Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Alphameister> You can say that again! I was a sales rep for a product that Marriott bought from us nationwide. On many occasions prospective customers said to me "I want the exact same product Marriott is buying from you!"
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
"Overall though it is not a good sign that it has taken this long to raise the money."
IF Axion is actually closing a deal with a strategic partner it would take all the time available before Axion actually runs out of money to take care of all the details such a deal would require. No one is going to get in bed with Axion without knowing precisely how everything is going to work between them to the last detail. A true strategic partner is not going to just write Axion a check and say "good luck." They are going to have to be comfortable not only with the deal and the partnership, they are going to want mechanisms in place to put the screws to Axion if needed to protect their investment. That would start with Board seats and a zillion other ingredients in the deal.
I actually think the length of time spent is a good sign that Axion is getting the best possible deal it can get before agreeing to terms, because this capital raise is far more critical than just getting some money to keep the lights on. It has to carry the company to commercial success and not just another year of R&D progress.
You can get lucky in a bar after a few drinks together, but someone walking down the aisle with you will take you a lot longer to pull off.
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
JP> I agree with your comment that generating demand you can't satisfy is a stupid sales plan. The key in leading the sales effort prior to an ability to satisfy it is to generate interest in the product's potential but clearly not make promises you can't keep. You want to get an expression of interest in the product based on its perceived benefits as soon as it becomes available - not before.
I helped sell DOD multi-million dollar hardware prototype design and fabrication services without a hardware fabrication facility. We overcame that problem by having our parent company (Fortune 500) put a letter in writing specifying exactly what equipment would be transferred from another company they owned to a new facility in the Washington, DC area.
The PbC's attributes were known. The selling job would have been to promote those attributes as strongly as possible to prospective customers while at the same time keeping them informed of progress towards availability. What you hope to accomplish is generating interest, and in the best of cases, getting the prospect to root for you to make it ultimately available to them. It's a delicate selling process but done properly it works like a champ.
In my experience customers told me "If you really want to sell us what you need to do is X." As I understood your past comments JP that is exactly what BMW did for Axion in the early stages of their relationship. I just believe it could have been accomplished in the same fashion with a hell of a lot more prospects than Axion generated. .
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Nice comment Wayne. I recall NS's first comment about the use of the PbC in the new 999 project. They said they had "recruited" Axion for the project. I think BMW began PbC testing on their own initiative also. About all the salesmanship required in both those instances is being polite, enthusiastic and responsive to their PbC technical and cost questions plus promptly filling any PO's issued with high quality test batteries.
Until Vani was hired sales inquiries were handled by whatever staff member had the most expertise for any given application.This info came to me directly from TG when he called me directly after the CC line was shut down prematurely by the CC company a long time ago.
If it was a grid inquiry whoever had the most experience with grids took the call. If it was renewable energy, solar as a for instance, whoever Axion had on board with the most solar experience took the call. I also think the primary product promotion sales effort until Vani was hired was done via technical presentations at technical conferences and/or white papers. Articles in SAE's magazine is another example.
This kind of selling isn't the same thing as "patience hell, I'm going to kill something!" As a VP of Sales and Marketing, or Director of Business Development, within R&D and engineering companies in my past experience, the sales effort was focused on my kicking up opportunities and then feeding in the right technical people at the right time to fully develop the opportunity to a successful conclusion. It was a tag team process when done correctly. The technical staff could just be technical for the most part and leave purely sales related customer BS, market research, and timing to me.
I was screaming ages ago for Axion to get some real sales and marketing people on board. That didn't happen until time and money ran out for a purely "soft sales" effort following the last capital raise with Vani's hire. So much for history.
Axion Power Concentrator 228: April 16: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
I think Mr. Investor is explaining his actions with respect for the Axionistas who he has communicated with openly for a very long time. I explained why I sold the majority of my shares. Mercy explained why she sold her shares. While you may have no concerns about Axionistas heading for the exits, I think some of us are not quite so sanguine.
Axion Power Concentrator 228: April 16: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
I've been relatively quiet of late and recently bought a very small amount of AXPW for the hell of it. I am curious if there is anything behind Door Number Three beyond a one year supply of breakfast cereal.
My reaction to TG's statement about receiving RFP's in the dozens was "huh?" I have written and won a lot of proposals. Usually anywhere from 1-3 proposals were serious, the rest who knows? When I was out to win a proposal we had our face very much in front of the customer. Yeah, you can't discuss the proposal you are bidding on, but you can talk about anything else. You want to build a relationship with the customer so they know who the hell you are and what you are capable of doing based on other related experience. When I went after something we "brought the house."
So my question if I were suddenly running proposals at Axion would be "Yeah, that's a nice big stack of RFP's to consider, but what can we win and why?" I just don't believe Axion has "dozens" of proposals it can win. I think it was just more smoke like "300% YOY" and "We're fastening our seat belts!" Just MHO.
As for the financing delay I see several possibilities. One is that TG has a deal he can get but that he doesn't want and he's trying to put something better together. Two is that he has a deal in general but with a ton of details to resolve and legal issues to be finalized on paper and it is just taking time to resolve everything - hopefully with no showstoppers, Three is that he doesn't have an acceptable deal yet and he is still trying to generate one.
Lastly, I don't think BMW, NS or any other "end-user" is going to become a strategic partner with Axion. They just want to buy batteries, not a business.
Axion Power Concentrator 227: April 11: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Put in a very small buy order today at .2604. Why? Just bored and price appears to be at a bottom, cap raise can't make it much worse, and I'm curious what Axion is up to.
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
Giving management all new 3 year employment contracts with no significant sales announcements looks like they are putting the cart ahead of the cap raise and the shareholders. Might be a defensive move prior to formation of a new BOD with representatives from a strategic investor. Personally, that move ended any interest by me in owning Axion stock under the current management. Peace.
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
Tim> I'm on the outside with my face pressed up against the window trying to find something positive to support re-buying but painting the tape isn't going to work with anyone who has half a brain. In my case, that's debatable, but serious investors and potential strategic partners can see thru that crap in a heart beat.
Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments And Value Investing [View article]
sorry for butting in but when you said never knew you were a poker "girl" I couldn't help but vividly remember a female player on Pokerstars with a name something like "Miss Mary May". Whenever she showed up at a cash table you knew you were in for it, because she would test your courage to the max with aggressive play and raises. Timid players had utterly no chance of standing up to her and smart ones only did when they really had a hand.
Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments And Value Investing [View article]
You probably have a good analogy. Maybe a small pair with 1 in 8 chances of trips on the flop. But I like your low to medium suited conectors analogy for AXPW better. So far the price has declined 20% since I moved to the sidelines. If and when I move back in it will be with the intention of staying in the stock long enough to qualify (and earn) long term capital gains. The decision is always based on can you (as an individual) stand the losses or not if it doesn't work out as hoped for. In my case I was down all I could stand.
Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments And Value Investing [View article]
Losing is just as much a part of poker as winning. The key to my success at online poker (before the nosy feds shut it down) was controlling my losses. Did I win more than I lost? Sure, but only because I controlled my losses. It takes playing for a long time to not go "on tilt" (lose your composure) over a big loss. Most of them you forget.
Sometimes you lose a hand you can never forget. Those are the hands with the odds so heavily in your favor, you are all in, and you just can't believe it happened. That invariably happens when your opponent gets the only card in the deck on the river that can save them. One example of that was at the final table in a recent World Championship poker tournament when the only card that would save an opponent was the 6 of diamonds. Boom - hit on the river - knocking the player off the table.
Those hands will haunt you forever, but you will also have it happen in your favor many times and you never remember those hands. I miss the game terribly. I recently met a writer for a national poker magazine who lives near me in Georgia. Thankfully he is getting me some invitations to some small local "live" tournaments. Having never played live it will be an interesting experience for me. I'm used to playing 4 tables at a time in online poker. I better read the book you suggested on tells!
Great article I enjoyed. For the most part I am a "trend" trader. I lose the most money on conviction buys. If I have any brains I'll stick to trend trading as a small investor.
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
IF Axion is actually closing a deal with a strategic partner it would take all the time available before Axion actually runs out of money to take care of all the details such a deal would require. No one is going to get in bed with Axion without knowing precisely how everything is going to work between them to the last detail. A true strategic partner is not going to just write Axion a check and say "good luck." They are going to have to be comfortable not only with the deal and the partnership, they are going to want mechanisms in place to put the screws to Axion if needed to protect their investment. That would start with Board seats and a zillion other ingredients in the deal.
I actually think the length of time spent is a good sign that Axion is getting the best possible deal it can get before agreeing to terms, because this capital raise is far more critical than just getting some money to keep the lights on. It has to carry the company to commercial success and not just another year of R&D progress.
You can get lucky in a bar after a few drinks together, but someone walking down the aisle with you will take you a lot longer to pull off.
