Demand a Seat on the Board

[sparkie]

Hi,

Brief PersonalIntro.
--------------------
I am one of the hundreds of thousands who receive a Google alert on Aptera every week. I used to live in CA, but now live in NY so I am not eligible to buy an Aptera. Nevertheless, I've friends in CA, and I convinced one to buy one for me and hold it until I return to CA. Like many, I have followed Aptera since it's first prototype made it to YouTube.

I have worked for two technology start ups and a hedge fund, a rival to Renaissance Technology, a major investor. My prior car purchases were a triumph spitfire and two hondas. I have spent a few years in advertising, and my previous posts criticized the marketing of Aptera. I also volunteered 3 or 4 commercials that could be used. In these prior exchanges, my criticisms were met with great resistance by KarenREI, whose loyalty to Aptera stood out in her defense of my complaints about marketing. All the more reason why I'm disturbed by her reports.

Reasons for "Demand a Seat on the Board" Post
-------------------------------------------------------
1. Financial
--------------
Collectively, Aptera customers have only (4,000 x $500) or $2M committed to Aptera. However, this $2M is a lot more meaningful than the the $2.75M Google committed to Aptera. If Aptera had met its schedule, at least another $30M would have been committed to the company. Potentially, another $120 to $160M.

This is not small change, and it should not be ignored. Aptera customers, and vehicle pledges are a large financial force in the company.

2. Lack of Communication
-------------------------------
It seems like the delay in production was caused because there was a perceived trade off between "roll down windows" and "overall vehicle design." Aptera claims that the need for roll down windows was gleaned from a customer survey. However, the survey never asked, "Would you like a half window, or a full window and receive your car a year or more later [perhaps with less safe side-impact protection]?"

I believe the survey merely asked, "how important are windows that fully roll down to you?" ---This seems like asking whether inept engineering is tolerated.

3. Precision of Communication/Competence of Marketing
-------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems that many are frustrated by the Marketing department/management with the latest surprise. At the least, they were woefully imprecise in determining what their customers wanted. Take for example, Telsa, which introduced the Tesla 1.0, just because they knew their customers were fine with an electric car. For Telsa, the engine was not a major obstacle to its release. For Aptera, windows were a major obstacle.

Telsa--engine, not a problem; Aptera--windows, a problem.

Note to Paul: I can see why comparisons with Telsa's management are disturbing.

4. The Most Important Criterion
---------------------------------------
The most important criterion for the success of a product or company is the happiness of your first users. They are the "MacHeads," the "Yahooligans," the "Google early adopters" who spread the word of the product to legions. Perhaps, the greatest compliment to Aptera's founders--- in product history, there is no more loyal followers than you, the first Aptera buyers. Yes, there is Jay Leno, Robin Williams, probably Lenardo DeCaprio, and others in Hollywood who are also behind the company--but it will be you who determine the fate of the product and the company. Yahoo, Google, and Apple did not have a waiting list before the product was released. There is no precedent in the recent history of capitalism for Aptera lovers. Not these companies, not Telsa.

It is very disturbing that this whole redesign and delay process was commenced on the basis of a very indirect inference from a survey. Not only does it seem that they don't know the power of the first adopters, it seems that they may not care.

5. Pissing off the People Who Love You
----------------------------------------------
"What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more." --Haddaway

With all due respect to Apple, Google, Yahoo, the Volt, Telsa, and it's supposed supporters who blog here, they never had the love that the Aptera has had. 4,000 commitments before a product launch never was gained by any of those companies. Why a CEO can't point out that fact, and raise some money is disturbing.

More disturbing is pissing off Aptera customers, and pissing on Aptera forum, the home of Aptera loyalists and customers.

I don't mean that in a way that we should have a "revolution" or a "people's company" or car, but it's really disturbing when a CEO says (Seee KarenREI's posts), "don't read Aptera forum, the home of our fan base."

When a CEO essentially says---"ignore the people who have pledged their money and support to our dreams---ignore one of the most loyal and dedicated customer groups any company has ever had before a product release in the history of capitalism." --Objectively, this is a bad sign. Had he not said this, I would not be as troubled with Aptera as I am.

Steve Fambro, said, "This is how a car should be." And we, future Aptera customers, have pledged money and time following the company, because we recognized that yes, "Steve's Aptera is how a car should be. He dreamed it and followed that dream, but we recognize that dream. That is our dream as well, whether we realized it when he showed it, or had it before."

