ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
RISK FACTORS
The risks and uncertainties below may not be the only ones our company faces. If any of these risks actually occur, or others not specified below, the business, financial condition, operating results and prospects of our company could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline.
General Risks
We may fail to raise sufficient capital
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To the extent that we fail to obtain sufficient operating capital, we may be unable to deal with presently unforeseen contingencies in the future or be able to fund our operations. We may also be unable to expand our product and service offerings or launch the advertising and promotion necessary to increase our user base. In addition, we may have more difficulty or find it impossible, to raise third party financing from investors or financial institutions. Furthermore, any operating capital raised may be obtained on harsh terms and be dilutive to current shareholders.
Our reserves may be insufficient
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We intend to establish a reserve fund, as determined in the Board’s discretion, for normal working capital contingencies. However, we have been unable to do so. If the reserves are not available to the Company, it may be necessary to attempt to raise additional capital or financing. In the event that such capital or financing is not available on favorable terms, we may be forced to raise additional capital on unfavorable terms. In fact, we have been forced to issue several convertible notes at substantial discounts and interest rates in order to raise the requisite capital for operations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Our success depends upon the continued growth and acceptance of online/mobile advertising, particularly paid listings, as an effective alternative to traditional, offline advertising and the continued commercial use of the internet.
Many advertisers still have limited experience with mobile advertising and may continue to devote significant portions of their advertising budgets to traditional offline advertising media. Accordingly, we continue to compete with traditional advertising media, including television, radio and print, in addition to a multitude of websites with high levels of traffic and mobile advertising networks, for a share of available advertising expenditures and expect to face continued competition as more emerging media and traditional offline media companies enter the online and mobile advertising markets. We believe that the continued growth and continued acceptance of mobile advertising generally will depend, to a large extent, on its perceived effectiveness and the acceptance of related advertising models (particularly in the case of models that incorporate user targeting and/or utilize mobile devices), the continued growth in commercial use of the internet (particularly abroad) and smart devices, the extent to which web/mobile browsers, software programs and/or mobile applications that limit or prevent advertising from being displayed become commonplace and the extent to which the industry is able to effectively manage click fraud. Any lack of growth in the market for mobile advertising, particularly for paid listings, or any decrease in the effectiveness and value of mobile advertising (whether due to the passage of laws requiring additional disclosure and/or opt-in policies for advertising that incorporates user targeting or other developments) would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We depend, in part, upon arrangements with third parties to drive traffic to our various websites and distribute our products and services.
We engage in a variety of activities, such as search engine optimization and application search optimization, designed to attract traffic to our application and convert visitors into repeat users and customers. How successful we are in these efforts depends, in part, upon our continued ability to enter into arrangements with third parties to drive traffic to our application, as well as the continued introduction of new and enhanced features, products and services that resonate with users and customers generally.
In addition, we have entered into a number of arrangements with third parties to promote and deliver mobile advertising to various social networks or mobile channels. Pursuant to these arrangements, third parties generally promote our application on various mobile applications, their websites or through e-mail campaigns and we either pay on a cost per impression basis (i.e. cost per view) or a fixed fee when visitors to these websites click through to or download our application. These arrangements are generally not exclusive, are short-term in nature and are generally terminable by either party given notice. If existing arrangements with third parties are terminated (or are not renewed upon their expiration) and we fail to replace this traffic and related revenues, or if we are unable to enter into new arrangements with existing and/or new third parties in response to industry trends, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
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Even if we succeed in driving traffic to our application, we may not be able to convert this traffic or otherwise retain users unless we continue to provide quality products and services. We may not be able to adapt quickly and/or in a cost-effective manner to frequent changes in user and customer preferences, which can be difficult to predict, or appropriately time the introduction of enhancements and/or new products or services to the market. Our inability to provide quality products and services would adversely affect user and customer experiences, which would result in decreases in users, customers and revenues, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
As discussed below, our traffic building and conversion initiatives also involve the expenditure of considerable sums for marketing, as well as for the development and introduction of new products, services and enhancements, infrastructure and other related efforts.
Marketing efforts designed to drive traffic to our various websites may not be successful or cost-effective.
Traffic building and conversion initiatives involve considerable expenditures for online, mobile and offline advertising and marketing. We may not have the working capital to fund such activities. To the extent that we have the working capital available, we plan to make significant expenditures for online and mobile display advertising, event-based marketing and traditional offline advertising in connection with these initiatives, which may not be successful or cost-effective. In the case of paid advertising generally, the policies of sellers and publishers of advertising may limit our ability to purchase certain types of advertising or advertise some of our products and services, which could affect our ability to compete effectively and, in turn, adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, search engines have increasingly expanded their offerings into other, non-search related categories, and have in certain instances displayed their own integrated or related product and service offerings in a more prominent manner than those of third parties within their search engine results. Continued expansion and competition from search engines could result in a substantial decrease in traffic to our various websites, as well as increased costs if we were to replace free traffic with paid traffic, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Lastly, as discussed above, we also have and will enter into various arrangements with third parties in an effort to increase traffic, which arrangements are generally more cost-effective than traditional marketing efforts. If we are unable to renew existing (and enter into new) arrangements of this nature, sales and marketing costs as a percentage of revenue would increase over the long-term.
