While I know this isn't relevant to the story, I have to ask: Who does the graphic art for IPVM? That rendering of Mr. Odess is spot on.
I would like to use the same firm for my own work.
Latch Lays Off 130, Promotes Lee Odess
Published May 24, 2022 12:23 PM
PUBLIC - This article does not require an IPVM subscription. Feel free to share.
Just two weeks ago IPVM Research analyzed how Latch's business model was broken and how layoffs were likely.
Now, over 100 have been laid off and Latch has promoted Lee Odess but IPVM analyzes, in this post, that Odess' expertise is the wrong fit for the problems Latch faces.
Background
Less than a year ago (June 2021), Latch went public (via SPAC) raising $453 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. At that time, Latch generated great excitement about its projected high growth rate, including telling investors that they would more than triple revenue in 2022.
The essential thesis, at that time, was that they had an incredible opportunity to sell access control to traditionally underserved multifamily properties. Latch would accumulate a few hundred million in losses for the opportunity to massively grow revenue and become a nearly billion-dollar annual revenue company by 2025.
Wrong Thesis
Less than a year later, the thesis has clearly been proven wrong. Losses are way higher and revenue has been way lower. In particular:
- Latch is selling hardware at a significantly lower price than its cost.
- Most of Latch's revenue is from hardware (see above).
- Latch is generating relatively little software / high margin recurring revenue especially compared to its losses on hardware and from its high overhead.
In a series of IPVM research reports, we have analyzed this in depth: -30% Latch Hardware Gross Profit Margins, Latch's Broken Business Model Analyzed, and Latch Struggles To Add Spaces.
Layoffs
On Friday, Latch quietly disclosed (and not on its website) heavy layoffs:
The reduction impacts approximately 130 people, or approximately 28% of Latch’s full-time employees. Once fully implemented, Latch expects to achieve approximately $40 million annual run rate cost savings across research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses
For context, that's an effective cost of $307,000 per employee cut (i.e., $40 million annual run rate / 130 people).
Latch did not break down cuts across business groups but various sources close to the company estimate that most of the sales team has been laid off.
Moreover, of the 9 executives shown on Latch's about page earlier this year, only 3 are still shown:
As we reported less than 2 months ago, Latch's CFO is out, and its COO was removed as an executive officer.
High Overhead Remains
The cost savings from laying off nearly a third of its employees only reduces overhead ~25% and still has annual overhead costs of $100+ million per year (based on Q1 2022's $50 million in G&A, R&D, and sales and marketing spending). By contrast, the company ended Q1 2022 with under $8 million in ARR.
Odess Promotion
The same disclosure includes the Odess promotion:
the Company is announcing the reorganization of the sales and marketing departments under the leadership of Lee Odess
Odess' LinkedIn profile now lists him as Senior Vice President, Business and Operations, as the excerpt below shows:
Odess joined Latch in 2021. Latch's Angela Maglione, at that time, told IPVM, via email that:
Latch acquired the strategic assets of Group337 as part of an acqui-hire deal with Lee Odess and his team of industry experts.
While the Group337 website has expired, an archived version of the site shows that Group337 aimed to "help companies and brands achieve exponential growth", which is what Latch wants to do.
Disclosure: Odess Conflict With IPVM
As a point of disclosure, Odess aimed to compete with IPVM, declaring that there would be "an army of people working overtime" against IPVM and speculating about "demons" and "hurting". Odess never effectively competed against IPVM in the under 2 years Group337 existed before being acquihired by Latch.
Bad Fit Odess And Latch's Needs
While Latch needs execution (specifically immediate revenue growth), Odess' strengths and focus, as he regularly describes, are in storytelling and networking (e.g., see this SIA interview with Odess).
Latch already is great in storytelling (i.e., the Amish farm boy turned Apple manager will be a great CEO of a great company like Steve Jobs). That they were able to raise nearly a half-billion dollars with a business model that was shown to be so fundamentally unstable so soon is a testament to that.
For example, last week, while nearly a third of Odess' co-workers were being laid off, Odess was at a Parks Associates conference. This week, his first full one in charge of sales and marketing, Odess is in the Czech Republic speaking with Nedap about the future of access control.
While there is value in networking and speaking at events, what Latch needs is leadership focused on maximizing revenue growth.
