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Message: AGM Impressions (pt. 1)

Hi Peat Shareholders!

I'm going to post my impressions of the AGM I attended. There will be 2 parts: The excellent presentations that Sam and Mike White gave following the ordinary business - which I was late for :( - and some follow-up discussions I had after the meeting was concluded.

I'll stress now that this post will contain both facts and impressions. I will try my best to distinguish between what the company says and what constitutes an opinion. If anyone else attended the meeting, feel free to add to this thread - especially if you think there are other interpretations besides my opinion.

Also, please read the new AGM CP alongside these notes to become familiarize yourself with the main points.

http://media.wix.com/ugd/774c06_f0501fe964924cb0bbb1124e1c7d37bb.pdf

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  • The presentation began with Sam introducing some Peat board members (those named in the slide deck), including himself to a small group of maybe 20 people max.
  • Interestingly, Sam asked the attendees how many were POET shareholders, and I would estimate about 80% of them claimed to hold POET shares, including CEO Patricia Mannard and (I think) all of those who were previously introduced. A handful of them actually have been shareholders of Tandem Resources, POET's RTO target back in 2005
  • A detailed account was given of how OPEL was discovered and Tandem was acquired
  • [Impression] At various times during the presentation POET was discussed as though it has already become a great success - like it's a foregone conclusion that POET will "Change the World" - I found this very encouraging as a POET and Peat shareholder.
  • Peat is taking advantage of the fact that POET (with about 50 employees total, including DenseLight) can’t possibly address all verticals simultaneously, and is entering the most lucrative of the 5 verticals identified by POET – the mobile space.
  • POET was highlighted as a possible acquisition target.
  • Peat was advertized as a similar concept as the OPEL/Tandem story which can capitalize on the fact that the original POET (OPEL) team is available to blaze a similar path, using acquired knowledge to avoid the rollercoaster action that POET shareholders experienced
  • Sam & IBK has been in talks with POET (no deals yet) and they are supportive of their efforts

***

At this point I’ll summarize the plan that Peat is putting forth for the (fairly) near term:

  1. Select and entice a Gesture Recognition (GR) partner to act as an “OPEL” to our “Tandem” in this RTO scenario.In order to improve upon this new POET-type story, Peat will select a company with the best technology which preferably already has a revenue generating product.This will avoid the issues POET had when trying to make a splash in the industry without anything in the market already.
  2. Sign a Letter of Intent with the selected company and raise money to make the transaction.
  3. Complete the transaction and give birth to “PEAT 2.0” (presumably with an new name)
  4. Capital is needed both to fulfil the terms of the transaction and to build revenue generating capacity
  5. Build relationships with POET (preferably, but read on) for use in the products
  6. Begin disruptive growth and possible work to become an acquisition target as the market for GR matures

There are many sub-steps involved which make the above an oversimplification in my opinion (e.g., divestiture of current Peat Resources business) and this was acknowledged in many ways thought the presentation. Nevertheless, the confidence is high – mainly due to the fact that much of this plan has been explored and deemed viable.Just like POET, Peat appears to be much further ahead than it would appear except to those of us who are paying close attention!Also, Peat aims to hit the ground running what POET emerges to the masses and begin using POET before anyone else.

***

Presentation notes continued...

  • What is GR? Why GR? (I’ll omit this – it’s done well in the CP)
  • No dominant player in the GR industry.Various software approaches with different levels of ingenuity.Sam described “machine learning” using the analogy of the recent defeat of a human in the game of Go (see story here: http://www.wired.com/2016/03/two-moves-alphago-lee-sedol-redefined-future/)
  • Sam implied that some innovation similar to this is being explored by someone he has recently met (hmmm....see the response to my question during the Q&A session below) that can be applied to GR
  • A breakdown of potential markets patterned after POET’s was discussed, and related GR acquisitions was listed.The potential internal devices that can be innovated by hardware (like POET can provide) and new approaches to software (such as neural networks, possibly like our RTO target) is described
  • The one question I knew I wanted to ask before I arrived is what Peat will do if POET technology becomes unavailable to us (e.g., POET is acquired by a company with an existing GR program, POET develops its own plan to develop GR, etc.).Luckily Sam thought to address this, and suggested other optical technologies in existence that could substitute for POET (while reaffirming his desire to use the superior POET if at all possible)
  • Sam noted that in addition to the facilities at DesneLight, POET has acquired InP and GaP technologies with the transaction
  • Possibilities for software disruption was discussed
  • Sam reiterated that Peat plans to take lessons learned from the POET experience and to roll in a GR company that already has a defined product ready to enter the market
  • Peat has contacted 25 GR companies over the last few months and has narrowed it down to a handful with NDAs signed with them.The attraction for these companies is that Peat will deliver the hardware innovation that can put the GR partner at the forefront.
  • Following a summary of what was presented, Sam concludes his presentation and introduces Mike White of IBK

***

[Unfortunately, I’m out of time for tonight.I didn’t intend to cover this AGM with this level of detail when I began writing!I’ll continue with a follow-up post as soon as I can.]

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