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
I helped sell DOD multi-million dollar hardware prototype design and fabrication services without a hardware fabrication facility. We overcame that problem by having our parent company (Fortune 500) put a letter in writing specifying exactly what equipment would be transferred from another company they owned to a new facility in the Washington, DC area.
The PbC's attributes were known. The selling job would have been to promote those attributes as strongly as possible to prospective customers while at the same time keeping them informed of progress towards availability. What you hope to accomplish is generating interest, and in the best of cases, getting the prospect to root for you to make it ultimately available to them. It's a delicate selling process but done properly it works like a champ.
In my experience customers told me "If you really want to sell us what you need to do is X." As I understood your past comments JP that is exactly what BMW did for Axion in the early stages of their relationship. I just believe it could have been accomplished in the same fashion with a hell of a lot more prospects than Axion generated. .
Axion Power Concentrator 229: April 20: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Until Vani was hired sales inquiries were handled by whatever staff member had the most expertise for any given application.This info came to me directly from TG when he called me directly after the CC line was shut down prematurely by the CC company a long time ago.
If it was a grid inquiry whoever had the most experience with grids took the call. If it was renewable energy, solar as a for instance, whoever Axion had on board with the most solar experience took the call. I also think the primary product promotion sales effort until Vani was hired was done via technical presentations at technical conferences and/or white papers. Articles in SAE's magazine is another example.
This kind of selling isn't the same thing as "patience hell, I'm going to kill something!" As a VP of Sales and Marketing, or Director of Business Development, within R&D and engineering companies in my past experience, the sales effort was focused on my kicking up opportunities and then feeding in the right technical people at the right time to fully develop the opportunity to a successful conclusion. It was a tag team process when done correctly. The technical staff could just be technical for the most part and leave purely sales related customer BS, market research, and timing to me.
I was screaming ages ago for Axion to get some real sales and marketing people on board. That didn't happen until time and money ran out for a purely "soft sales" effort following the last capital raise with Vani's hire. So much for history.
Axion Power Concentrator 228: April 16: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Axion Power Concentrator 228: April 16: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
My reaction to TG's statement about receiving RFP's in the dozens was "huh?" I have written and won a lot of proposals. Usually anywhere from 1-3 proposals were serious, the rest who knows? When I was out to win a proposal we had our face very much in front of the customer. Yeah, you can't discuss the proposal you are bidding on, but you can talk about anything else. You want to build a relationship with the customer so they know who the hell you are and what you are capable of doing based on other related experience. When I went after something we "brought the house."
So my question if I were suddenly running proposals at Axion would be "Yeah, that's a nice big stack of RFP's to consider, but what can we win and why?" I just don't believe Axion has "dozens" of proposals it can win. I think it was just more smoke like "300% YOY" and "We're fastening our seat belts!" Just MHO.
As for the financing delay I see several possibilities. One is that TG has a deal he can get but that he doesn't want and he's trying to put something better together. Two is that he has a deal in general but with a ton of details to resolve and legal issues to be finalized on paper and it is just taking time to resolve everything - hopefully with no showstoppers, Three is that he doesn't have an acceptable deal yet and he is still trying to generate one.
Lastly, I don't think BMW, NS or any other "end-user" is going to become a strategic partner with Axion. They just want to buy batteries, not a business.
Axion Power Concentrator 227: April 11: Axion Power On Panel At Energy Storage Economics 2.0 For New York City And Beyond [View instapost]
Edit: Order filled.
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
My feelings exactly D-Inv,
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
Axion Power Concentrator 225: April 4: Axion Power Completes New Continuous Roll Carbon Sheeting Process [View instapost]
Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments And Value Investing [View article]
Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments And Value Investing [View article]
Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments And Value Investing [View article]
Sometimes you lose a hand you can never forget. Those are the hands with the odds so heavily in your favor, you are all in, and you just can't believe it happened. That invariably happens when your opponent gets the only card in the deck on the river that can save them. One example of that was at the final table in a recent World Championship poker tournament when the only card that would save an opponent was the 6 of diamonds. Boom - hit on the river - knocking the player off the table.
Those hands will haunt you forever, but you will also have it happen in your favor many times and you never remember those hands. I miss the game terribly. I recently met a writer for a national poker magazine who lives near me in Georgia. Thankfully he is getting me some invitations to some small local "live" tournaments. Having never played live it will be an interesting experience for me. I'm used to playing 4 tables at a time in online poker. I better read the book you suggested on tells!
Great article I enjoyed. For the most part I am a "trend" trader. I lose the most money on conviction buys. If I have any brains I'll stick to trend trading as a small investor.