6. So what should be Done?: Message to Paul and Board of Directors
---------------------------------------------------
Note to Paul and any member of the Board of Directors: We're pledging more money than you are. We back Steve Fambro, and unless you can show him to be an incompetent, ignorant slimy dickhead like Paul, your money is ****ed. Our money is not only more than your money, it's more important.

Even more significant, our connections are not only more numerous than yours are, they are more important, because there's no capital gains upside in this for us, there's just a product. And even if you put in 20x the amount of money that we are pledging, it would not equal our commitment or our marketing power.

To investors at Google, Renaissance, and others, members of the board who sided with Paul vs. Steve--"Do you want to appear as a future case study next to "The Ousting of Steve Jobs by the Board", titled "The More Stupid Ousting of Steve Fambro by the Board"?

Because by taking the wild-eyed step of saying, "Ignore the user-base. Ignore Aptera Forum, and those who have committed to the product," Paul seems to have jumped the shark. Most of us were in this before he was in this. Yes, I'm sure his machinations and design changes logged many hours; but it is dwarfed by orders of magnitude by the hours that we have spent, and will spend marketing the product.

7. What will Happen to the Board's Money
--------------------------------------------------
Given Paul's mantra of "ignore the customer," it seems that he's doomed. Aptera's not dead, but doomed to dormancy. Someone will come along, eventually, and pick up the IP and just succeed where he failed. Repeat Steve Jobs at Apple, except you, the Board, don't own the same capital stake. The morale will be: "The customer is always right. Listen to the customer." It's in the Harvard syllabus, and your actions will make for a great lecture for the next 25 years.

8. What Aptera Forum/ Customers Should Do
------------------------------------------------------
We are the money and marketing power behind the company. We are the execution of the vision. We need to do the following:

1. Decide upon a representative.
2. Elect that person as a representative.
3. Contact the Board and investors.
4. Make our concerns known.
5. Insist upon a Board Seat for the Representative
6. Actually tell the Board and the company why we are buying the car and why we think others will buy the car.

8. Change/ Customer Respect
-----------------------------------
If there is one thing that should be insisted upon with this delay is a recognition of the unprecedented, user/customer/fan base of Aptera. We need a board seat. We need to be heard and not kept in the dark. You cannot delay a dream car on the basis of "window design" and without communicating that to your customers beforehand.

If only half the 4,000 commits bought, that's still $60M to $160M that is being delayed arbitrarily. Do we know that 2K would back out? Can you show that with Telsa's customers who backed out because of engine redesign? We are talking engine redesign vs. window redesign, keep in mind.

9. Personal Perspective as a Future Customer/Present and Former Evangelist
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cannot tell you how often I've sung Aptera's praises, and informed not just one person, but a group of people about Aptera. I've been out to dinner coutnless times when people have passed around the Aptera website on my phone. I've read every article and seen every YouTube Video. I've given, here on the Aptera Forum, free commercials that would cost a company $60K for a consult.

It's not the vision and Steve, it's the execution, the lack of communication, and Paul. In the end, it's about the customer, stupid, and Paul, it feels to me, is screwing the customer. I don't know anyone who complained on this forum, "What about the windows that don't roll down fully? I won't buy it then." Where is that complaint Paul!! And how many share it??

Something needs to be done.

Resolve to:
1. Find out who you are.
2. Organize
3. Elect a Rep
4. Contact the Investors
5. Demand a Seat
6. At least have a say, at least, you the largest investor, and the consumer demand something more than this ridiculous communication.

[sparkie]

Anyway, to reply to my own post---- this is a sad state of developments, and being a member of the Silicon Valley start up culture---I have seen it soo many times before, but I never thought it would happen this time, to this company, to these guys, and to this product.

This is probably unfamiliar territory for the Google.org folks, who are only acquainted with success. But this pattern of killing the idea and engineers with Marketing and Corporate is soo familiar. I think it was Steve Jobs who said, "If you want to destroy a company, replace the engineers and the founders with a marketing guy. " Or something to that effect. Well, congratulations Google.org and Renaissance Technology folks, you've screwed the company.

