The E-series Build.

[Sethodine]

Does anybody know if there is still a $600 minimum purchase, now that it is "open to the public"? I reserved $300 worth back when that was possible, but then they changed the rules and cut me out of the process (which, I don't mind admitting, left me feeling kind of sore). I was fully commited to my purchase before they changed the minimum, but afterwards I was one of those guys who didn't even open the emails or log into the SE site.

 

[Ian442]

Still a $600 minimum. I put in for my shared today at that amount.

 

[Rob Croson]

At this point we just don't have enough information. What we know is that they must have sold at least $12.5 million as that was how much they had to sell in order to get any money from this.

That is not correct. They have to get $12.5M from the entire offering. That $12.5M limit applies to the Reg A+ offering as a whole, and not to the private pre-sale.

However as EM has the option of selling up to $30 million in stock during this offering they could be short of the $25 million goal, by a little or a lot, or they just could simply be trying for the full $30 million.

Or they could have sold only $50,000. (That's exaggeration for effect, in case anyone thinks I'm really serious about that...) You're correct in that we don't know, because we just don't have enough information. But that won't stop any of us from speculating, and we all know that. It's what we're best at around here.

We only know one thing for certain: That they did not get more than $30M in sales so far. We can pretty sure that they did not get more than $25M. (My reasoning on that being that they previously stated that although they had the option to go for $30M, they only really wanted $25M, and probably would stick with that.) We can also assume that, since they say they have enough to go ahead with the E series vehicles, that they have at least the $12.5M. That's great. I'm excited that they hit that target. I *want* this to go forward. I *want* it to succeed.

It also means that I had better get the full value of shares that I purchased. That pro-rated stuff was only supposed to be for the pre-sale for reserved shares. My understanding is that as soon as they $25M (or possibly $30M, although they have previously indicated they did not intend to do that), sales will be cut off, and everyone gets their full investment amount. So if you overbought in the presale, counting on it getting cut back due to an oversell.... Ooops. I hope that's not going to cause anyone any problems.

My "fail" comment is not related to an assumption that the Reg A+ offering overall is a failure. (It's not.) Or that the stock sales overall is a failure. (It's not.) Merely my assertion (poorly stated because I was in a hurry) that being able to offer the shares for sale to the general public is NOT "good news". It's bad news. Or, at best, neutral news when you combine it with the announcement that they got enough to fund the E series vehicles.

You see, they've been trumpeting for quite some time, in front of everyone who would listen, about the number of potential investors with expressed interest (~12,000), and the fact that they have >$45M in expressed interest, and claiming that makes them the largest crowdfunding project ever. But when it came down to brass tacks, less than $25M of that money actually materialized, despite the weeks of warning that people were given from a string of emails from both StartEngine and EM that it was going to start any time, and a 13-day window to do the purchase. (I have no idea how they count 7 days. Common core math, maybe? The offering started on November 20 and went to December 2, inclusive. That is 13 calendar days on which stocks were available for purchase) They said four days prior to that, that they expected approval any day, and that they would start selling almost immediately. That gives you at least a 17-day window where you could have read your e-mail and acted upon it. That is NOT short notice.

There could have been many reasons for the failure of the money to materialize. Holidays during the investment window, short notice (although I don't really believe that one), financial situations changing, people over-pledging and under-investing (I know I'm guilty of that one a bit), lack of contact information to get the word out, etc. This is a new system, for both StartEngine and EM, and all of us, too. But still, when it came down to it, only half the money showed up. When you're standing in front of everyone trumpeting ">$45M in expressed interest", and then only half of that actually appears, it is NOT "good news". That's the kind of corporate spin control that calls getting shut down by the government "some really big opportunities for improvement".

So, yeah, I'm happy that they apparently got at least the minimum they needed. I'm glad to own stock in it. I'm glad that we move one step closer to getting my Elio in my driveway. But I'm not swallowing that particular flavor of kool-aid today.

Just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

Yep. And, of course, keep on speculating.

 

[toxotes]

Sethodine, agree with you totally.
The question was, would you pony up $250 to .... not pony up $600 to ...
The rules were changed. I gave EM nothing. If EM want to revert to their original offer, I'll sign the check.

 

[John Painter]

That is not correct. They have to get $12.5M from the entire offering. That $12.5M limit applies to the Reg A+ offering as a whole, and not to the private pre-sale.


Or they could have sold only $50,000. (That's exaggeration for effect, in case anyone thinks I'm really serious about that...) You're correct in that we don't know, because we just don't have enough information. But that won't stop any of us from speculating, and we all know that. It's what we're best at around here.

We only know one thing for certain: That they did not get more than $30M in sales so far. We can pretty sure that they did not get more than $25M. (My reasoning on that being that they previously stated that although they had the option to go for $30M, they only really wanted $25M, and probably would stick with that.) We can also assume that, since they say they have enough to go ahead with the E series vehicles, that they have at least the $12.5M. That's great. I'm excited that they hit that target. I *want* this to go forward. I *want* it to succeed.

It also means that I had better get the full value of shares that I purchased. That pro-rated stuff was only supposed to be for the pre-sale for reserved shares. My understanding is that as soon as they $25M (or possibly $30M, although they have previously indicated they did not intend to do that), sales will be cut off, and everyone gets their full investment amount. So if you overbought in the presale, counting on it getting cut back due to an oversell.... Ooops. I hope that's not going to cause anyone any problems.

