Letter from the CEO – November, 2017

By: Robert Grosshandler | November 16, 2017

Overview

No real highlights this month, more normal progress.  The small victory was hearing from FINRA that they are actively reviewing our submission.

This update is basically the same as last month’s.  Nothing stupendous to report, just putting one foot in front of the other, making sure we’re ready for the holiday crush.

Marketing – Member Growth

48,808 Members!

This looks a lot like last month’s update.  We continue to be very cautious in our marketing expenditures, which directly translates into slower member growth. Given that our capital raise fell short of our goal, we’re saving our marketing money for when our ticker symbol is issued.

We’re continuing to refine our member acquisition targeting, so that the members we do attract are more likely to be profitable, sooner.

The best recruitment comes from our members.  You have the opportunity to help the company you own become bigger, better, more profitable, and more valuable.  As we’re able to demonstrate our enterprise value better (think ticker symbol), we expect to get even better at recruitment.

Revenue & Gross Profit

I repeat my mantra – I believe the best number to watch for iConsumer is our cash gross profit (also sometimes called cash gross margin).  Since we don’t publish quarterly financial results, I’m not going to be too specific.  The next financials you’ll see from us are our audited year end numbers.  We continue to work on improving our numbers, both on a per member basis, and in the total number of members who are generating gross profit for us.

 

full shopping bag

We continue to say that the magic number of members is about 250,000.  At that point, our cash gross profit should exceed our costs of operation, which means we’ll have a positive cash flow (also called nirvana).  Our lawyers also want me to say “that’s a forward looking statement, and it may very well be wrong”.

I use the term cash gross profit to highlight the difference between that number and our accounting rules dictated “gross profit”.  Our gross profit (as shown in our financial reports) includes the cost of the equity (shares of stock) that our members receive for joining, shopping, and referring.  Because that cost is a “non-cash” expense, it distorts our financial reports.  To understand our ability to pay our bills, we need to focus on cash, and ignore the amount of stock we issue.

There are reasons to understand the affect of our stock issuances on financial health, but focusing on cash at this stage of our growth is vital.

Financing & Regulatory Compliance

FINRA – the road to a ticker symbol

Our broker dealer submitted our documentation (now grown to 10,000 pages) to FINRA last month.  About three weeks after that, FINRA informed us that they were reviewing the submission.  This road has been far slower than we ever expected.  FINRA can take as much time as they like (even forever, truly – they’re not required to response) to review our submission.  But, just maybe, we’ll hear something good later this month.

To recap.  FINRA is the regulator that, when happy, will issue our ticker symbol.  Once we have that ticker symbol, we intend to be quoted on the OTC QB market.  With that, you’ll be able to type our symbol into Google and learn the price at which people are offering to buy and sell our stock.

The first thing to understand is that just because we have a symbol, there may not be anybody who wants to buy our stock.  And even if they do, there are still going to be some hurdles for shareholders to overcome to make it easily possible, not just possible.  As we get closer to that day, we’ll have more to say.

When we hear something, you may be able to hear my shouts of joy from miles and miles away.  Yes, I wrote that last month too, but it still holds.

Financing

Nothing new on this front.  Until we raise additional capital, we’re going slow.

SEC Filings

No new filings this month so far.

As always, you can see our latest SEC filings here.

Member’s Stock Issuance Delay Continues

Until we have an open, qualified offering, we can’t actually issue and transfer our members’ stock.  Please see this article for more on that.

We’re working to have an open, qualified offering as soon after FINRA has issued us a ticker symbol as is possible.  Once the symbol is issued, we’ll submit a new offering to SEC.  They’ll need to qualify it, and at that point, we’ll be able to issue and transfer stock.  We believe that the SEC process will take less than a month, but there are no guarantees.

Bright and Shiny Objects – the Bitcoin / Blockchain / ICO revolution

We’re seeing an amazing amount of interest in the rise of the Blockchain and associated capital raising strategies.  It’s hard to miss the noise surrounding Bitcoin.  But that’s just the surface.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, the most prominent of many  Blockchain is the most prominent underlying technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible.  On top that, companies are issuing their own tokens / coins in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).  This entire arena is very, very new, and really, really confusing.

We’re watching and learning about all of this.  It has application to our business.

I’m wondering if you have an interest in learning more about this space.  Leave us a comment if you are interested.

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12 Comments

Anita Borchers, November 17, 2017 at 3:32 pm

Do I have shares?

    Kim Logan, November 17, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    You can log in to iConsumer to see your current stats, including the amount of shares, if any, that you have. The stats appear at the top of your member page, and if you click on the number of shares or cash back amount, you’ll be taken to a Stats page with further details.

Danny Murphy, November 17, 2017 at 4:07 pm

When the symbol gets certified, how long do you est. the stock/ticker will be on the OTCQB? Once it is on the market the shares we earned will be able to be traded?

    Robert Grosshandler, November 17, 2017 at 4:48 pm

    Hi

    This is going to be a little long, sorry. The symbol gets issued by FINRA (and it’ll be something terrible, so we’ll have to ask them to change it). Almost the same day as it gets issued, the OTC will publish a quotation. That is, how much are people saying they’re willing to pay for our stock, and how much are they willing to sell our stock for.

    If the stock you’ve earned has been issued and transferred to you, you’re already allowed to sell it to whomever you want to sell it to. The fact that it’s being quoted makes it easier to find somebody who wants to buy it, but it’s not for certain. That is, just being quoted doesn’t mean that somebody will want to buy it at a price where you want to sell it. But, being quoted makes it easier to find the people who want to buy.

    If we haven’t yet issued and transferred your shares to our transfer agent (Issuer Direct), that can happen once the SEC has qualified our offering again. That’s probably (but not for sure, we don’t control) going to take about three weeks after FINRA assigns us a ticker symbol.

Jeff Pittman, November 17, 2017 at 5:38 pm

Would you happen to know what ticker symbol would be for the shares on the OTCQB?

    Robert Grosshandler, November 17, 2017 at 7:09 pm

    No. FINRA, when they issue it, assigns us a random ticker symbol. Then, we need to apply to them for a better ticker symbol. Any suggestions as to a good one that is not taken?

Capri Simpkins, November 17, 2017 at 6:03 pm

I’m very interested in learning more about the ICO offerings. If adopted would we be accepting coins from other companies or issuing our own?

    Robert Grosshandler, November 17, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    We’re still learning about the whole ICO space, and until we’re further along, know more, and have made some decisions, we’re not in a position to share details. This is a rapidly developing area, with rapidly developing regulations, so we’re in conversations with attorneys, advisors, and accountants on this.

    The number of conferences one can attend is amazing.

Sherry, November 17, 2017 at 7:44 pm

I’m also very interested to see how blockchain and ICO can apply to iConsumer. Are you considering token sale for iConsumer to raise funds?

    Robert Grosshandler, November 17, 2017 at 8:13 pm

    Hi

    We continue to need to raise more capital, so we’re looking at all alternatives. Sorry to be a little vague, but being regulated means we’re a bit circumscribed in what we can say.

    Are you interested in ICOs?

Sherry, November 17, 2017 at 10:14 pm

Hi Rob: Yes, I am interested in ICOs. I hold tokens in other ICOs but SEC is making it difficult for US citizens to participate in ICOs.

Natalie, November 17, 2017 at 10:43 pm

Very interesting. I’m keeping up with all this information. I️ appreciate all the updates. I’m also interested in Bitcoins.


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