Strategically, it would have been better to release a "bad-windows" version of this product, just to eliminate the placard of "vapor-ware" which will now hang on Aptera's neck.

It would have done so much just to have a few thousand out there, and then delay the next shipment.

You could have partnered with San Francisco Taxi companies.
You could have done a diesel version with VW engines or Smart car engines.
You could have at least gotten the product on the road for a year of publicity.

So many things could have been done, which would have elevated the name of Aptera, instead of degrading it to vaporware.

I'm disappointed. It's a monumental failure for the opportunity presented.

And Paul, it's such a cliched failure. There's no originality to this monumental stupidity.

Credit given for an epic failure in an industry much more important to our economy than computers in terms of national prestige and employment, and credit given for a grotesque failure in a time of need for "hope" and a "new economy." But basic methodology--very cliche.

Do not collect $200 bribes. Go back to Delphi and screw someone else.

[sparkie]

The first question for a new board member should be "What was the question on the survey that made you determine that you had to overhaul the entire product and delay production by a year or more?"

Even given an overwhelming response, I fail to see how take out windows are relevant as anyone who has driven a Ferrari or Hummer or just not pulled up to a drive in window correctly has a problem with drive-in windows.

Again, the basic script of Paul's failure is cliche, but the details are monumentally stupid.

[sparkie]

I guess what I'm saying is "Is there any precedent for delaying a car/SUV/Sportscar launch because of window compatibility with drive-ins?"

[Ardie3301]

I find it might be rather cheeky to demand a place at the table of the Board of Directors. If I were an Aptera board member reading this thread, my first impression would be "Fat Chance!"

However, I would like to suggest to the board that that perhaps with the recent performance of Paul W. and Marques M., they issue a "drop dead date" to Paul and Marques: Either roll a production Aptera 2e out the door by <insert date here> or *you two* are out the door.

There is a window (yuk, yuk) of opportunity for a 2-seat 3-wheel vehicle that will quickly close when alternatives such as the Tesla Model S, Fisker Karma, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi Leaf, Cooper Mini-E, and other more mainstream vehicles, costly and inefficient tho' they may be, become available.

Yes, it would be nice to have an electric vehicle that I could commute 65 miles a day and use the carpool lane doing it, but a Chevy Volt or Mini-E will do just fine in the No. 2 lane.

-- Ardie
(For non-Californians, our freeway lanes are numbered with #1 being the leftmost lane. In many cases, its the carpool lane. Subsequent lanes are numbered #2, #3, and so on until you get to the rightmost "slow" lane.)

[Steve Martin]

Very nice write up. This has been a truly sad week reading all of these posts on why the car has been delayed.

I'd love to see Karen sit on the board of directors and then have Paul explain the 2e delays.

[josh]

I find this really funny. You can't demand a seat on the board of directors for being angry about something happening at a company, or just for stating you are smarter or would do things better. You're welcome to go start your OWN company however, and do things the way you want to... then you get to be on the Board if you want Sparkie! Good luck, you sound like you have it all figured out.

There are just so many things wrong with your post I'm not sure where to start, but let's just focus on the main premise... that you think you can DEMAND a seat on the board with the "logic" you post about how our money (note, not your money), entitles us to it... falsely claiming it's MORE than investors' money that went in, or that ours is more important. It's neither. We have a deposit for a product, we don't have an investment in the company in the literal sense (yes, we do in an emotional sense, but let's set that aside for now), and we own no equity and have no liability. We have a REFUNDABLE deposit for a product -that's it Sparkie. It entitles us to nothing except the right to consider buying the final product.

Oh, and by the way, being on the Board doesn't mean you go to meetings and just shout about what you want, then all go smoke cigars and have cocktails at the country club. One big tip here, Sparkie... a board seat also comes with PERSONAL legal/financial liability in many situations. I'm sure you were aware of this since you said how qualified you were, right? and that you're OK with that? Ready to put your PERSONAL assets up so you can jump up and down and tell these people how it should be done?

It's not a picnic being on a company's board, especially a struggling company, ESPECIALLY when realize the stress you feel for the responsibility for people's jobs, and therefore for all of their families, kids, etc. It's an enormous burden of time and energy and in real responsibility not just for a company and the shareholders but for the people involved. It's ESPECIALLY difficult in a company with large capital requirements, with incredibly complex financials (you're taking on liability for accurate reporting and accounting too you know, right?), ESPECIALLY one that's in a category of complex state and federal regulations, with high-liability products, in a litigious society. You still want that seat, right? Be careful what you wish for (oh, sorry, DEMAND).