Latch's core problem is that its revenue is so anemic compared to the company's massive cost structure, even after these layoffs. Telling stories or networking will do little to solve this.
Hard To Rebound From Layoffs
Cutting nearly a third of a company's staff so quickly is hard to rebound from as it changes the narrative from a "rocketship" to a company struggling not to crash, impacting the perception of remaining employees, those that might consider working at the company, and prospective customes. For example, Latch has more than a dozen highly negative reviews on Glassdoor so far this month.
Even if Latch brought in someone laser-focused on increasing short-term revenue, it would be challenging given the circumstances.
Positive - $300+ Million In Cash
On the positive side, Latch has $300+ million in cash at hand so it does not have any immediate bankruptcy or other existential risk.
However, last quarter, the company burned through $40+ million in cash, with these cuts only projected to reduce that burn rate by ~$10 million per quarter. So, if Latch has a $30 million quarterly burn rate, the company has enough cash for ~2.5 years. How long or not cash will last depends on various decisions Latch may make over the next year.
SmartRent Comparison
While Latch has received far more positive (and more recently negative) coverage than its direct publicly traded rival SmartRent, SmartRent's key financial metrics are generally much stronger than Latch. This is a sign that the market itself is not flawed or inviable but that Latch's execution has been a problem.
Can Latch Significantly Grow Revenue?
The key issue we see is whether Latch can significantly grow revenue. Cutting costs helps in the short term by reducing the burn rate (at the obvious expense of internal and external problems from such a drastic move) but the burn rate remains very high and losing money on hardware sales remains significant. If Latch can show significant progress there (though they told investors this month they do not expect acceleration rest of this year), Latch may pull through.
CEO Out Projected
The more likely outcome is that the board brings in a new CEO (and SVP) by the end of 2023 experienced in growing sales rather than stories.
Comments (90)
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
May 24, 2022JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2022Lol thanks. We have our own dedicated team since we publish so much. I don't know much about graphic design firms.
U
Undisclosed #2
May 24, 2022According to the latest quarterly 10-K SEC filing, Latch only has $91M cash on hand as of March 31st, 2022. The bulk is "available for sale securities." I'm not entirely clear how available that cash actually is at the current share price -- any idea?
JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2022They and I are counting marketable securities they own as cash equivalents.
JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2022I'm not entirely clear how available that cash actually is at the current share price -- any idea?
Pretty available, per Latch's explanation:
The Company’s investments in marketable securities are classified and accounted for as available-for-sale and consist of high quality asset backedsecurities, commercial paper, corporate bonds and U.S. government agency debt securities. The Company’s marketable securities with remainingeffective maturities of 12 months or less from the balance sheet date are classified as current; otherwise, they are classified as non-current on thecondensed consolidated balance sheets.
No cryptocurrencies I imagine :)
As for Q1, they had $172 million in current marketable securities (that is maturity less than a year away) and $71 million in maturities more than a year away (though they likely could sell them quickly if they needed without much risk).
Btw, Latch also could theoretically buy back their own shares (given they are down 75%+) and this was asked on the most recent investor's call (though given Latch's structural risks that strikes me as being an imprudent tactic).
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
May 24, 2022A fool and his money.......
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
May 24, 2022JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2022Update: Lee Odess has now blocked IPVM's Twitter account from following him:
UE
Undisclosed End User #7
May 25, 2022Definition of a Douche Canoe
douche ca·noenounDEROGATORY•INFORMAL
- an obnoxious or contemptible person (typically used of a man)."I have a hard time writing about the music I'm listening to without sounding like a pretentious douche canoe"
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #5
May 24, 2022Very interesting analysis. It is also very interesting how Latch posted in their quiet press release last Friday that according to Latch “ Odess is a proven leader in the industry with nearly 20 years of experience driving sales growth, product innovation, and geographic expansion for leading companies in the smart access and security space.”
Upon examination of Odess’ published Linkedin profile he was co-owner of a confection company from 2008 to 2011 and founder of a small lighting control contractor from 2009 to 2012. His industry experience appears to have not started until 2012.
Latch’s math seems to be incorrect when it comes to Odess. 20 years of experience would have been 2002. This is very misleading to the shareholders and really causes concern regarding the ability of management to lead the company through such a challenging time.
