AIAD Aiadvertising Inc (PK)

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. An investor should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information included in this annual report, before making an investment decision. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer as a result of these risks. In that case, the market value of our securities could decline, and an investor may lose all or part of his or her investment.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS

Issues in the use of AI in our offerings may result in reputational harm or liability.

As with many disruptive innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. AI algorithms may be flawed. Datasets may be insufficient or contain biased information. Inappropriate or controversial data practices by us or others could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. These deficiencies could undermine the decisions, predictions, or analysis AI applications produce, subjecting us to competitive harm, legal liability, and brand or reputational harm. Some AI scenarios present ethical issues. If we enable or offer AI solutions that are controversial because of their impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other social issues, we may experience brand or reputational harm.

We are subject to payment-related risks if customers dispute or do not pay their invoices, and any decreases or significant delays in payments could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. These risks may be heightened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn. 

We may become involved in disputes with our customers over the operation of our platform, the terms of our agreements or our billings for purchases made by them through our platform. In the past, certain customers have sought to slow their payments to us or been forced into filing for bankruptcy protection, resulting in delay or cancelation of their pending payments to us. These challenges have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic impact, and a number of our customers are experiencing financial difficulties and liquidity constraints. In certain cases, customers have been unable to timely make payments, and we have suffered losses. Certain of our contracts with marketing agencies state that if their customer does not pay the agency, the agency is not liable to us, and we must seek payment solely from their customer, a type of arrangement called sequential liability. Contracting with these agencies, which in some cases have or may develop higher-risk credit profiles, may subject us to greater credit risk than if we were to contract directly with the customer. 

If we are unable to collect customers’ fees on a timely basis or at all, we could incur write-offs for bad debt, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations for the periods in which the write-offs occur. In the future, bad debt may exceed reserves for such contingencies, and our bad debt exposure may increase over time. Any increase in write-offs for bad debt could have a materially negative effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Even if we are not paid by our customers on time or at all, we may still be obligated to pay for the inventory we have purchased for our customers’ marketing campaigns, and consequently, our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely impacted. 

The reliability of some of our product solutions is dependent on data and software from third-parties and the integrity and quality of that data and software.

Some of the data and software that we use is licensed from third-party data suppliers, and we are dependent upon our ability to obtain necessary data licenses on commercially reasonable terms. We could suffer material adverse consequences if our data suppliers were to withhold their data from us. For example, data suppliers could withhold their data from us if there is a competitive reason to do so; if we breach our contract with a supplier; if they are acquired by one of our competitors; if legislation is passed restricting the use or dissemination of the data they provide; or if judicial interpretations are issued restricting use of such data. Additionally, we could terminate relationships with our data suppliers if they fail to adhere to our data quality standards. If a substantial number of data suppliers were to withdraw or withhold their data from us, or if we sever ties with our data suppliers based on their inability to meet our data standards, our ability to provide products and services to our clients could be materially adversely impacted, which could result in decreased revenues.

The reliability of our solutions depends upon the integrity and quality of the data provided us by our clients and that which we can license from third party providers. A failure in the integrity or a reduction in the quality of our data could cause a loss of customer confidence in our solutions, resulting in harm to our brand, loss of revenue and exposure to legal claims. We may experience an increase in risks to the integrity of our database and quality of our data as we move toward real-time, non-identifiable, consumer- powered data through our products. We must continue to invest in our database to improve and maintain the quality, timeliness and coverage of the data if we are to maintain our competitive position. Failure to do so could result in a material adverse effect on our business, growth and revenue prospects.

Our business practices with respect to data and consumer protection could give rise to liabilities or reputational harm as a result of governmental regulation, legal requirements or industry standards relating to consumer privacy, data protection and consumer protection.