Any failure to attract and acquire new, and retain existing, traffic, users and customers in a cost-effective manner could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely in part on application marketplaces and Internet search engines to drive traffic to our products and services, and if we fail to appear high up in the search results or rankings, traffic to our platform could decline and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
We rely on application marketplaces, such as Apple’s App Store, to drive downloads of our mobile applications. In the future, Apple or other operators of application marketplaces may make changes to their marketplaces which may make access to our products and services more difficult. Our rankings in Apple’s App Store may also drop based on the following factors:
• the size and diversity of our registered member and subscriber bases relative to those of our competitors;
• the functionality of our application and the attractiveness of their features and our services and offerings generally to consumers relative to those of our competitors;
• how quickly we can enhance our existing technology and services and/or develop new features and localized opportunities and venue based monetization opportunities in response to:
• new, emerging and rapidly changing technologies;
• the introduction of product and service offerings by our competitors;
• changes in consumer requirements and trends in the single community relative to our competitors; and
• our ability to engage in cost-effective marketing efforts, including by way of maintaining relationships with third parties with which we have entered into alliances, and the recognition and strength of our various brands relative to those of our competitors.
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A variety of new laws, or new interpretations of existing laws, could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws in the U.S. and abroad that are costly to comply with, can result in negative publicity and diversion of management time and effort and can subject us to claims or other remedies. Some of these laws, such as income, sales, use, value-added and other tax laws and consumer protection laws, are applicable to businesses generally and others are unique to the various types of businesses in which we are engaged. Many of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the internet and related technologies and, as a result, do not contemplate or address the unique issues of the internet and related technologies. Laws that do reference the internet are being interpreted by the courts, but their applicability and scope remain uncertain.
For example, through our various businesses we post and link to third party content, including third party advertisements, links and websites, as well as content submitted by users, such as comments, photographs and videos. We could be subject to liability for posting or linking to third party content, and while we generally require third parties to indemnify us for related claims, we may not be able to enforce our indemnification rights. Some laws, including the Communications Decency Act, or CDA, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, limit our liability for posting or linking to third party content. For example, the DMCA generally protects online service providers from claims of copyright infringement based on use of third party content, so long as certain statutory requirements are satisfied. However, the scope and applicability of the DMCA are subject to judicial interpretation and, as such, remain uncertain, and the U.S. Congress may enact legislation limiting the protections afforded by the DMCA to online service providers. Moreover, similar protections may not exist in other jurisdictions in which our products are used. As a result, claims could be threatened and filed under both U.S. and foreign laws based upon use of third party content asserting, among other things, defamation, invasion of privacy or right or publicity, copyright infringement or trademark infringement.
Any failure on our part to comply with applicable laws may subject us to additional liabilities, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if the laws to which we are currently subject are amended or interpreted adversely to our interests, or if new adverse laws are adopted, our products and services might need to be modified to comply with such laws, which would increase our costs and could result in decreased demand for our products and services to the extent that we pass on such costs to our customers. Specifically, in the case of tax laws, positions that we have taken or will take are subject to interpretation by the relevant taxing authorities. While we believe that the positions we have taken to date comply with applicable law, there can be no assurances that the relevant taxing authorities will not take a contrary position, and if so, that such positions will not adversely affect us. Any events of this nature could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties.
We regard our intellectual property rights, including trademarks, domain names, trade secrets, copyrights and other similar intellectual property, as critical to our success. For example, we have relied heavily on the trademark “Friendable” to market our product and seek to build and maintain brand loyalty and recognition. We intend to change the name of the Company and roll out a new brand, “Friendable”. To the extent that we have protectable intellectual property rights, we intend, in due course, subject to legal advice, to maintain and/or apply for trademark, copyright and/or patent protection in the United States and other jurisdictions. We regard our intellectual property, including our software and trademark, as valuable assets and intend to vigorously defend them against infringement. Effective trademark protection may not be available or may not be sought in every country in which products and services are made available and contractual disputes may affect the use of marks governed by private contract. We have reserved and registered certain domain names, however not every variation of a domain name may be available or be registered, even if available.
While there can be no assurance that registered trademarks and copyrights will protect our proprietary information, we intend to assert our intellectual property rights against any infringer. Although any assertion of our rights can result in a substantial cost to, and diversion of effort by, our Company, management believes that the protection of our intellectual property rights is a key component of our operating strategy.
Our application also relies upon trade secrets and certain copyrightable and patentable proprietary technologies relating to its software and related features, products and services.
We will rely on a combination of laws and contractual restrictions with employees, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others to establish and protect our various intellectual property rights. For example, we plan to apply to register and renew, or secure by contract where appropriate, trademarks and service marks as they are developed and used, and continue to reserve, register and renew domain names as we deem appropriate.
We also plan to apply for copyrights and patents or for other similar statutory protections as we deem appropriate, based on then
current facts and circumstances. No assurances can be given that any copyright or patent application we file will result in a copyright or patent being issued, or that any future copyright or patent will afford adequate protection against competitors and similar technologies. In addition, no assurances can be given that third parties will not create new products or methods that achieve similar results without infringing upon copyrights or patents we may own in the future.
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Despite these measures, our intellectual property rights may still not be protected in a meaningful manner, challenges to contractual rights could arise or third parties could copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property without authorization. The occurrence of any of these events could result in the erosion of our brands and limitations on our ability to control marketing on or through the internet using our various domain names, as well as impede our ability to effectively compete against competitors with similar technologies, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial conditions and results of operations.
From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including claims of alleged infringement of trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights held by third parties. In addition, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Patent litigation tends to be particularly protracted and expensive.
If we fail to grow our user base, or if user engagement or ad engagement on the platform declines, the revenue, business and operating results may be harmed.
The size of the user base and the users’ level of engagement are critical to our success. The financial performance has been and will continue to be significantly determined by success in growing the number of users and increasing their overall level of engagement on the platform as well as the number of ad engagements. We generate a substantial majority of our revenue based upon the number of downloads, migration to subscription accounts and engagement by the users with the ads that we display. If people do not perceive the services to be useful, reliable and trustworthy, we may not be able to attract users or increase the frequency of their engagement with the platform and the ads that we display. There is no guarantee that we will be successful in attracting more users or not suffer erosion of the user base or engagement levels. A number of factors could potentially negatively affect user growth and engagement, including if:
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users engage with other products, services or activities as an alternative;
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influential users, such as celebrities, athletes, journalists and brands or certain age demographics conclude that an alternative product or service is more relevant;
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we are unable to convince potential new users of the value and usefulness of its products and services;
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there is a decrease in the perceived quality of the content generated by our platform;
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we fail to introduce new and improved products or services or if we introduce new or improved products or services that are not favorably received or that negatively affect user engagement;
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technical or other problems prevent us from delivering our products or services in a rapid and reliable manner or otherwise affect the user experience;
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we are unable to present users with content that is interesting, useful and relevant to them;
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users believe that their experience is diminished as a result of the decisions we make with respect to the frequency, relevance and prominence of ads that we display;
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there are user concerns related to privacy and communication, safety, security or other factors;
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we become subject to hostile or inappropriate usage on our platform;
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there are adverse changes in our products or services that are mandated by, or that we elect to make to address, legislation, regulatory authorities or litigation, including settlements or consent decrees;
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we fail to provide adequate customer service to users; or
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we do not maintain our brand image or its reputation is damaged.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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If users do not continue to download and use our application and their engagement is not valuable to other users, we may experience a decline in the number of users accessing the products and services and user engagement, which could result in the loss of advertisers and revenue.
Our success depends on our ability to provide users with valuable content, which in turn depends on the profile descriptions and use of the app by others. We believe that one of our competitive advantages is the quality, quantity and real-time nature of the content on Friendable, and that access to unique or real-time content is one of the main reasons users visit us. We seek to foster a broad and engaged user community, and we encourage celebrities, athletes, and others to use our products and services to meet people and form relationships. If users do not continue to contribute profiles and we are unable to provide users with valuable and timely content or other people to engage with, our user base and user engagement may decline. Additionally, if we are not able to address user concerns regarding the safety and security of our products and services or if we are unable to successfully prevent abusive or other hostile behavior on the platform, the size of the user base and user engagement may decline.
If we are unable to compete effectively for users and advertiser spend, the business and operating results could be harmed.
Competition for users of its products and services is intense. Although we have developed a new platform for public self-expression and meeting people in real time, we face strong competition in this business. We compete against many companies to attract and engage users, including companies which have greater financial resources and substantially larger user bases, such as eHarmony, Match.com and others which offer a variety of Internet and mobile device-based products, services and content. As a result, competitors may acquire and engage users at the expense of the growth or engagement of our user base, which would negatively affect the business.
We believe that our ability to compete effectively for users depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:
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the popularity, usefulness, ease of use, performance and reliability of our products and services compared to those of our competitors;
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the amount, quality and timeliness of content generated by our users;
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the timing and market acceptance of our products and services;
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the adoption of our products and services internationally;
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its ability, and the ability of our competitors, to develop new products and services and enhancements to existing products and services;
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the frequency and relative prominence of the ads displayed by us or our competitors;
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our ability to establish and maintain relationships with platform partners that integrate with our platform;
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changes mandated by, or that we elect to make to address, legislation, regulatory authorities or litigation, including settlements and consent decrees, some of which may have a disproportionate effect on us;
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government action regulating competition;
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our ability to attract, retain and motivate talented employees, particularly engineers, designers and product managers;
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acquisitions or consolidation within our industry, which may result in more formidable competitors; and
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our reputation and the brand strength relative to our competitors.
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We also face significant competition for advertiser spend. We compete against online and mobile businesses, including those referenced above, and traditional media outlets, such as television, radio and print, for advertising budgets. In order to grow our revenue and improve our operating results, we must increase our share of spending on advertising relative to our competitors, many of which are larger companies that offer more traditional and widely accepted advertising products. In addition, some of our larger competitors have substantially broader product or service offerings and leverage their relationships based on other products or services to gain additional share of advertising budgets.
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We believe that our ability to compete effectively for advertiser spend depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:
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the size and composition of our user base relative to those of our competitors;
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our ad targeting capabilities, and those of our competitors;
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the timing and market acceptance of our advertising services, and those of our competitors;
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our marketing and selling efforts, and those of our competitors;
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the pricing for our products relative to the advertising products and services of our competitors;
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the return our advertisers receive from their advertising services, compared to those of our competitors; and
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our reputation and the strength of our brand relative to our competitors.
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If we are not able to compete effectively for users and advertiser spend our business and operating results would be materially and adversely affected.
User growth and engagement depend upon effective interoperation with operating systems, networks, and devices, that we do not control.
Currently, our application is available only on Apple’s iOS. We are dependent on the interoperability of our products and services with popular devices, and mobile operating systems that we do not control. Any changes in such systems or devices that degrade the functionality of our products and services or give preferential treatment to competitive products or services could adversely affect usage of our products and services. Further, if the number of platforms for which we develop our product expands, it will result in an increase in our operating expenses. In order to deliver high quality products and services, it is important that our products and services work with a range of operating systems and devices that we do not control. In addition, because our users access our products and services through mobile devices, we are particularly dependent on the interoperability of our products and services with mobile devices and operating systems. We may not be successful in developing or maintaining relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing products or services that operate effectively with these operating systems and devices. In the event that it is difficult for our users to access and use our products and services on their mobile devices, our user growth and engagement could be harmed, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
We have a limited operating history in a new and unproven market for our platform, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
We have developed a mobile app for public self-expression and meeting people in real time, and the market for our products and services is relatively new and may not develop as expected, if at all. People who are not our users may not understand the value of our products and services and new users may initially find our products confusing. Convincing potential new users of the value of our products and services is critical to increasing our user base and to the success of our business.
We have a limited operating history, and only began to generate revenue in 2014 which makes it difficult to effectively assess our future prospects or forecast future results. We encounter or may encounter many risks in this developing and rapidly evolving market. These risks and challenges include its ability to, among other things:
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increase its number of users and user engagement;
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successfully expand our business;
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develop a reliable, scalable, secure, high-performance technology infrastructure that can efficiently handle increased usage;
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convince advertisers of the benefits of our products compared to alternative forms of advertising;
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develop and deploy new features, products and services;
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successfully compete with other companies, some of which have substantially greater resources and market power than us, that are currently in, or may in the future enter, its industry, or duplicate the features of our products and services;
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attract, retain and motivate talented employees, particularly engineers, designers and product managers;
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process, store, protect and use personal data in compliance with governmental regulations, contractual obligations and other obligations related to privacy and security;
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continue to earn and preserve its users’ trust, including with respect to their private personal information; and
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defend ourselves against litigation, regulatory, intellectual property, privacy or other claims.
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If we fail to educate potential users and potential advertisers about the value of our products and services, if the market for our platform does not develop as we expect or if we fail to address the needs of this market, our business will be harmed. We may not be able to successfully address these risks and challenges or other unforeseen risks and challenges. Failure to adequately address these risks and challenges could harm our business and cause our operating results to suffer.
Our business depends on the continued and unimpeded access to our products and services on mobile devices by our users and advertisers. If we or our users experience disruptions in service or if mobile service providers are able to block, degrade or charge for access to our products and services, we could incur additional expenses and the loss of users and advertisers.
We depend on the ability of our users and advertisers to access mobile devices. Currently, this access is provided by companies that have significant market power in the broadband and telecommunications access marketplace, including incumbent telephone companies, cable companies, mobile communications companies, government-owned service providers, device manufacturers and operating system providers, any of whom could take actions that degrade, disrupt or increase the cost of user access to our products or services, which would, in turn, negatively impact our business. We also rely on other companies to maintain reliable communications network systems that provide adequate speed, data capacity and security to us and our users. As the number of mobile device users continues to grow, frequency of use and amount of data transmitted, the communications infrastructure that we and our users rely on may be unable to support the demands placed upon it. The failure of the mobile communications infrastructure that we and/or our users rely on, even for a short period of time, could undermine our operations and harm our operating results.
Abusive activities by certain users could diminish the user experience on our platform, which could damage our reputation and deter our current and potential users from using our products and services.
There are a range of abusive activities that are prohibited by the our terms of service and are generally defined as unsolicited, repeated actions that negatively impact other users with the general goal of drawing user attention to a given person, account, site, product or idea. This includes posting large numbers of unsolicited mentions of a user, duplicate outlets, misleading links (e.g., to malware or click-jacking pages) or other false or misleading content, and aggressively following and un-following accounts, adding users to lists, sending invitations to inappropriately attract attention. Our terms of service also prohibit the creation of serial or bulk accounts, both manually or using automation, for disruptive or abusive purposes. Although we continue to invest resources to reduce spam and other abusive behavior, we expect spammers and abusers will continue to seek ways to act inappropriately on our platform. We will continuously combat spam and other abusive behaviors, including by suspending or terminating accounts we believe to be spammers and launching algorithmic changes focused on curbing abusive activities. Combatting spam and other abusive behaviors require the diversion of significant time and focus of our engineering team from improving our products and services. If spam or abusive behavior increase, this could hurt our reputation for delivering relevant content or reduce user growth and user engagement and result in continuing operational cost to us.
If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business and operating results could be harmed.
If we experience rapid growth in our headcount and operations, it will place significant demands on our management, operational and financial infrastructure. We intend to continue to make substantial investments to expand our operations, research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative organizations. We face significant competition for employees, particularly engineers, designers and product managers, from other Internet and high-growth companies, which include both publicly-traded and privately-held companies, and we may not be able to hire new employees quickly enough to meet our needs. To attract highly skilled personnel, we will need to continue to offer, highly competitive compensation packages. As we continue to grow, we are subject to the risks of over-hiring, over-compensating our employees and over-expanding our operating infrastructure, and to the challenges of integrating, developing and motivating a rapidly growing employee base. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring needs and successfully integrate new hires, our efficiency and ability to meet our forecasts and our employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
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Our business and operating results may be harmed by a disruption in our service, or by our failure to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and infrastructure.
