Quote:He jokingly mentioned that when people give him timelines he asks them how they can get it done sooner(I think shareholder meeting). Well, this one is his self imposed timeline on something he controls.
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Correct, and this post isn't a response to you, it's an open response to the original question.
It's about holding him accountable for discrete timelines he gives of his own accord. It's a two-way street here, to be sure. For a long time, people hammered him for not giving enough updates. So he began updating us on everything, which is great! Except that a CEO needs to be careful about how they communicate, because they set expectations. Those expectations generally translate to the market for the stock when they are met (positive reaction) or missed (negative reaction). When the company constantly misses milestones that are publicly set by the CEO, not only does the public lose faith in what the CEO says, but the market is going to treat the stock accordingly. When the stock falls, the company has fewer attractive financing options and less bargaining leverage. When financing gets delayed because deals fall through, expenditures get put on hold, which means trials slow down. GvHD, anyone?
I don't know about you, but whenever we get a new deck, the very first thing I do is flip to the slide at the end with timelines and check to see which ones have slipped. That's a learned behavior on my part due to the frequency with which I find that something else has slipped. Granted, far from all of the delays and missed milestones are directly NP's responsibility. However, when he communicates the timelines, he then owns it as the CEO, and he hasn't exercised great discretion to this point with regard to giving appropriately broad and flexible timelines, particularly when he doesn't 100% control the situation. Perfect example: anyone remember "first cancer patient injected any day now"? When was that... January? February? Much about how that one went down was likely out of his control. But he's the CEO. He said it, he owns it.
I think that this deal is different than some other timelines. I think it's going to happen, and going to happen roughly around his stated timeline. I can guarantee that nobody hopes that this is the case more than I do. I will be leading the cheers if this one gets signed with a strong partner. However, I'll likewise be the loudest voice holding him accountable if this doesn't materialize, particularly after the very ill-advised "funding secured" statement in the shareholders meeting. Remember that one? Turns out we needed funding, and it crashed the share price another 20-25% when he went back to market.
That's why I'm so latched onto 10/24, even though I don't expect anything today - or even in the next few days, possibly - even under a best case scenario of it already being signed.
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