Federal, state and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of data that we collect. We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements and legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, including those relating to the use of data for marketing purposes. It is possible, however, that these requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. We cannot assure you that our practices have complied, comply, or will comply fully with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with federal, state or international laws or regulations, including laws and regulations regulating privacy, data security, marketing communications or consumer protection, or other policies, self-regulatory requirements or legal obligations could result in harm to our reputation, a loss in business, and proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, consumers, retailers or others. We may also be contractually liable to indemnify and hold harmless performance marketing networks or other third parties from the costs or consequences of noncompliance with any laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements or other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection or any inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure of data that we store or handle as part of operating our business. Any such proceeding or action, and any related indemnification obligation, could hurt our reputation, force us to incur significant expenses in defense of these proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business and cause consumers and retailers to decrease their use of our marketplace, and may result in the imposition of monetary liability. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the data and privacy laws, regulations, standards and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our clients may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our products.

A significant breach of the confidentiality of the information we hold or of the security of our or our customers’, suppliers’, or other partners’ computer systems could be detrimental to our business, reputation and results of operations. Our business requires the storage, transmission and utilization of data. Although we have security and associated procedures, our databases may be subject to unauthorized access by third parties. Such third parties could attempt to gain entry to our systems for the purpose of stealing data or disrupting the systems. We believe we have taken appropriate measures to protect our systems from intrusion, but we cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, discovery of new vulnerabilities in our systems and attempts to exploit those vulnerabilities, physical system or facility break-ins and data thefts or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology protecting our systems and the information we possess. Furthermore, we face increasing cyber security risks as we receive and collect data from new sources, and as we and our customers continue to develop and operate in cloud-based information technology environments. In the event that our protection efforts are unsuccessful, and we experience an unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or the security of such information or our systems are compromised, we could suffer substantial harm. Any breach could result in one or more third parties obtaining unauthorized access to our customers’ data or our data, including personally identifiable information, intellectual property and other confidential business information. Such a security breach could result in operational disruptions that impair our ability to meet our clients’ requirements, which could result in decreased revenues. Also, whether there is an actual or a perceived breach of our security, our reputation could suffer irreparable harm, causing our current and prospective clients to reject our products and services in the future and deterring data suppliers from supplying us data. Further, we could be forced to expend significant resources in response to a security breach, including repairing system damage, increasing cyber security protection costs by deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, and litigating and resolving legal claims, all of which could divert the attention of our management and key personnel away from our business operations. In any event, a significant security breach could materially harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Significant system disruptions, loss of data center capacity or interruption of telecommunication links could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our product platform is hosted and managed on Microsoft Azure Cloud servers and takes full advantage of open standards for processing, storage, security and big data technology. Significant system disruptions, loss of data center capacity or interruption of telecommunication links could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our business is heavily dependent upon highly complex data processing capability. The ability of our platform hosts and managers to protect these data centers against damage or interruption from fire, flood, tornadoes, power loss, telecommunications or equipment failure or other disasters is beyond our control and is critical to our ability to succeed.

We need to protect our intellectual property or our operating results may suffer.

Third parties may infringe our intellectual property and we may suffer competitive injury or expend significant resources enforcing our rights. As our business is focused on data-driven results and analytics, we rely heavily on proprietary information technology. Our proprietary portfolio consists of various intellectual property including source code, trade secrets, and know-how. The extent to which such rights can be protected is substantially based on federal, state and common law rights as well as contractual restrictions. The steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not prevent the misappropriation of our proprietary information or deter independent development of similar technologies by others. If we do not enforce our intellectual property rights vigorously and successfully, our competitive position may suffer which could harm our operating results.

We could incur substantial costs and disruption to our business as a result of any claim of infringement of another party’s intellectual property rights, which could harm our business and operating results.

From time to time, third parties may claim that one or more of our products or services infringe their intellectual property rights. We analyze and take action in response to such claims on a case-by-case basis. Any dispute or litigation regarding patents or other intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming due to the complexity of our technology and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation, which could divert the attention of our management and key personnel away from our business operations. A claim of intellectual property infringement could force us to enter into a costly or restrictive license agreement, which might not be available under acceptable terms or at all, or could subject us to significant damages or to an injunction against development and sale of certain of our products or services.