One of the reasons people use our platform is for real-time information and personal contact. We may, in the future, experience service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, hardware failure, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of people accessing our products and services simultaneously, computer viruses and denial of service or fraud or security attacks. Although we are investing significantly to improve the capacity, capability and reliability of our infrastructure, we are not currently serving traffic equally through the data centers that support our platform. Accordingly, in the event of a significant issue at the data center supporting most of our network traffic, some of our products and services may become inaccessible to the public or the public may experience difficulties accessing our products and services. Any disruption or failure in our infrastructure could hinder our ability to handle existing or increased traffic on our platform, which could significantly harm our business.
As the number of our users increases and our users generate more content, including photos and videos hosted by us, we may be required to expand and adapt our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably store, serve and analyze this content. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our products and services, especially during peak usage times, as our products and services become more complex and our user traffic increases. This would negatively impact our ability to attract users and advertisers and increase engagement of our users. We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve the capacity, capability and reliability of our infrastructure. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology and infrastructure to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be harmed.
If we are unable to maintain and promote our brand, our business and operating results may be harmed.
We believe that maintaining and promoting our brand is critical to expanding our base of users and advertisers. Maintaining and promoting our brand will depend largely on our ability to continue to raise capital as well as to provide useful, reliable and innovative products and services, which we may not do successfully. We may introduce new features, products, services or terms of service that users, platform partners or advertisers do not like, which may negatively affect our brand. Additionally, the actions of platform partners may affect our brand if users do not have a positive experience using third-party applications. Our brand may also be negatively affected by the actions of users that are hostile or inappropriate to other people, by users impersonating other people, by users identified as spam, by users introducing excessive amounts of spam on its platform or by third parties obtaining control over users’ accounts. Maintaining and enhancing our brand may require Friendable to make substantial investments and these investments may not achieve the desired goals. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
Negative publicity could adversely affect our business and operating results.
Negative publicity about us, including about our product quality and reliability, changes to our products and services, privacy and security practices, litigation, regulatory activity, the actions of our users or user experience with our products and services, even if inaccurate, could adversely affect our reputation and the confidence in and the use of our products and services. For example, service outages could result in widespread media reports. Such negative publicity could also have an adverse effect on the size, engagement and loyalty of our user base and result in decreased revenue, which could adversely affect our business and operating results.
We focus on product innovation and user engagement rather than short-term operating results.
We encourage employees to quickly develop and help us launch new and innovative features. We focus on improving the user experience for our products and services and on developing new and improved products and services for the advertisers on our platform. We prioritize innovation and the experience for users and advertisers on our platform over short-term operating results. We may make product and service decisions that may reduce our short-term operating results if we believe that the decisions are consistent with its goals to improve the user experience and performance for advertisers, which we believe will improve our operating results over the long term. These decisions may not be consistent with the short-term expectations and may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case our user growth and user engagement, our relationships with advertisers and our business and operating results could be harmed. In addition, our focus on the user experience may negatively impact our relationships with existing or prospective advertisers. This could result in a loss of advertisers, which could harm our revenue and operating results.
Our products and services may contain undetected software errors, which could harm our business and operating results.
Our products and services incorporate complex software and we encourage our employees to quickly develop and help us launch new and innovative features. Our software may now or in the future contain, errors, bugs or vulnerabilities. Some errors in the
software code may only be discovered after the product or service has been released. Any errors, bugs or vulnerabilities discovered in our code after release could result in damage to our reputation, loss of users, loss of platform partners, loss of advertisers or advertising revenue or liability for damages, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. laws and regulations. These laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to its business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations or declines in user growth, user engagement or ad engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States that involve matters central to our business, including privacy, rights of publicity, data protection, content regulation, intellectual property, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection and taxation. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and being tested in courts and could be interpreted or applied in ways that could harm our business, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate. The introduction of new products or services may subject us to additional laws and regulations. There have been a number of recent legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that would impose new obligations in areas such as privacy. The U.S. government, including the Federal Trade Commission, or the FTC, and the Department of Commerce, has announced that it is reviewing the need for greater regulation for the collection of information concerning user behavior on the Internet and over mobile devices, including regulation aimed at restricting certain tracking and targeted advertising practices.
Additionally, recent amendments to U.S. patent laws may affect the ability of companies to protect their innovations and defend against claims of patent infringement. Having personal information may subject us to additional regulation. Further, it is difficult to predict how existing laws and regulations will be applied to its business and the new laws and regulations to which we may become subject, and it is possible that they may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. These existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly to comply with and can delay or impede the development of new products and services, result in negative publicity, significantly increase our operating costs, require significant time and attention of management and technical personnel and subject us to inquiries or investigations, claims or other remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease existing business practices.
Even though our platform is for public self-expression conversation and personal interaction, user trust regarding privacy is important to the growth of users and the increase in user engagement on our platform, and privacy concerns relating to our products and services could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users and advertisers from using our products and services.
