I suppose I should have made it clearer that I was actually joking re my reference to Aikido yesterday - apologies, in case this came across as making fun of Sean Hehirâs slip-up. It was simply the first thing that came to my mind when I read âAkidoâ in this thread, and it was tempting to relate Seanâs job as CEO to that of a martial artist strategising, with no ill intent.
But jokes aside. Now that Iâve had time to actually listen to the podcast, I fully agree with
@alwaysgreen and
@Damo4 that Sean most likely contracted âAkida 1.0â to âAkidoâ because (true to his job description
) he was thinking ahead. I donât think it has anything to do with his American accent. But to be honest - I couldnât care less why he mispronounced Akida - havenât similar slips of the tongue happened to all of us? They certainly have to me. We are all human and make mistakes, especially when we find ourselves in an uncomfortable situation under pressure, which is obviously the case here, with both Tony Dawe and Sean Hehir being very much aware that many a shareholdersâ nerves are on edge in the face of the tumbling share price. So just cut him some slack! I reckon in a warmer economic climate, we would have all just laughed it off.
Our CEO may not come across as the most charismatic of speakers (mind you, practically every CEO pales in comparison with the paragon of business leaders, the late Steve Jobs), and two of his answers were obviously prepared in advance and read from a script (starting around 4:42 min & 16:50 min), the latter presumably for legal reasons, but you should not judge a book by its cover alone - remember, he explicitly asked to be judged on results, so letâs all at least wait for the AGM rather than make any prejudgements at this point in time.
It seems pretty obvious to me that the timing of this podcast was deliberate, to prepare the ground for the upcoming AGM and in particular for the vote on Manny Hernandezâ expired options (any chance he simply couldnât afford to exercise them at the time?), but I, for my part, nevertheless appreciate the managementâs sincere efforts to improve communication with BRN shareholders and address their concerns, given this was not just presented as a one-off pre-AGM Q&A but as the inaugural episode of a series of quarterly podcasts. Well done! And while I wish more details on partners/customers and timelines would have been shared, I recognise the importance of NDAs in this field of disruptive technology and trust the whole team at Brainchip is working hard behind NDA-locked doors. We will only see what is behind when the other contractual partners deem the time has come to unveil their novel products. Or possibly never as in the case of sensitive defense technology or if licensed through others. Come on, everyone: The fundamentals havenât changed one bit; on the contrary, the companyâs future has never looked brighter, IMO, with all that validating by BRNâs ever-expanding ecosystem going on.
So what, if that Ubiquity Starlight Express we have all boarded at different stations along the way has turned out to be a much slower ride than anticipated and is picking up even more delays en route for reasons out of Brainchipâs control? As long as we stay on (the) track(s) and ultimately reach our destination safely, I donât mind a longer ride. If you ever happened to travel Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) long-distance, you may have learned the hard way that patience can at times be a very useful travel companion.
And as long as Brainchipâs competitors arenât building tracks running parallel to ours, they wonât be able to overtake us, as we continue to lead the way.
For me, the following passages from the podcast stood out:
1. From 6:34 min onwards: âThe ability to do certain use cases around healthcare applications and raw audio processing are incredible breakthroughs that no one else in the industry has.â This reminded me of the PvdM quote in last weekâs Forbes article â19 Ways AI May Soon Revolutionize The Healthcare Industryâ:
âBeyond the analysis of medical images and statistical data analysis, medicine could benefit from AI at the edge through a device that constantly monitors and analyzes a patientâs vital signs. Artificial intelligence could predict a crisis based on a patientâs breathing rate, electrocardiogram and other vital signs, reporting the patientâs status to the nurseâs station. This can improve patient care and free up human resources.â
Sounds like a very specific product in the making to meâŠ
2. From 8:42 onwards: âOnce you are in, you are in - you are not coming out, you are gonna be in there for generations of productsâŠâ and then again from 15:30 min onwards: âWorld class companies are positioning to come out of the downturn strong. And so, world class companies never stop innovation. They are just being cautious, they are planning their way⊠And when people decide to actually build their chips, we are gonna be the ones they are gonna build on.â
As other posters have remarked before, to me this sounds as if Mercedes was still on board.
While I totally understand other forum membersâ frustration with the current share price and genuinely feel sorry for individual shareholders forced to sell at this time due to personal reasons, the downward trend actually feels like a blessing and a second chance to late-to-the-party shareholders like me who chanced upon BRN thanks to the MB announcement and bought their first parcel of shares around the ATH early last year - as you can imagine, in contrast to the early party guests, weâve never even seen our BRN position lighting up green so far. True, you will only feel this way about the current dismal share price as long as you continue to believe in having discovered an undervalued gem, have trust in the management and ideally have some dry powder left to accumulate and average down (which I personally have been doing quite a bit over the past couple of months), although in the grand scheme of things, time in the market will indeed be more important than timing the market, when comparing all of us now to future passengers boarding the Brainchip train way up that predicted hockey stick curve.
Making lemonade from the lemons the sellers and shorters continue to throw at us is my best bet. Yesterday proved to be yet another lemonade day, when my buy limit order that didnât get filled last month was triggered shortly after market opening (thanks to the weaker AUD / EUR rate as compared to a month ago). What a shame, though, today I could have even gotten more shares for the same amount on Tradegate. Sigh. With the persisting economic headwinds, a seemingly irrational market and a little reading between the lines, I am bracing myself for the share price to drop even further south, but I just canât seem to get the image of a slingshot or a coiled spring out of my head⊠Unfortunately I donât have a crystal ball to tell you when it will gain that momentum. But I am confident it is a âwhenâ, not an âifâ.
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