Additionally, your comment “For example, last week, while nearly a third of Odess' co-workers were being laid off, Odess was at a Parks Associates conference. This week, his first full one in charge of sales and marketing, Odess is in the Czech Republic speaking with Nedap about the future of access control. While there is value in networking and speaking at events, what Latch needs is leadership focused on maximizing revenue growth.” Is spot on.
Your prediction of the board bringing in a new CEO and SVP by year end is also spot on. With any luck for the shareholders, hopefully before year end.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
May 24, 2022..... according to Latch “ Odess is a proven leader in the industry with nearly 20 years of experience .... in the smart access and security space.” ...His industry experience appears to have not started until 2012
Indicative of what seems to be our culture today of embellishing each other's accomplishments and obsessive need for actualization and praise.
This is very misleading to the shareholders
Good point. That might be a case of where the obsessive need to embellish might get them in trouble.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
May 24, 2022How in the world did this guy get this job? This looks worse than incompetent.
JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2022Latch's stock was down 10% today and now trades for less than the amount of cash it has in the bank:
In the past 6 months, Latch stock is down ~75%:
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
May 25, 2022I’m sure the board will toss around Lee’s well known brand and success history to regain the lost footing. Without a large sales force originally forecast into the growth he should be able to do this without them getting in the way.
Just ask him!
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #8
May 25, 2022“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit”
the Lee odess way. Looking forward to the follow up post in 6-12 months of his departure.
JH
John Honovich
Oct 04, 2022Looking forward to the follow up post in 6-12 months of his departure.
This guy got it right, sort of, but he was too optimistic.
U
Undisclosed #9
May 25, 2022
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #10
May 25, 2022
MR
Malcolm Rutherford
May 25, 2022Ouch! Although, to be fair, all of the volatility has been removed from the stock price.....
JH
John Honovich
May 25, 2022new all time low today:
It's fair to say investors are not yet confident in Latch turning things around, though they have enough cash that they have the opportunity to deliver better numbers later this year. Will they?
MR
Malcolm Rutherford
May 25, 2022Based upon current market volatility, especially surrounding "growth" stocks, it may be a little early to definitively say. But, when market sentiment turns against you... they are lucky they have cash, because lack of cash kills you quick.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
May 25, 2022Agreed. The market is broadly getting hit hard, even good companies. But times like this also exposes the weakest of the herd for all to see, culling those that are overvalued.
JH
John Honovich
May 26, 2022Yesterday someone who claims to be an insider sent an email to over 50+ people, including key investors, customers, partners of Latch (plus our tips email), partial screencap below:
Besides the claims made what is interesting is that someone who evidently has real knowledge about Latch took the time to email all these people. There is a lot of hostility with / against Latch right now.
The last comparable layoff in this industry was Anyvision (see Anyvision Layoffs) and some were mad but the anger here is a lot higher.
One interesting question the person poses is:
Ask Lee how he plans to close out Q2 without any real sales people
I guess we will all see the answer soon enough as the quarter ends in just over a month. My gut though is that Q3 and Q4 will be tougher because half the quarter was done before this and presumably already booked deals are being deployed now but what happens with building the pipeline for the rest of this year and next?
Btw, any ex-Latch employees that want to talk, contact me confidentially john@ipvm.com (I've already talked to a number but am interested in hearing from more).
U
Undisclosed #9
May 26, 2022I had to blow up that pic to read it...
whomever sent this email references WeWork as a comparison to Latch - in both the subject line and in comments.
beyond just being mad that they (maybe) were laid off - this person is positing that Latch doesn't even have an actual working product - a la Theranos.
JH
John Honovich
May 26, 2022WeWork is fundamentally different than Theranos, and the emailer did not compare Latch to Theranos.
Theranos resulted in a criminal conviction of the founder, WeWork resulted in the founder being ousted and its valuation falling some 90% (peak $47 billion to today's ~$5 billion) but no criminal charges.
U
Undisclosed #9
May 26, 2022WeWork is fundamentally different than Theranos, and the emailer did not compare Latch to Theranos.
true and true
emailers words:
"you need to know we don't sell real products. It's broken. It doesn't work. Talk to real salespeople about LatchOS2. News flash: We've never heard of it. The LOIs are fake news. We were getting paid on promises not sales."
the emailer didn't compare Latch to Theranos - I did... based on the emailers words above.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #11
May 26, 2022I know someone who was laid off and unfortunately for that person being able to make the same amount of money they were being paid is going to be really tough.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #12
May 26, 2022From my experience of more than 30 years in a variety of manufacturing and tech businesses, battlefield promotions and/or newly appointed commanders of sinking ships typically incur a personal resume bump, but the organizations fail to realize any ROI.
If a resurrection does occur, kudos to the remaining team.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #13
May 26, 2022I have "no horse in the race" yet suspect the core issues pre-date Lee Odess.
The odd way they calculated data for their financials has seemed suspect since the start.
I guess the question is was that ignorance or borderline fraud on the part of the original board?
JH
John Honovich
May 26, 2022For sure, the business model and its problems pre-date Lee Odess.
It strikes me that they suffered from irrational exuberance.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
May 26, 2022JH
John Honovich
May 29, 2022Lee Odess is back on LinkedIn (a month ago he said he was leaving) and he has posted the following, that a few people forwarded to me saying was about this post:
I interpret this as Odess feeling he is being judged for the point of being criticized, not for what he has accomplished.
For Latch, Latch's "deeds" are clear - as a publicly traded company, its disastrous stock performance and massive miss on its own guidance set just a year ago is indisputable.
For Odess, he spent most of the previous 2 years doing podcasts and failing to gain a viable audience. We discussed this here - "Podcasts Saying Literally Nothing For 20 Minutes" Applies Perfectly To Our Industry.
Odess shortly after that discussion, responded passive-aggressively defending his podcast and the "2 people" that listen to it:
Returning to Latch, what's great about publicly traded companies is their numbers are public. Odess and Latch can try "storytelling" but the story that executives and investors want is quantitative financial results.
The best way to prove critics wrong is to deliver numbers, storytelling can distract from reality for some time, but ultimately execution and numbers count.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #14
May 29, 2022Lee Odess is back on LinkedIn (a month ago he said he was leaving)
Why is it that people feel the need to announce that they're leaving a platform (i.e. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc...)? They could just stop using it and/or delete their accounts. To me it's just another attempt at attention grabbing. Nobody cares if you quit using LinkedIn, if you're really fed up with it, just turn it off!
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
May 29, 2022If a tree falls in the woods, would anybody know? The question is “Would anybody care”?
How many people don’t know they’ve been “blocked” or “un-friended” from social media accounts?
I consider those posts as a way to change the narrative (which has likely lost) to the person awaiting loyal followers to beg them to stay connected
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #15
Jun 02, 2022Really not surprised to see layoffs.
Did anyone seriously think that the “great resignation” wouldn’t have repercussions from employers?
Yeah people quit for “grass greener on the other side”, and companies had to pay more to keep/hire employees…but in some cases, grass is only greener because it’s fertilized with more BS…and in some cases employers are going to do what they have to do to get by, and as conditions become right, do layoffs, and hire cheaper to get back to normal.
Only going to see more and more of this. It’s all a cycle, just like recessions.
JH
John Honovich
Jun 03, 2022Lee Odess has posted a long post on LinkedIn about young people:
For Latch's investor's sake, I hope he is as passionate about young people as he is about delivering sales.
Meanwhile, Latch's stock continues to decline with it flirting to go down under $2:
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Jun 03, 2022Maybe I’m just picky, but I think you meant “as passionate about delivering sales as he is about young people.”
While I’m at it, I always cringe seeing a middle aged man state they are passionate about young people.
U
Undisclosed #9
Jun 03, 2022Lee worked for Allegion (and Brivo even earlier)
Lee leaves Allegion
Lee starts his own Access Control channel on YouTube, hammering out content for 2 years
Lee learns that no matter how much content you create, if you are not interesting enough to grow that 'online presence' then the effort is unsustainable
Lee begins looking for a similar (paid) position in Access Control
Lee (and his online Access Control channel) are hired/acquired by Latch
Lee hasn't posted anything on his Access Control channel since being hired/acquired by Latch
why was the LinkedIn Access Control group acquired?
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #16
Jun 08, 2022It is funny if you look at the number of views many of his videos have. Some 20-50 views. A few have a few hundred. Pretty lame for a supposed big thought leader/industry player.
