Originally Posted by
linberl
I can't find anything that indicates whether investors get a dividend or other remuneration....
There are a lot of details in the "offering" document. Expect no dividends.
Originally Posted by
Flimbs
American investors only.
I'm not familiar with the legal restrictions. But I gather that's the hurdle.
Originally Posted by
bargainguy
It looks like you are getting non-voting stock. At the $1000 investment and higher, you get a future discount on all BF products, from 5% to 15%. But how many Bike Fridays are you going to purchase for your own use in a lifetime? Most folks would be happy with one or two. I have close to a dozen, but the vast majority of those were purchased used, no way could I have afforded to purchase those new.
It sounds like the company is cash poor, and looking for investors to beef up their product offerings, expand the dealer network, etc. The fact that the PakIt and the HaulADay were Kickstarter offerings tells you the company didn't have enough working capital to build these models outside a crowdfunding environment.
They're in a tough situation. Too small to penetrate the mainstream market, and not enough capital to really expand where they want to. I've visited the factory in Eugene, and I can't imagine large-scale production going on there. If they started offering ready-built bikes in other markets, they risk diluting their brand centerpiece of a custom build for every person. I know they employ lean production technique like Toyota, so even having enough parts stock on hand is probably a challenge. It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
I agree with a lot of your comment.
What I recall from the offering is that they're producing at 25% capacity on an annual basis. They want more capital to produce more during the winter and sell the built up stock during the year. They explicitly say that there are sales that they lose due to capacity constraints and the delay in delivery date. They also expect meaningful returns to scale from increasing output.