Another great post, you've outdone yourself ( again).
The licensing vs sale discussion , while probably a ways off , will be pivotal for this company ( and it's investors) going forward. And if handled improperly , could cost the company it's solvency.
I've actually been in this exact scenario, or very similar 8 years ago ( Bourque Industries, BORK, look em up)
They had ( and still have) a "better mousetrap" patented carbon nanotube metal called Kryron which had applications from ballistic armor to electrical transmission wire and everything in between that a suoer metal could be used for.
Pretty limitless opportunities.
I bought in at 20 cents , after a quick runup from below 1 cent ( sound familiar?) The company already had developed ballistic strike plates that could stop very high caliber bullet rounds. The US military was interested. Local law enforcemet agencies around the country were interested, Ihub was aflame with possibilities and the stock climbed to $1, then $2, then $4 . All in a couple months in the spring / early summer of 2011.
All the while they were flat broke , little revenue, pure startup , and using stock sales and private financing deals to stay afloat .
Investor calls for the arrogant , founder and rookie CEO to accept a rumoured licensing deal with a major player in the bulletproof vest arena, purportedy worth in the 100's of millions of dollars were ignored and in fact rejected out of hand .....this would have guaranteed the company's solvency while they pursued dozens of other applications.
It was not to be, CEO John Bourque defiantly and publicly denounced any suitors as "thieves trying to steal " his treasured invention.
The stock continued to climb and peaked at $5.90, a 100 bagger plus for alot of early investors. ( In 3 months time)
A lot of stuff happened , some criminal, some just CEO buffonery that is too long to get into here, but suffice it to say the company is now under 2 cents, and has been sub penny for most of the last 7 years, with no employees, no offices , no sales, and presumably no prospects.
A complete implosion.
And no, I didnt sell, because I was also "sure" this was gonna be the next 1000 bagger. I even bought some of their ballistic plates to outfit my sheriffs deputy son and son in law. Thats how much I believed. I wont go into what the losses were , but they were significant.
I'm assuming our CEO Nick is much smarter than that and will do what is reasonable and necessary to get this company off the ground , and it may well require some loss of control of the tech. So be it. . Like you, I'm not sure what is the " correct" answer, I only know from direct , painful experience what arrogance / shortsightedness will get you if you dont look at the long picture when you're at the start gate.
Licensing of some sort early on here, seems to be a reasonable , prudent avenue to explore to jump start the progression to success that appears to be entirely possible.
Sorry for the long post!