I think you make a few good points scattered around in there among a lot of craziness, but by putting it in a ridiculous format of a "DEMAND" for a seat on the board, you're losing a lot of credibility and hurting your own ability to be heard.

I do know about this topic, and I feel passionately about it. It's a very tough job, even in good times... it's absolute hell in bad times. (No, I'm not an Aptera investor, board member, or employee... just a reservation holder, but one who has been on many public company and private company boards.)

Sorry for the sarcasm, and I don't mean to imply that people shouldn't give feedback to a company about their products... by all means, everyone should, and we here do that. But I think you don't really know what you're asking for or why.

Had you offered the suggestion that maybe Aptera would consider forming a consumer advisory panel, or a group of reservation holders that could give input or advice or feedback... those are reasonable requests. Some companies do that, not many because it's very tough to manage effectively, but some do. No clue if Aptera would... (but I think it's probably less likely now than ever given a lot of the silliness on the forums this week.)

So take it easy, make your requests, suggestions, ideas, even your anger or your support known here, or in a letter, or whatever way you'd like. But don't expect that you're entitled now to be an owner or board member. You can express your wishes, and then decide to either buy or not buy the company's product if and when it is available to you. That's really about it when it comes to the "rights" that you have.

[Sapphire Dragon]

Originally Posted by sparkie

I guess what I'm saying is "Is there any precedent for delaying a car/SUV/Sportscar launch because of window compatibility with drive-ins?"

Originally Posted by josh

But I think you don't really know what you're asking for or why.

I think your question was already answered, josh.

Originally Posted by Ardie3301

There is a window (yuk, yuk) of opportunity

Anyway, whether or not being on a Board is seriously difficult, if someone feels up to the task, then they will do it. I don't think it's about hard times anymore- I think it's about saving Fambro's dream (and our dream) in any way possible, even if it means having to go through a rough board. I'm not sure how much personal assets must be put into being a member of Aptera's Board, but I'd much rather know what it would take to get there than not know and give up an option. There are very few options at this point, and asking for a Board seat is yet another possible option. Yes, even if someone could go to be on the Board, Wilbur would probably not let it happen, but it's at least an idea. More ideas= more options= more possibilities= more hope.

[lapwing]

Sparky, your sentiment is right on!

While there is no legal reason for the board to give us the time of day, let alone representation, Sparky's idea that as a group of motivated customers we have some influnce, is real.

We can use that influence best with the people and organizations that have invested money in Aptera.


Sparky is right - as a group we do represent a great deal of potential revenue for this company and this product.

As Sparky pointed out it is not just our willingness to buy an Aptera. It is the value of early adopters to drive more widespread adoption of Aptera - call it the "Mac-head" effect!

We all want our "Aptera in our driveway"!

I believe, the key ingredient is that we democratically appoint one, or perhaps two "representitives". As an "Aptera-head" - membership of this board is all that is required to participate.

The following process is typical.

Start a new thread where each of us nominate two candidates

• Each candidate needs a couple of seconds to be included.
• In a few days we set up a poll of those nominated and willing to serve and we "vote"

The two receiving the most votes would then officially approach the investors on our behalf, with a view to moving things along.

I would think it wholly appropriate, that we consider contributing to any costs they might incur on our behalf.

What do you think?

"I want that an Aptera in my driveway!"

[evmavin]

A year ago Aptera put a new line in the sand for a vehicle with roll down windows. It has been a year, and the new excuse for delays is the windows again as if it just came up recently not a year ago. Second, PW has been stating publicly that the vehicle can be produced without fed money but now it can't. The delays on the 2e will go on and on regardless of money as I think the issue is more cultural. Having the windows roll down does make sense for most buyers with the exception of some who can live without but THEY HAD A FULL YEAR TO DO THIS and acted as though it was going to launch in OCT. Even if the windows were not changed I still bet there would be no deliveries. If they don't even know how to communicate to customers does anyone think they can roll out vehicles and service them? The excuses get recycled and changed to fit the moment. To blame this on the windows alone is silly, there is a lack of passion and connection to the product and the competence to move things forward.