Donald Maye
Jun 06, 2022Latch broke below $2 not long after the market opened this morning, now trading at $1.82, down -8.5% on the day so far.
JH
John Honovich
Jun 10, 2022Latch is down yet again:
It's down 30%+ since this announcement. At what point do investors see this as a bargain?
JH
John Honovich
Jun 08, 2022Latch execs who are out, per their own updates to their LinkedIn profiles:
However, most layed off Latch employees have not updated their LinkedIn profiles yet, as Latch's LinkedIn employee count is only down ~25 from pre-layoff:
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Jun 29, 2022U
Undisclosed #9
Jun 12, 2022at what point does LTCH become a penny stock?
JH
John Honovich
Jun 12, 2022Important context is Evolv is now valued at $100+ million less than their cash in the bank, a very bearish sign. At the end of the last quarter, Latch reported $335 million in cash and cash equivalents yet now their market capitalization is just $218.3 million.
Of course, Latch can't be practically liquidated and they continue to burn cash (last quarter $40 million, this quarter likely less given the layoffs).
By contrast, Latch's main publicly traded competitor is SmartRent whose stock is up 25% in the past month and now valued at more than 4x of Latch, i.e., $1 billion:
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Jun 12, 2022Not sure if you were serious or just poking fun at LTCH, but a few things define a "penny stock". One is that it trades less than $5 USD a share. But it usually has to do that for some time period. I think LTCH broke under $5 earlier last year. At some point they'll get a warning from Nasdaq they might get de-listed and go to over the counter (OTC) pink sheets, but no real way to know when that might happen.
Another thing is liquidity issues, if the stock trades with very little volume, which makes it very difficult to trade with any reasonable assurance of real market value.
Costar Tech (CSTI), the makers of Costar surveillance products (and I believe the buyers of Arecont) currently trades at what seems an average of $5 a share (down from average of $10 a couple years ago), but their average daily volume is only a few hundred shares a day, vs. LTCH's average volume of 2 million a day. They trade on the OTC market because of that.
If LTCH announces a reverse split to try and bring the stock price back up so they don't get delisted, then you'll know they're really in trouble!
Right now they have an overall bad securities market they can try and pin the blame on. The test will be if they can recover when they market does, and if they can sustain it.
JH
John Honovich
Jun 14, 2022now down to 1.32:
The market is obviously in a downturn but the depth of Latch's ongoing plunge is really severe.
U
Undisclosed #17
Jun 29, 2022Latch is going to be into the sub-$1 range shortly:
They can secure a table for a couple of other industry bro's that will be following them into the bargain bin:
JH
John Honovich
Jun 12, 2022Another Latch executive announces his departure:
It's not clear if he was laid off or quit but his post was very complimentary of Latch.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Jun 29, 2022A professional way to exit a company regardless of how it really went. Smart person!
Those exits of “horrible management”, “poor executive decisions” etc are a personal feel good moment that will be remembered long after you delete the comment.
U
Undisclosed #17
Jun 29, 2022
Ross Vander Klok
Jun 29, 2022Most people in New York and LA consider their cities the "Nation" so maybe that is what he meant......
JH
John Honovich
Jul 05, 2022Odess is doing a presentation next month on the metaverse, NFTs and web3:
U
Undisclosed #9
Jul 05, 2022"It promises to be very different than what you think"
LOL - I doubt it.
I'd bet a bitcoin that it will be exactly what I think it will be.
Brian Karas
Jul 05, 2022LOL - I doubt it.
Agreed. I have nothing against Lee, but I find his Web3 persistence to be puzzling. I've participated in a couple of the early Zoom calls about this, and the session at ISC West, and I still have not heard any concrete examples of what "Web3" is going to do or solve in the security industry. Web3 really hasn't even proven itself valuable yet in a general sense (IMO), outside of crypto/NFT musical chairs investment hype. There are areas where it is showing promise in some areas of research, but nothing that seems to be on an intersection path with security industry use cases.
JH
John Honovich
Jul 06, 2022With time (5 years, 10 years) I don't doubt #web3 will have an impact on physical security but I am not sure why he cares about that when he is running sales for a company whose stock is down 89.90% in the past year:
"Welcome everybody! What does my company have to do with bitcoin? Our stock price is down even more than crypto this year! HA! It's great being here and not dealing with our infuriated investors!"
