General updates from an outsider Hi all:
Former Nextleaf IP guy here. Full disclosure: I bought at $0.40 and haven't sold, so take the following with a heaping mountain of salt.
I saw Paul over the Christmas break and speak to him on the phone once every few months. He's hard at work on another endeavour. He'll share details when he's ready. Like all of us, he has good days and bad. Recovering from a wound that deep, it's likely a perpetual fight not to backslide, but I think he's well through the worst of it. He's got a rescue dog that helps keep him grounded.
Regarding patents, the life of a (utility) patent is 20-years from the earliest nonprovisional filing date, rather than from the issue date (design patents are different in that regard). Back in the cannabis market heydays just before/after legalization, it was a land rush to get IP flags planted in as many jurisdictions as possible in the event that one or more might be in the next big medicinal/adult-use market. Canopy bought Ebbu for an ungodly sum and at the time I believe Ebbu had just a single issued patent that, in my opinion, wasn't particularly strong. At that time, I think we had dozens of issued patents and were actually using them in day-to-day operations. Back when I was on Twitter, one of the metrics I'd use to determine which jurisdictions/countries to file in was -- I $hit you not -- Cam Battley's travel itinerary. He'd tweet about a speaking engagement and I'd hit the books learning the ins and outs of IP in that country. Things are obviously very different today. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Nextleaf portfolio was scaled back to save costs. It's a very different market these days and Emma knows what she's doing. Revenue trumps IP.
As for the market cap of Nextleaf, I've begun to subscribe to financial nihilism as described by Patrick Boyle where nothing means anything, and the stock price is divorced from any fundamental metric I can discern. Is Nextleaf is worth more than $15M? Absolutely. Change nothing and given profitability/revenue, it's objectively worth far more. Is it worth double that right now? I definitely think so. Will I ever break even and get my retirement savings back? Maybe, but it'll likely be years, not months, of quiet profitability before that happens. It didn't feel like a YOLO buy when I went all in five years ago, but it certainly looks that way in hindsight -- and I was physically working in the facility.
Anyways, I rediscovered a browser link to this Bullboard and saw mention of Paul and me. Thought I'd drop a note. All I can do is check back on the stock every few months and hope for the best. Figure many of you are in the same boat.
Here's hoping for better days,
Taran