Radim, don, & BHunt, thanks for the series of posts. Let me back up what you said, Radim. I also had a MOST serious and positive conversation with MS & MM. We focused in on the thread member that exited today and a few things planned for the near future. I unfortunately had to cut our conversation short as I was called into a meeting (possible union strike, ugh!!!) The terminated employee in question has not worked for FNTN for over a year and a half. To base a sell on the comments of a long ago terminated employee is .....will not finish that thought. Much of what that employee was true A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, but not today. The company was first set up in a manner that was not entirely advantageous to business. A lot of what Michael and Maura had to do in the beginning was get the FNTN train off the track it was on and onto the right track. That was accomplished shortly after the employee left the company. What he is saying is old news. Nuff said.
I am not worried about losing investors at this point. There will be a line a mile long to take their place in the not too distant future. This is the time to get in if you want in. DO NOT come crying to those of us who remain steadfast through these exciting/trying times. When you see the price of FNTN jump and not return to these levels again I do not want to hear it. We have made it through the bad stuff. The rest is all gravy. All it will take is a little more time as the last pieces are put into place. Siemens is ready and MS and MM are ready, there is just a little more that needs to happen.
I am placing a huge value on the chat site and the message boards. I think this will be a huge event for us. It is all about traffic. TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC. How can you sell something if the people aren't coming through the door. I firmly believe that the traffic coming through the FNTN message boards will give the kind of traffic that advertisers need in order to buy the banners. The mutual funds will buy banners when their fund managers are on the chat site for the night answering questions. Why would a fund manager spend a night online and not advertise during his program. I have posted this several times and very few seem to pick up how important this is. Like Mr. Weller joining the BOD. That was not a small thing. MS said it will be up sooner than later. My guess would be 30 to 45 days.
I asked about residential telephony. MS explained that they are not interested in residential. The amount of profit that you would make from residential would have to be plugged back into an extensive customer service department, reducing the profit margin to almost nil. Not worth the trouble.
My final diatribe is about numbers. It's not about numbers yet. Soon, but not now. How can you get any kind of valuation on something that is just coming out of the embryonic stage? You can't. It's still about guess work. Will this work, will that work, will any of it work???????????????? Hell, I don't know, but I sure as hell am willing to take a gamble on what I have seen so far. While we are a BB, we are just a gamble. But I am willing to take a chance because I like the odds here. Don't bitch at the dealer if you don't like the cards. He/she isn't holding a gun to your head to stay at the table.
Finally, I refuse to try to micro-manage these people. I don't think any of us knows enough about what is going on to tell these people anything. Some will blast back, that they should be telling us more. How much more can they tell us without spilling everything to the competition. Also, would you tell everything to a bunch of lunatics (me included) that spend their day demanding more, faster, better, not this way, that way...etc...etc. If I worked for someone like that I would put a letter opener through their skull before I finished my first cup of coffee.
I am thankful for a strong open management team. I am thankful there is tangible evidence that progress is being made on a steady basis. I am thankful for a strong corporate alliance. I am thankful for great odds for profit with FNTN. I am thankful that I have a forum like this to express my feelings and smart "ears" like yours to hear me.
All the best,
Tomato Man |