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #14
Jul 06, 2022If this whole IPVM thing doesn’t work out for you then you might have a career as a speechwriter.
U
Undisclosed #9
Jul 06, 2022With time (5 years, 10 years) I don't doubt #web3 will have an impact on physical security
how, specifically?
the metaverse? come on, man! it's flim flam. it's just not based on reality.
however, self-described visionaries must proclaim at least some kind of vision, no?
and the easiest thing to do is to cobble together buzz word technologies and pretend you can see how they will all coalesce into something that only you - as the visionary - can see.
I aint buying any of it.
Brian Karas
Jul 06, 2022With time (5 years, 10 years) I don't doubt #web3 will have an impact on physical security
Perhaps, but I'm not seeing it.
The term "Web3" doesn't even have a fully agreed-upon definition, it's mostly used to describe decentralized data with some form of blockchain mixed in.
A big part of the reason that I'm not seeing the Web3 angle in security is because in the current incarnations it really involves making your data public somehow, in order for the distributed computation that the blockchain component is based on. This is the opposite of what what people want for their security data/information.
If I squint, I could envision some kind of Web3 application for police body cameras, or similar data streams that involve iterations of what I'll call citizen:government interactions. It could theoretically be utilized to verify the integrity and continuity of body cam footage, or other things related to police/government actions or investigations. However the computational costs would be huge, not to mention the whole issues with streaming the data in the first place. And there are also better/cheaper/easier ways to manage chain of custody and data integrity. With the rapid advancements in deepfake technology for audio and video, a means to truly validate things that we could previously consider reliable sources of events and interactions seems likely, but I personally would not wager the solution is going to rhyme much with Web3.
In the meantime, we have more real and useful things like IPv6, or Zero Trust that seem to me to offer more immediate benefits, and are not being discussed enough in the security industry yet.
If Lee/SIA/whoever, wants to talk about Web3 in the security industry I think they need to put up some concrete examples pretty quickly in these talks. If the best we can come up with is that it'll probably be used somewhere somehow in a decade or so, it's not worth pontificating on at this time.
U
Undisclosed #9
Jul 06, 2022BRK is much nicer than I am.
instead of calling it outright flim flam, like I might, he points out the real crux of the equation, imo.
In the meantime, we have more real and useful things
the silicon valley security marketing apparatus might try and convince you to believe that their solutions are 're-inventing' security, but I believe BRK is correct in pointing out that web3 hasn't provided anything that shows this, to date.
JH
John Honovich
Aug 01, 2022Update: the Lee Odess Web3 presentation at AcceleRISE did not happen but Odess has announced a new "personal passion project":
He's doing a Kickstarter trying to raise $10,000 to put together a history of access control, video below explains:
Latch stock is still near all-time lows:
U
Undisclosed #18
Aug 02, 2022UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Aug 02, 2022Lee will go down in history as The Bernie Madoff of access control.
Seriously doubt that analogy. Now, Anita Sarkeesian...... keeps coming to mind.
U
Undisclosed #9
Aug 02, 2022I was wrong. it was even dumber than I had imagined:
pivoting (yet again), now Odess wants $10Gs via kickstarter to produce something zero people want - or at least couldn't cobble together themselves via an intensive online search of free content.
he has 58 days left to get more than 9K of his 10K ask.
JH
John Honovich
Aug 02, 2022I actually think it's a nice thing he's doing but the timing is strange since if I was him, I'd be laser locked focus on turning Latch around. He could do a history of access control a few years from now after he turns Latch into a huge success.
If I was Latch's board, I'd be confused, to say the least, about why our SVP is working on web3 and the history of access control while the stock is down 80%+ for the year.
Donald Maye
Aug 02, 2022If I was Latch's board, I'd be confused
I agree. Also, the FAQ for the Kickstarter provides additional details: It states corporate sponsors will fund, Latch is not affiliated. Involves their own "energy, love, sweat, and tears". Lee and team will own the final product.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Aug 02, 2022Yes! Where do I sign up to buy a book on the history of Access Control? I can see this selling copies in the tens.
Brian Karas
Aug 02, 2022I caught most of the Web3 presentation at Accellerise (flew in that morning and had a slight delay).
