montecristo

Sounds like solid forward progress on McGuffin. Kudos! So I'm wondering how one becomes an investor in this project... I may have some cash to gamble with.

Thanks for the congratulations! To hear the lawyer Craig and our "funding scrounger" Tom, talk though, we are a bit further out than I thought, but also better situated than I thought, if that makes any sense. What they have been telling us is that we need to get the patent lawyer to agree to devote resources to the filing effort, once we have proof of concept, and to hold off on doing any more than that until we are actually closer to being able to file. There is currently a pile of design, build, and test work to be done on the prototypes before we are there yet, as much as Robert, Don, and I would love to be able to have the resources that would allow us to devote much more time to this project than we currently are. Things are still too speculative, as yet, for comfort or celebration, even though the potential payoff is impressive, if we can make it to there.

We're still figuring out what it's going to take to get us from our current experiments to the point where we have something patentable. Craig says more shut-up until we have more put-up. Tom says we need a plan of operation and a clear picture of what we are going to need and how we're going to utilize those resources before he can talk to anybody about money, although he is very enthusiastic and has "put out some feelers". We know what we'd like to do to get us there, but until we have more of a handle on exactly what we need to get us there, and how to organize those resources toward that end, the money is not going to do us any good, in fact, it would probably be problematical. It is those questions to which we are devoting a significant amount of time, even at the cost of technical issues to which we could otherwise be addressing our talents.

To answer your question, I am not sure what it takes to become an investor in this project, even though I am very anxious to get people involved in it, because it represents something exciting in which to be involved, and because it represents an opportunity I am eager to share with friends as well. Nevertheless, I'm in for a cut of the action because of my useful technical knowledge, a modest cachet of talent for writing clearly, my ability to analyze and partition problems, and a devotion of time and energy to making this project happen; not my business financing skills, and not because I have made any significant funding contribution. Just today we got the tutorial on how the stocks and financing need to work and how such things are typically structured -- and my brains are bursting with stuff I did not know until now. In short, I learned that we are not yet in the position of being able to sell shares for operating capital.

I am honored that you, and a couple of other intrigued friends, believe enough in whatever character and talent I have shown on these pages to be curious and allow my undeniable enthusiasm for this project to move you to inquire about participating, but at this point, none of us have enough of a handle on what we need to make it successful to be bringing anyone else in. When that changes, and it is changing, I'll let you know if there is any way for you to participate, if you're inclined, once I am able to discuss it a bit more openly than I am at present. Thanks for the encouragement though, there's a lot of hard work yet to be done and I appreciate it!