurately assess the situation. In part due to this lack of information to the contrary, as a key figure within the organization he has shouldered the blame in many shareholders’ minds. We do appreciate that he recognized the opportunity to step aside and we wish him well in his future endeavors.
With the new temporary governance in place and the ongoing search for permanent leadership, we feel this would be an opportune time for better definition of the vacancies and the currently filled roles alike. As shareholders, we are very interested in the organizational structure and how each of these positions contributes to the company’s goals. With proper descriptions of the responsibilities of each position, it would be much easier for the organization to ensure internal goals are met and proper accountability, both within the organization and to shareholders, can occur. Our first letter expressed desire for some performance metrics for certain key roles, and we would like to reiterate that request, which particularly timely in light of the open positions and current recruitment efforts. Most of the professional working world lives and dies by their performance evaluations, and Titan Medical should not be too different. We certainly are not asking for public disclosure of personnel records, but if the web site listed responsibilities instead of a resume synopsis for each person, we would be able to gauge for ourselves how well some people are contributing, and acknowledge their accomplishments. As an example, when certain team members achieve a professional victory for the organization such as successfully closing on investment capital or arranging a demonstration at a large conference, we feel these victories should be publicized and those responsible should be given the appropriate credit for their hard work.
With these job responsibilities, we would like to see more detail on the specific duties for President, CEO, CFO, and COO. Given the criticality of these roles and the recent history of the company, disclosure of these job descriptions would serve the company well to ease concerns of current and future shareholders, as we could then see that someone is actually assigned oversight of necessary tasks.
With the recent mention of investment capital, we have questions pertaining to that topic and others as well. With a diverse group of shareholders, we have a diverse set of backgrounds which lead to questions on numerous topics. We ask that you please consider the following subset of questions we have posted on the InvestorsHub message board:
What is the status of the Longtai deal? Do we owe them the two million dollar deposit, or are negotiations proceeding? Was the deposit set aside in case it needs to be returned, or would repayment come from the proceeds of the last offering?
What roles does EVC currently fill and what actions are they taking to fulfill their contractual obligations? Specifically, several members of our group reported having contacted EVC directly for information but they claim they have not received any meaningful responses to their questions.
Can Titan indicate what their current financial needs are to fully restart the development effort and to reach program completion? Are Ximedica and Plexus both currently engaged with the program or do they require further payments beforehand? What are the current plans to fund the program?
What is the revised timeline and what are the major dependencies to stay on schedule?
Has Titan applied for and been accepted for the FDA Early Feasibility program and if so, is a schedule set for this activity? Has the company considered deferring FDA approval and targeting a CE Mark first to initiate sales and associated revenue before pursuing the US market?
Why is SPORT not featured on the Titan Medical home page? Why have videos of procedures been removed from the web site?
Are all employees in full time positions with Titan?
Is Titan Medical fully committed to a future in the marketplace as a fully independent publicly traded company, or is the prevailing strategy to seek a buyout or other M&A activity?
Can we expect a continuation of the improved frequency of communications and status updates from the company?
We honestly cannot expect detailed answered to all these questions in a public forum, but this represents a sample of the most frequent topics of discussion among our group, and we feel they best represent our most pressing concerns at this time.
To reiterate, we are truly appreciative and supportive of the recent changes which have begun. We encourage regular communications with the public and shareholders, to include press releases and web site postings. We suggest the web site be updated with current images, videos, timelines, personnel, and job descriptions. We strongly encourage Titan Medical to demand EVC fulfill their contractual obligations in some measurable and reportable way. We truly believe in the technology, and that is the core reason that most of us remain invested with and interested in the company despite the recent occurrences. As professionals, many of us in medical fields, we would love to see the positive affect this device could have on patient outcomes and on hospital budgets. As investors, our hopes are even more obvious.
We plan to continue to provide these open communications to inform you of investor concerns sentiment. We hope you will reciprocate, whether in response to our letters or merely because you agree with the benefit of more open communications.
Sincerely,
Name:
City/State:
Shares held as of October 14, 2016:
