What I find fascinating is that this board is a collision between investor aspirations...and there are different aspirations reflected here...and Joe’s aspirations. Joe clearly had a vision of a Generex very different from the old one: an integrated holding company where the elements would interact with one another to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Quite a vision. Especially creating from scratch, or even less than scratch if you factor in the debts and reputation of the old Generex. Still, it’s a vision that has led Joe on a path that has kept changing, so he’s had to alter course repeatedly over the last 3 plus years. I don’t think the Generex of September 2020 looks a great deal like the one he had in mind back in January 2017. But in general I know why Joe is here...he’s had a vision of a different kind of company (which has had to be adjusted), a vision of success (which has had to adjusted), and a vision that he would do it...although I don’t know to what extent he’s still trying to do this himself or it’s become a shared enterprise.
For me as an investor, I’ve also had a vision, of a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the old Generex, the romance if you will of Joe creating a different kind of enterprise from scratch...buying into Joe’s romantic and passionate vision. Along the way I’ve been distracted by my own aspirations of financial reward...I’m not being self critical in saying that, just that the whole reason I’ve stuck around this long...15 years...is because of the romance of the initial vision...imagine for a moment an insulin delivery that could be easily used by the old and the young...and then imagine nothing for a number of years...and then imagine an integrated health care company which will finally deliver value to an investment I’d long ago written off (that Phoenix again)...and then imagine a vaccine!...and then imagine the spinout of NGIO!...and then imagine that none of it might come true at all...and remembering that’s all playing out, the fears and desires, in the imagination of this investor. If it’s all in my imagination, why take it seriously at all? Of course for me, having written off the initial investment long ago, and only a investing more over the last three years that I could lose without threatening life and limb, it would not be catastrophic if it all collapsed. I don’t think it will, mind you, because I believe in Joe’s vision and his tenacity. But that does not translate into a particular outcome. Who knows what GNBT and NGIO will look like 12 months from now?
Anyway, sorry for the ramblings, but it’s occurred to me, as I read the passionate criticism and disappointment expressed on this board, that very little of the experience is ‘real’, and that as such it needs instead to be treated as an interesting experience...like a carnival ride...that I bought a ticket to get on...without knowing where it will end up. We’ll scream in surprise one day, throw up the next, but it is still only a carnival ride (for investors). Of course Joe is on his own ride, only tangentially related to our ride, and perhaps has a tiny bit more influence over the journey, but as we’ve seen over the last 12 months, he’s has his ‘puking’ surprise moments as well. But he bought his ticket too.
I guess we’ll see what is in store for all of us over the next month or two. Personally speaking, I just have to remember to get off the ride periodically so it doesn’t become more to me than it really is.
For me as an investor, I’ve also had a vision, of a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the old Generex, the romance if you will of Joe creating a different kind of enterprise from scratch...buying into Joe’s romantic and passionate vision. Along the way I’ve been distracted by my own aspirations of financial reward...I’m not being self critical in saying that, just that the whole reason I’ve stuck around this long...15 years...is because of the romance of the initial vision...imagine for a moment an insulin delivery that could be easily used by the old and the young...and then imagine nothing for a number of years...and then imagine an integrated health care company which will finally deliver value to an investment I’d long ago written off (that Phoenix again)...and then imagine a vaccine!...and then imagine the spinout of NGIO!...and then imagine that none of it might come true at all...and remembering that’s all playing out, the fears and desires, in the imagination of this investor. If it’s all in my imagination, why take it seriously at all? Of course for me, having written off the initial investment long ago, and only a investing more over the last three years that I could lose without threatening life and limb, it would not be catastrophic if it all collapsed. I don’t think it will, mind you, because I believe in Joe’s vision and his tenacity. But that does not translate into a particular outcome. Who knows what GNBT and NGIO will look like 12 months from now?
Anyway, sorry for the ramblings, but it’s occurred to me, as I read the passionate criticism and disappointment expressed on this board, that very little of the experience is ‘real’, and that as such it needs instead to be treated as an interesting experience...like a carnival ride...that I bought a ticket to get on...without knowing where it will end up. We’ll scream in surprise one day, throw up the next, but it is still only a carnival ride (for investors). Of course Joe is on his own ride, only tangentially related to our ride, and perhaps has a tiny bit more influence over the journey, but as we’ve seen over the last 12 months, he’s has his ‘puking’ surprise moments as well. But he bought his ticket too.
I guess we’ll see what is in store for all of us over the next month or two. Personally speaking, I just have to remember to get off the ride periodically so it doesn’t become more to me than it really is.
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