My "fail" comment is not related to an assumption that the Reg A+ offering overall is a failure. (It's not.) Or that the stock sales overall is a failure. (It's not.) Merely my assertion (poorly stated because I was in a hurry) that being able to offer the shares for sale to the general public is NOT "good news". It's bad news. Or, at best, neutral news when you combine it with the announcement that they got enough to fund the E series vehicles.

You see, they've been trumpeting for quite some time, in front of everyone who would listen, about the number of potential investors with expressed interest (~12,000), and the fact that they have >$45M in expressed interest, and claiming that makes them the largest crowdfunding project ever. But when it came down to brass tacks, less than $25M of that money actually materialized, despite the weeks of warning that people were given from a string of emails from both StartEngine and EM that it was going to start any time, and a 13-day window to do the purchase. (I have no idea how they count 7 days. Common core math, maybe? The offering started on November 20 and went to December 2, inclusive. That is 13 calendar days on which stocks were available for purchase) They said four days prior to that, that they expected approval any day, and that they would start selling almost immediately. That gives you at least a 17-day window where you could have read your e-mail and acted upon it. That is NOT short notice.

There could have been many reasons for the failure of the money to materialize. Holidays during the investment window, short notice (although I don't really believe that one), financial situations changing, people over-pledging and under-investing (I know I'm guilty of that one a bit), lack of contact information to get the word out, etc. This is a new system, for both StartEngine and EM, and all of us, too. But still, when it came down to it, only half the money showed up. When you're standing in front of everyone trumpeting ">$45M in expressed interest", and then only half of that actually appears, it is NOT "good news". That's the kind of corporate spin control that calls getting shut down by the government "some really big opportunities for improvement".

So, yeah, I'm happy that they apparently got at least the minimum they needed. I'm glad to own stock in it. I'm glad that we move one step closer to getting my Elio in my driveway. But I'm not swallowing that particular flavor of kool-aid today.


Yep. And, of course, keep on speculating.

No fancy math, there were seven business days between Nov 20 (aprox 6pm EST) and Dec 2 (3pm PST) when you back out the federal/bank holiday. I see no spin other than what I'd call good business, Elio's goal was to raise the money for building 25 engineering versions. They did it. It's that simple. they were hugely successful. It doesn't mean they'll make it to production. It does mean they have a plan and are working it to get to production. #12436 and now investor too

 

[pistonboy]

I would not call this a failure, but I certainly would call it ‘disappointing’. We were expecting something closer to $40 million and got a much smaller amount. It simply did not work out as well as expected.

Perhaps we are the choir and we keep telling each other, the Elio is great. Perhaps we should not talk to each other but instead to non-forum people. My friend does not like the vehicle. Perhaps I should listen to him more. The Nano in India was expected to be a smashing success and it’s success was ‘disappointing‘.

On the other hand, there are approximately 48,000 people who have actually put money down on the vehicle. ‘Expressing interest’ is free, and free is cheap, just like talk is cheap. The only thing that really shows interest is putting money down.

The NY Auto Show did not turn out as well as expected.

The crowd funding did not turn out as well as expected.

I am afraid to hear how the LA Auto Show turned out.

Someone tell me a lie and make me feel better.

 

[Karnaj]

I would not call this a failure, but I certainly would call it ‘disappointing’. We were expecting something closer to $40 million and got a much smaller amount. It simply did not work out as well as expected.

The NY Auto Show did not turn out as well as expected.

The crowd funding did not turn out as well as expected.

I am afraid to hear how the LA Auto Show turned out.

Someone tell me a lie and make me feel better.

You are the sexiest man alive. All women want you and if they say they don't they're just trying to save face in awe of your manliness.

Did that make you feel better pistonboy?

 

[HonestTex]

I would not call this a failure, but I certainly would call it ‘disappointing’. We were expecting something closer to $40 million and got a much smaller amount. It simply did not work out as well as expected.

The NY Auto Show did not turn out as well as expected.

The crowd funding did not turn out as well as expected.

I am afraid to hear how the LA Auto Show turned out.

Someone tell me a lie and make me feel better.

Zuckerberg is gonna fund production....

 

[pistonboy]

You are the sexiest man alive. All women want you and if they say they don't they're just trying to save face in awe of your manliness.

Did that make you feel better pistonboy?

No, I don't feel better, but the women after me part makes me feel poor.

 

[AriLea]

One of the many suspicions we've had during the 'expressions' was speculators grabbing a place inline, just because it's free. There the idea was they were only truely deciding if there is a compelling reason to invest at the last second. Anyway, that's the key information SE will keep close to the chest, who were the non-investors and why. It is possible, some people just wanted to know how the 'expressed' phase performed before they commit in the open-to public, this being their plan all a long. There truly is more predictability in the open offer, and more unknowns in the 'expressions'.

Getting an 'expression' in gives you all the emails (faster) that SE and EM deliver on the subject. If I was intending to participate later, I would have wanted that intimate line of news.

Then there are of course other reasons to want that info stream, even the relevant and motivated news reporters probably would 'express' just so they could better monitor events. How many bloggers and drama junkies? And the 'just curious'?

Anyway, I don't worry anymore about the whole funding thing. Since it was such a experiment, the only result that actually lands on Elio Motor's head is if the E series gets financed or not. Start Engines will have to pay the price if there was a fail or not measuring up on 'percentages'.