The takeaway I got from it is that there are many people in the security industry who are interested in the concepts, but nobody has any real good ideas on how/when/where to actually apply it. Most of the examples used in conversations kept gravitating towards non-security examples.
In some conversations I made an analogy to social media. Both Web3 and Social Media are really just applications on top of the broader internet infrastructure. Just because they exist doesn't mean they are likely to have any relevance to security. Using the social media example, we could have cameras publish event clips direct to a Tiktok channel or a Twitter feed, but why would you?
Security people should be aware of Web3, and understand the underlying concepts, but that does not mean there is any impending use-cases for it that are going to add value or solve problems here.
On the metaverse component, there are potentially some more viable applications, if we can solve the problems of the VR headsets being generally uncomfortable and causing nausea for a lot of wearers.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #19
Aug 02, 2022why would you?
Step 1: publish your entire video feed in 10 second clips to Tiktok
Step 2: internet people comment when they see something interesting happen
Step 3: an automated system monitors your post statistics. When a video goes viral, it picks out the most frequently used word from the comments (ignoring words in common usage)
Step 4: that part of the timeline in your VMS is then marked with that word
#CrowdSourcedVideoAnalytics
Brian Karas
Aug 02, 2022A couple variations of that have been tried over the years actually. It's neat on paper, but doesn't really work in real life.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #19
Aug 02, 2022Really? I was joking. I sincerely hope nobody tried to use that in an actual security system. Relying on "internet people"...
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Aug 02, 2022Great summary, Brian, and the Tik Tok example was good. Like you said, why? Also, why couldn't you now, with a camera side app that does it?
After it just looks like different music chords, but the same instruments and notes underneath.
JH
John Honovich
Aug 02, 2022Latch has just layed off another 100+, this is not seeing double, it actually happened, just announced
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1826000/000182600022000093/ltchpressrelease8222final.htm
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #14
Aug 02, 2022I've been hit in a layoff before - and it's clearly not fun for anyone involved. It's hard on the people being let go (obviously) but it's also hard on the folks that are left. It's hard on the customers and it essentially creates a downward spiral which can quickly pull everyone and the company down the drain with it.
I would have expected that a prominent executive would not be pushing his pet projects so publicly during such a tenuous time. Not only is it bad optics, it's bad for morale for everyone that's left.
Wake up Lee - you need to do a better job leading the troops you have left - not pandering some techno geeks who may use your product in 10 years.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #21
Aug 02, 2022UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #5
Aug 02, 2022This situation reminds one of the old saying "Nero fiddled while Rome burned". I truly wonder what the Board is thinking?
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #20
Aug 02, 2022UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Aug 03, 2022Will this create “the dip” for future investors? Asking for a friend.
JH
John Honovich
Aug 03, 2022Odess says he will help those that were laid off:
Meanwhile Latch's CEO yesterday liked a Brooklyn coffee cart post while 100+ of his employees were being laid off:
JH
John Honovich
Aug 03, 2022Latch stock opened down just slightly:
My interpretation is that the market has already priced in the problems at Latch, e.g., Latch is trading at roughly half the amount of cash that the company has, which is a very bearish sign already.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Aug 03, 2022I’ve done some tough sell’s before, but the new focus of going after higher value SAAS accounts as your stock is tumbling makes for an interesting presentation.
”The stock market just doesn’t understand our full value offering”
JH
John Honovich
Aug 05, 2022Odess posts asking for help with reporting an industry "bully":
JH
John Honovich
Aug 08, 2022
U
Undisclosed #9
Aug 08, 2022so The Visionary has decreed that the industry has 'shifted' and the new measure of intelligence (and even ethics) is now based on how benevolent and compassionate a person is and how much love they show to others.
U
Undisclosed #18
Aug 08, 2022Why am I picturing Lee sitting around a campfire drum circle, wearing Birkenstocks while smelling like patchouli and singing Kumbaya?
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Oct 03, 2022Lee has taken a new position as CEO according to LinkedIn!
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Oct 03, 2022Lee has taken a new position as CEO according to LinkedIn!
Well, more specifically so there's no confusion, the CEO of what looks like a company he just started, and not CEO of Latch. Seems he has left Latch, since his last position has an end date and doesn't say "Current" anymore.