update from Ben7 Sep 2016 15:03
Hi
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We have some positive news. Last Friday I met with Shard and had a very productive few hours with them. We spent the first half of the meeting confirming the details of the specification for the relaunch of the App. We spent the second half of the meeting discussing commercialising the App.
I walked away from the meeting with Shard feeling more positive about the App than I have throughout this process.
Shard and Teathers have reached agreement on a number of items including the specification for the App, a protocol for marketing the App (I'll share more details once I have had time to think through the ideas and put them on paper), confirmation of a number of operational processes and a new financial deal to help ensure Teathers can afford to launch the App.
I proposed to Shard that Teathers would keep the first £32,000 of revenue generated by the App to help us cover the costs we have been quoted for development. In my previous email I said our budget is £40,000, but that includes a contingency in the event of any unforeseen issues.
I am very pleased to say that Shard has kindly agreed to this new revenue arrangement. Shard didn't have to agree to this and it bodes well for our working relationship that they've allowed this change of terms. We will revert to the original agreement after Teathers has recouped the £32,000. As previously mentioned in a previous email we aren't going to reveal the precise terms of the agreement to preserve commercial confidentiality, but suffice it to say David, Stuart and I are happy with the terms. At the very least, under the new arrangement we have managed the company's risk well.
Separately we have reached terms with a number of Teathers' creditors and have secured some significant savings on the company's outstanding liabilities. There were a number of very large liabilities, which were not on the company's balance sheet which Nilesh Jagatia gave us in early July. We also remain in discussion with the former directors and hope to have some movement there next week. We will provide full details of this in the report we have promised. Since they are going well, we have decided to complete the various discussions with creditors prior to issuing the report.
With respect to the App, Tactu has started the Parse migration and will move straight onto the development of the new features once this is complete.
At this stage we are one course to relaunch the App in the middle of October. There is a lot to prepare for this and my next update will include information about our plans for marketing the App. We have a number of ideas that play to our strengths and experience, which we believe could prove to be effective in the market.