From time to time, concerns have been expressed by governments, regulators and others about whether mobile products, services or practices compromise the privacy of users and others. Concerns about, governmental or regulatory actions involving practices with regard to the collection, use, disclosure or security of personal information or other privacy-related matters, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation, cause us to lose users and advertisers and adversely affect our operating results. While we will strive to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations, as we strive to comply with our own posted privacy policies and other obligations we may have with respect to privacy and data protection, the failure or perceived failure to comply may result, in inquiries and other proceedings or actions against us by governments, regulators or others. These inquiries could result in negative publicity and damage to our reputation and brand, each of which could cause us to lose users and advertisers, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
Any systems failure or compromise of our security that results in the unauthorized access to or release of our users’ or advertisers’ data could significantly limit the adoption of our products and services and cause harm to our reputation and brand and, therefore, our business. We expect to continue to expend significant resources to protect against security breaches. The risk that these types of events could seriously harm our business is likely to increase as we expand the number of products and services we offer, increase the size of our user base and operate in other countries.
If our security measures are breached, or if our products and services are subject to attacks that degrade or deny the ability of users to access our products and services, our products and services may be perceived as not being secure, users and advertisers may curtail or stop using our products and services and our business and operating results could be harmed.
Our products and services involve the storage and transmission of users’ and advertisers’ information, and security breaches expose us to a risk of loss of this information, litigation and potential liability. We may experience cyber-attacks of varying degrees, and as a result, unauthorized parties may obtain, and may in the future obtain, access to its data or its users’ or advertisers’ data. Our security measures may also be breached due to employee error, malfeasance or otherwise. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees, users or advertisers to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our data or our users’ or advertisers’ data or accounts, or may otherwise obtain access to such data or accounts. Since our users and advertisers may use their accounts to establish and maintain online identities, unauthorized communications from our accounts that have been compromised may damage their reputations. Any such breach or unauthorized access could result in significant legal and financial exposure, damage to our reputation and a loss of confidence in the security of our products and services that could have an adverse effect on our business and operating results. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. If an actual or perceived breach of security occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed, we
could lose users and advertisers and we may incur significant legal and financial exposure, including legal claims and regulatory fines and penalties. Any of these actions could have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation and operating results.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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We depend on highly skilled personnel to grow and operate our business, and if we are unable to hire, retain and motivate its personnel, we may not be able to grow effectively.
Our future success will depend upon our continued ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel, including senior management, engineers, designers and product managers. Our ability to execute efficiently is dependent upon contributions from our employees, in particular our senior management team. We do not maintain key person life insurance for any employee. In addition, from time to time, there may be changes in our senior management team that may be disruptive to our business. If our senior management team, including any new hires that we may make, fails to work together effectively and to execute our plans and strategies on a timely basis, our business could be harmed. Our growth strategy also depends on our ability to expand our organization with highly skilled personnel. Identifying, recruiting, training and integrating qualified individuals will require significant time, expense and attention. Competition for highly skilled personnel is intense, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters is located. We may need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity to attract and retain new employees and we may never realize returns on these investments. If we are not able to effectively add and retain employees, our ability to achieve our strategic objectives will be adversely impacted, and our business will be harmed.
Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fire, power outages, floods and other catastrophic events, and to interruption by man-made problems such as terrorism.
A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, flood or significant power outage could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Our headquarters is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems at our data centers could result in lengthy interruptions in our services. In addition, acts of terrorism and other geo-political unrest could cause disruptions in our business. All of the aforementioned risks may be further increased if our disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate. We have a disaster recovery program, which allows us to move production to a back-up data center in the event of a catastrophe. Although this program is functional, we do not currently serve network traffic equally from each data center, so if our primary data center shuts down, there will be a period of time that our products or services, or certain of our products or services, will remain inaccessible to our users or our users may experience severe issues accessing our products and services. We do not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to compensate us for the potentially significant losses, including the potential harm to our business that may result from interruptions in our ability to provide our products and services.
Risks Related to Our Company
Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano, as our directors and officers, own a significant percentage of the voting power of our stock and will be able to exercise significant influence and control over the matters subject to stockholder approval and our operations.
Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano
may be deemed to own (directly and/or beneficially) 95% of our Series A preferred stock. As of May, 2016, the following entities and individuals own the following shares of our Series A preferred stock:
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Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano each own 2,256 shares;
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Copper Creek Holdings, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company owned and managed by Robert Rositano and his wife Stacy Rositano, owns 15,581 shares;
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Checkmate Mobile, Inc., a Delaware corporation, owns 613 shares - Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano are 14.1% and 13.6% stockholders respectively and serve as officers and directors of Checkmate Mobile, Inc.
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The holders of preferred stock are entitled to cast votes equal to nine (9) times the total number of shares of common stock which are issued and outstanding, voting together with the holders of common stock as a single class. Such Series A Preferred Stock shall also be convertible into the number of shares of common stock which equals nine (9) times the total number of shares of common stock which are issued and outstanding at the time of conversion until the closing of a Qualified Financing (i.e. the sale and issuance of our equity securities that results in gross proceeds in excess of $2,500,000).
As a result of the transaction, the former iHookup stockholders received a controlling interest in the Company. As a result of Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano’s
ownership interests and voting power described above, Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano
currently are in a position to influence and control, subject to our organizational documents and Nevada law, the composition of our Board of Directors and the outcome of corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, such as mergers, business combinations and dispositions of assets, among other corporate transactions. In addition, this concentration of voting power could discourage others from initiating a potential merger, takeover or other change of control transaction that may otherwise be beneficial to the Company, which could adversely affect the market price of our securities.
