https://agoracom.com/ir/PyroGenesisCanada/forums/discussion/topics/739973-comment-from-hpq-silicon-ceo/messages/2266067#message

Thank-you for posting here.

A very interesting question indeed.

I was intrigued by why one would ask that question, so I decided to seek out and read various postings/blogs on HPQ for background.

Wow….

So, the short answer to your question is: I have absolutely no problem with what HPQ did.

It is not a ton of cash…$500K (and my hat’s off to them BTW, for being able to raise that in this current market).

Why did he do it? There could be a myriad of reasons.  Just to have some walking around money when the market is tanking may not be a bad idea.  A few extra dollars to pursue some of the more interesting things that come up from time to time is also a good idea.  Both very good reasons.

Some did not like the price.  To those naysayers I would suggest you are missing the mark.  A 2-cent difference on a $500K offering does not amount to a hill of beans in the scheme of things…even if it was done at 10 cents….it still doesn’t matter.  I am not trying to be flippant when I suggest this. I am merely speaking to my investment philosophy.  If I think I have a good stock, with good players, and I think that it’s going to go through the roof, what do I care how many financings and at what price they are done?  If I bought at 10 cents and it goes to $1…who cares how it got there?   So long as all the reasons I got in are still there, I do not care.

Dilution? Again…the knee jerk reaction is not to like dilution.  Again, I would suggest diluting me as much and as often as you want…so long as the money being deployed is adding value and not just being squandered.

Now…I am going to go off the reservation and share with you some of my investment “insight” with which I have made a lot of money, because it has applicability here, and see if it helps:

First, as an investor, you have to realize that you will never have all the information the CEO has, and upon which he is making decisions.  As such, an investor must come to terms with the fact that many times decisions are made that may not make any sense at all.  To berate a CEO for his actions because YOU are in the dark makes little sense to me.

Second, a good company (particularly an innovative, cutting edge company) should be expected to change direction, as it addresses a changing landscape, takes advantage of new opportunities, or has to quickly address threats.  Not only should it be expected but, I would argue, if a company does not change direction then I would consider it to be a serious red flag.  Too often management is afraid of changing direction/strategy for fear of “how it will be perceived”.  

Now this is where it becomes tricky.  Assume you agree with me that when a company changes direction it is both (i) expected and (ii) a good sign. Applying it to the companies on our platform, the TSX.V, becomes a challenge due to the nature and make-up of the TSX.V.  The problem is that all too often companies on our platform use the “change direction” strategy to mask failures and/or to re-direct attention away from the problem.

So. What is one to do?  How is one to differentiate the good from the bad?

One word: Associations.  

Look at who the company associates with.  Who are they partnered with?  How long?  You can even extend that to board members, professionals (accountants/lawyers), and to some degree employees.

That is not to say that companies with good associations will not fail…or worse yet, con you…. but the odds are in your favor that they will not if their associations are credible.

Which brings us to HPQ…they are associated with us, PyroGenesis (and you can even dig deeper and look at who we associate with), and that is all you need to know.  We will not work with entities/people who are into shenanigans.  If we even get a whiff of anything untoward, we will drop the project like a hot potato, just not worth our time.

In closing, I just wanted to note that there is one particular poster who has been asking  HPQ’s President to resign.  I get the frustration of not knowing, dilution, etc. etc., but I found it interesting that this very same poster had called for my resignation as well, back in the day.  What is interesting is that had you bought Pyro shares when this poster asked for my resignation, you would be very rich today.  So…following that logic, might we now interpret the call for the resignation of HPQ’s President to be a buy signal?  Lol

Hope that helps,

Peter