IMMUNIZATION POST:
IMHO anyone who thinks that they have to question everything should consider investing in CDs instead of stocks and most especially instead of investing in biotechs.
No matter what kind of supervision you are doing whether it's of a single employee or watching the CEO of a company you are investing in, you have to cut them some slack. You have to pick the important things to oversee and give them the freedom and trust the need to be able to do their job.(because you evaluated the important things and they were OK) Failure to be able to do that is called "micromanaging" and anyone who's ever worked for a supervisor that does that knows how seriously it impedes the work. When you do it to the CEO of a comany you are investing in, he never knows about it, the harm it does is that it impedes your understanding of the company. Because when you focus on every tiny detail you miss far more important things.
Take the Calm Seas financing. Whether it is ideal or not is absurdly irrelevant. Nothing could ever be, especially for an early biotech. What counts is that it's clearly sufficient to take KBLB to the point where it no longer needs financing: an agreement for another $1.5 million is already being inked and KBLB may have a product on sale THIS YEAR. The Calm Seas thing is not remotely going to make or break KBLB. Good enough is good enough. Yet in discussing it endlessly, far past the point of any possible further enlightenment we are, IMHO, neglecting more important things that COULD make or break KBLB.
Get some perspective, people! And bear in mind: no company ever did everything in the best possible manner and no company ever will. If you can't accept that, you should probably consider selling out and buying some CDs.
IMHO what's really going on is that some people cannot really deal with the idea of taking a risk and are trying very hard to convince themselves that there isn't any. That is an exceedingly dangerous thing to do, for exactly the same reason that trying to lose your fear when mountain climbing is dangerous. You don't lose it you manage it (because it's your friend). Properly used, fear helps you to focus on what's important and forget the minor stuff.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: biotech is always uncertain. There is, for example, a real possibility that the genetic modifications with the zinc fingers will be successful but that, nevertheless, the worms will not produce pure spider silk. As I explicitly noted here before it's even possible that the removal of the silkworm silk protein genes will cause the worms to not produce any silk at all, despite still having spider silk protein genes. As I noted, it's pretty unlikely and if it should happen there are workarounds that could probably solve the problem in a few months. But you need to know about such possibilities in advance so if something does happen you don't just panic and sell it all without even remembering that KBLB already has TWO products near the market, neither one of which depends on the worms currently being genetically modified. I very much doubt that the people focusing so intently and endlessly on the Calm Seas financing would remember that. What they will remember instead is that the financing isn't perfect.
I strongly recommend that people step back, take a breather and then try to focus a little more on what's most important: it is the technology that will make or break KBLB. It is unlikely that the technology will come to fruition without at least one "glitch" along the way. Microsoft had glitches. Genetech had glitches. All the big winners had glitches. If, when a glitch comes, you have focused on the financing so much that you have no idea what the glitch means, you will very likely make the wrong decision.
MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: Monster Silk is already proven to be a viable product for a very valuable market (the silk garment and accessory industry) There are no technological barriers left to be overcome: the Monster Hybrids have been tested and their silk is far better than anything on the market. All that remains is the very routine process of increasing their numbers (a process in which the silkworms will be quite cooperative I can assure you!)
Keep that firmly in mind if any setback should occur. KBLB might get delayed on one of its projects. But it will not fail
As an additional safety net it has a second product which will soon be market ready possibly even before the end of the year: remember Kim said he'd have a product ready before Christmas "as a result of the ramping up of the Monster Hybrid population" As discussed before here that is clearly the cocoons from the breeding worms (that cannot be used for normal silk making) and it's probably swirled or chopped type fibers for the protection and structure products he talked about.
KEEP IT IN MIND should any setbacks occur. Because if they do I guarantee you there will be posters here shouting that KBLB is doomed.
OK back to our regularly scheduled programming. This has been a public service announcement.
JMHO.