If we are unable to pay the convertible promissory notes when obligations become due, the note holders may take proceedings under terms of default.
In the event of default under terms in the convertible promissory notes, the note holder may enforce remedies including acceleration of payment in full plus interest and other charges, and an increase in interest rates of up to 24% when allowable by law.
Our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are not effective, which may cause our financial reporting to be unreliable and lead to misinformation being disseminated to the public.
Our management evaluated our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2016 and concluded that as of those dates, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective. The ineffectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures was due to (i) inadequate segregation of duties and ineffective risk assessment; and (ii) insufficient written policies and procedures for accounting and financial reporting with respect to the requirements and application of both US GAAP and SEC guidelines.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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As of the date of this annual report on Form 10-Q, we believe that these material weaknesses continue to exist and our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are not effective. If such material weakness and ineffective controls are not promptly corrected in the future, our ability to report quarterly and annual financial results or other information required to be disclosed on a timely and accurate basis may be adversely affected. Also such material weakness and ineffective controls could cause our financial reporting to be unreliable and lead to misinformation being disseminated to the public. Investors relying upon this misinformation may make an uninformed investment decision.
We have a limited operating history on which to base an evaluation of our business and prospects.
We have a short operating history, which limits our ability to forecast our future operating results and subjects us to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and model future growth. We have encountered and will continue to encounter risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in developing industries. If our assumptions regarding these uncertainties, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change in reaction to changes in our markets, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations and our business could suffer.
Risks Associated with Our Common Stock
Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano, as our directors and officers, own a significant percentage of the voting power of our stock and will be able to exercise significant influence and control over the matters subject to stockholder approval and our operations.
Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano
may be deemed to own (directly and/or beneficially) 95% of our Series A preferred stock. As of May, 2016, the following entities and individuals own the following shares of our Series A preferred stock:
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Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano each own 2,256 shares;
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Copper Creek Holdings, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company owned and managed by Robert Rositano and his wife Stacy Rositano, owns 15,581 shares;
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Checkmate Mobile, Inc., a Delaware corporation, owns 613 shares - Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano are 14.1% and 13.6% stockholders respectively and serve as officers and directors of Checkmate Mobile, Inc.
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The holders of preferred stock are entitled to cast votes equal to nine (9) times the total number of shares of common stock which are issued and outstanding, voting together with the holders of common stock as a single class. Such Series A Preferred Stock shall also be convertible into the number of shares of common stock which equals nine (9) times the total number of shares of common stock which are issued and outstanding at the time of conversion until the closing of a Qualified Financing (i.e. the sale and issuance of our equity securities that results in gross proceeds in excess of $2,500,000).
As a result of the transaction, the former iHookup stockholders received a controlling interest in the Company. As a result of Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano’s
ownership interests and voting power described above, Messrs. Dean and Robert Rositano
currently are in a position to influence and control, subject to our organizational documents and Nevada law, the composition of our Board of Directors and the outcome of corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, such as mergers, business combinations and dispositions of assets, among other corporate transactions. In addition, this concentration of voting power could discourage others from initiating a potential merger, takeover or other change of control transaction that may otherwise be beneficial to the Company, which could adversely affect the market price of our securities.
If we issue additional shares in the future, it will result in the dilution of our existing shareholders.
As of March 31, 2016, our articles of incorporation authorize the issuance of up to 10,000,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Our board of directors may choose to issue some or all of such shares to acquire one or more companies or properties and to fund our overhead and general operating requirements. The issuance of any such shares will reduce the book value per share and may contribute to a reduction in the market price of the outstanding shares of our common stock. If we issue any such additional shares, such issuance will reduce the proportionate ownership and voting power of all current shareholders. Further, such issuance may result in a change of control of our corporation.
The price of our common stock may be negatively impacted by factors which are unrelated to our operations.
The market price of our common stock could fluctuate substantially due to a variety of factors, including market perception of our ability to achieve our planned growth, quarterly operating results of our competitors, trading volume in our common stock, short sales, changes in general conditions in the economy and the financial markets or other developments affecting our competitors or us. In addition, the stock market is subject to extreme price and volume fluctuations. This volatility has had a significant effect on the market price of securities issued by many companies for reasons unrelated to their operating performance and could have the same effect on our common stock.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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We do not intend to pay cash dividends on any investment in the shares of stock of our company.
We have never paid any cash dividends and currently do not intend to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Because we do not intend to declare cash dividends, any gain on an investment in our company will need to come through an increase in the stock’s price. This may never happen and investors may lose all of their investment in our company.
Trading of our stock is restricted by the Securities Exchange Commission’s penny stock regulations, which may limit a stockholder’s ability to buy and sell our common stock.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted regulations which generally define “penny stock” to be any equity security that has a market price (as defined) less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. Our securities are covered by the penny stock rules, which impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell to persons other than established customers and “accredited investors”. The term “accredited investor” refers generally to institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000 or $300,000 jointly with their spouse. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document in a form prepared by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. The bid and offer quotations, and the broker-dealer and salesperson compensation information, must be given to the customer orally or in writing prior to effecting the transaction and must be given to the customer in writing before or with the customer’s confirmation. In addition, the penny stock rules require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from these rules, the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for the stock that is subject to these penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common stock.
FINRA sales practice requirements may also limit a stockholder’s ability to buy and sell our stock.
In addition to the “penny stock” rules described above, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (known as “FINRA”) has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy and sell our stock and have an adverse effect on the market for our shares.
Our stock price has been volatile and your investment could lose value.
The trading price of our common stock has been volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations due to various factors. The conversion of certain convertible notes at steep discounts, timing of announcements in the public market regarding new products, product enhancements or technological advances by us or our competitors, and any announcements by us or our competitors of acquisitions, major transactions or management changes could also affect our stock price. Our stock price is subject to speculation in the press and the analyst community, changes in recommendations or earnings estimates by financial analysts, changes in investors’ or analysts’ valuation measures for our stock and market trends unrelated to our performance. A significant drop in our stock price could also expose us to the risk of securities class action lawsuits, which could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business. Moreover, if the per share trading price of our common stock declines significantly, you may be unable to resell your shares at or above the public offering price. We cannot assure you that the per share trading price of our common stock will not fluctuate or decline significantly in the future.
The trading price of our common stock has been low, and the sale of a substantial number of shares in the public market could depress the price of our common stock.
Our common stock is traded on the OTC Pink Sheets and historically has had a low average daily trading price relative to many other stocks. Thinly traded stocks can have more price volatility than stocks trading in an active public market, which can lead to significant price swings even when a relatively small number of shares are being traded, and can limit an investor’s ability to quickly sell blocks of stock. If there continues to be low average daily trading volume or price in our common stock investors may be unable to quickly liquidate their investments or at prices investors consider to be adequate.
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Because our common stock is quoted and traded on the OTC Pink Sheets, short selling could increase the volatility of our stock price.
Short selling occurs when a person sells shares of stock which the person does not yet own and promises to buy stock in the future to cover the sale. The general objective of the person selling the shares short is to make a profit by buying the shares later, at a lower price, to cover the sale. Significant amounts of short selling, or the perception that a significant amount of short sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock. In contrast, purchases to cover a short position may have the effect of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of our common stock, and together with the imposition of the penalty bid, may stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the market price of our common stock. As a result, the price of our common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If these activities are commenced, they may be discontinued at any time. These transactions may be effected on the OTC Pink Sheets or any other available markets or exchanges. Such short selling if it were to occur could impact the value of our stock in an extreme and volatile manner to the detriment of our shareholders.
Risks Relating to the Early Stage of our Company and Ability to Raise Capital
We are at a very early stage and our success is subject to the substantial risks inherent in the establishment of a new business venture.
The implementation of our business strategy is in a very early stage and subject to all of the risks inherent in the establishment of a new business venture. Accordingly, our intended business and prospective operations may not prove to be successful in the near future, if at all. Any future success that we might enjoy will depend upon many factors, many of which are beyond our control, or which cannot be predicted at this time, and which could have a material adverse effect upon our financial condition, business prospects and operations and the value of an investment in our company.
We expect to suffer continued operating losses and we may not be able to achieve profitability.
We expect to continue to incur significant development and marketing expenses in the foreseeable future related to the launch and commercialization of our products and services. As a result, we will be sustaining substantial operating and net losses, and it is possible that we will never be able to achieve profitability.
We may have difficulty raising additional capital, which could deprive us of necessary resources.
In order to support the initiatives envisioned in our business plan, we will need to raise additional funds through public or private debt or equity financing, collaborative relationships or other arrangements. Our ability to raise additional financing depends on many factors beyond our control, including the state of the capital markets, the market price of our common stock, and the development of competitive projects by others. Because our common stock is not listed on a major stock market, many investors may not be willing or allowed to purchase our common shares or may demand steep discounts. Sufficient additional financing may not be available to us or may be available only on terms that would result in further dilution to the current owners of our common stock.
During the year ended December 31, 2015, we received $1,331,170 in convertible note financing. During the quarter ended March 31, 2016, we received $450,000 in convertible note financing. However, we do not have any firm commitments for funding beyond this recent financing. If we are unsuccessful in raising additional capital, or the terms of raising such capital are unacceptable, we may have to modify our business plan and/or significantly curtail our planned activities. If we are successful raising additional capital through the issuance of additional equity, our investor’s interests will be diluted.
There are substantial doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern and if we are unable to continue our business, our shares may have little or no value.
Our ability to become a profitable operating company is dependent upon our ability to generate revenues and/or obtain financing adequate to implement our business plan. Achieving a level of revenues adequate to support our cost structure has raised doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern. We plan to attempt to raise additional equity capital by issuing shares and, if necessary through one or more private placement or public offerings, and via the securities purchase agreement/equity line financing. However, the doubts raised relating to our ability to continue as a going concern may make our shares an unattractive investment for potential investors. These factors, among others, may make it difficult to raise any additional capital.
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Failure to effectively manage our growth could place additional strains on our managerial, operational and financial resources and could adversely affect our business and prospective operating results.
Our anticipated growth is expected to continue to place a strain on our managerial, operational and financial resources. Further, as we expand our user and advertiser base, we will be required to manage multiple relationships. Any further growth by us, or an increase in the number of our strategic relationships will increase this strain on our managerial, operational and financial resources. This strain may inhibit our ability to achieve the rapid execution necessary to implement our business plan, and could have a material adverse effect upon our financial condition, business prospects and prospective operations and the value of an investment in our company.