We may be unable to maintain a competitive technology advantage in the future.

Our ability to generate revenues is substantially based upon our proprietary intellectual property that we own and protect through trade secrets and agreements with our employees to maintain ownership of any improvements to our intellectual property. Our ability to generate revenues now and in the future is based upon maintaining a competitive technology advantage over our competition. We can provide no assurances that we will be able to maintain a competitive technology advantage in the future over our competitors, many of whom have significantly more experience, more extensive infrastructure and are better capitalized than us.

We may not be able to integrate, maintain and enhance our advertising solutions to keep pace with technological and market developments.

The market for digital advertising solutions is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and services. To keep pace with technological developments, satisfy increasing publisher and advertiser requirements, maintain the attractiveness and competitiveness of our advertising solutions and ensure compatibility with evolving industry standards and protocols, we will need to anticipate and respond to varying product lifecycles, regularly enhance our current advertising solutions and develop and introduce new solutions and functionality on a timely basis. This requires significant investment of financial and other resources. For example, we will need to invest significant resources into expanding and developing our platforms in order to maintain a comprehensive solution. Ad technology platforms and other technological developments may displace us or introduce an additional intermediate layer between us and our customers and digital media properties that could impair our relationships with those customers.

If we default on our credit obligations, our operations may be interrupted and our business and financial results could be adversely affected.

Vendors extend us credit terms for the purchase of advertising inventory. We currently have outstanding payables to existing vendors. If we are unable to pay our publishers in a timely fashion, they may elect to no longer sell us inventory to provide for sale to advertisers. Also, it may be necessary for us to incur additional indebtedness to maintain operations of the Company. If we default on our credit obligations, our lenders and debt financing holders may, among other things:

If some or all of these events were to occur, our operations may be interrupted and our ability to fund our operations or obligations, as well as our business, financial results, and financial condition, could be adversely affected.

War, terrorism, other acts of violence or natural or manmade disasters such as a global pandemic may affect the markets in which the Company operates, the Company’s customers, the Company’s delivery of products and customer service, and could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

The Company’s business may be adversely affected by instability, disruption or destruction in the geographic regions in which it operates, regardless of cause, including war, terrorism, riot, civil insurrection or social unrest, and natural or manmade disasters, including famine, food, fire, earthquake, storm or pandemic events and spread of disease (including the recent outbreak of the coronavirus commonly referred to as “COVID- 19”). Such events may cause customers to suspend their decisions on using the Company’s services and otherwise affect their ability to meet their obligations to us by making payments on our existing equipment leases, make it impossible to contact our customers and potential customers as well as potential sources of future financing, for our customers to visit our physical locations, and give rise to sudden significant changes in regional and global economic conditions and cycles that could interfere with our existing business as well as our planned expansion into the mobility business. These events also pose significant risks to the Company’s personnel and to physical facilities and operations, which could materially adversely affect the Company’s financial results.

We have a history of losses and expect to continue to incur losses.

We have experienced net losses and negative cash flows from operating activities, and we expect such losses and negative cash flows to continue in the foreseeable future. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we incurred net losses of $8,028,117 and $8,482,296, respectively. We may never achieve profitability. 

We have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.

We have a relatively short operating history and have been delivering AI-powered solutions, our proprietary audience-driven business intelligence solution, since January 2018, and are now offering the Campaign Performance Platform a SaaS (software-as-a-service) solution. As a result, it may be difficult to evaluate in an investment in our stock. Furthermore, we operate in an industry that is characterized by rapid technological innovation, intense competition, changing customer needs and frequent introduction of new products, technologies and services. We have encountered, and we will continue to encounter, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by companies in evolving industries. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change in reaction to changes in the market, or we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations, and our business could suffer.

Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to, among other things:

If we fail to address or manage these risks successfully, including those associated with the challenges listed above as well as those described elsewhere in this section, our business will be adversely affected and our results of operations will suffer.

Our success depends on increasing the number and value of enterprise sales transactions, which typically involve a longer sales cycle, greater deployment challenges and additional support and services than sales to individual purchasers of our products.

Growth in our revenues and profitability depends in part on our ability to complete more and larger enterprise sales transactions. These larger transactions may involve significant customer negotiation. Enterprise customers may undertake a significant evaluation process, which can last from several months to a year or longer. For example, in recent periods, excluding renewals, our transactions over $100,000 have generally taken over three months to close. Any individual transaction may take substantially longer than three months to close. If our sales cycle were to lengthen in this manner, events may occur during this period that affect the size or timing of a purchase or even cause cancellations, which may lead to greater unpredictability in our business and results of operations. We will spend substantial time, effort and money on enterprise sales efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce any sales.

The actual market for our products and services could be significantly smaller than our estimates of our total potential market opportunity, and if customer demand for our products and services does not meet expectations, our ability to generate revenue and meet our financial targets could be adversely affected.

While we expect strong growth in the markets for our products, it is possible that the growth in some or all of these markets may not meet our expectations, or materialize at all. The methodology on which our estimate of our total potential market opportunity includes several key assumptions based on our industry knowledge, market research, and customer experience. If any of these assumptions proves to be inaccurate, then the actual market for our products could be significantly smaller than our estimates of our total potential market opportunity. If the customer demand for our products or the adoption rate in our target markets does not meet our expectations, our ability to generate revenue from customers and meet our financial targets could be adversely affected.

If our new products and product enhancements do not achieve sufficient market acceptance, our results of operations and competitive position will suffer.

We spend substantial amounts of time and money to research and develop new software and enhanced versions of our existing software to incorporate additional features, improve functionality, function in concert with new technologies or changes to existing technologies and allow our customers to analyze a wide range of data sources. When we develop a new product or an enhanced version of an existing product, we typically incur expenses and expend resources upfront to market, promote and sell the new offering. Therefore, when we develop and introduce new or enhanced products, they must achieve high levels of market acceptance in order to justify the amount of our investment in developing and bringing them to market.

Further, we may make changes to our software that our customers do not find useful. We may also discontinue certain features, begin to charge for certain features that are currently free or increase fees for any of our features or usage of our software. We may also face unexpected problems or challenges in connection with new product or feature introductions.

Our new products or product enhancements, such as our Campaign Performance Platform, and changes to our existing software could fail to attain sufficient market acceptance for many reasons, including:

In addition, because our products are designed to operate on and with a variety of systems, we will need to continuously modify and enhance our products to keep pace with changes in technology. We may not be successful in either developing these modifications and enhancements or in bringing them to market in a timely fashion.

If our new software or enhancements and changes do not achieve adequate acceptance in the market, our competitive position will be impaired, and our revenues could decline. The adverse effect on our results of operations may be particularly acute because of the significant research, development, marketing, sales and other expenses we will have incurred in connection with the new software or enhancements.

Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our software could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.

Because our software is complex, undetected errors, failures or bugs may occur, especially when new versions or updates are released. Our software is often installed and used in large-scale computing environments with different operating systems, system management software, and equipment and networking configurations, which may cause errors or failures of our software or other aspects of the computing environment into which it is deployed. In addition, deployment of our software into computing environments may expose undetected errors, compatibility issues, failures or bugs in our software. Despite testing by us, errors, failures or bugs may not be found in our software until it is released to our customers. Moreover, our customers could incorrectly implement or inadvertently misuse our software, which could result in customer dissatisfaction and adversely impact the perceived utility of our products as well as our brand. Any of these real or perceived errors, compatibility issues, failures or bugs in our software could result in negative publicity, reputational harm, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our software, loss of competitive position or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct the problem. Alleviating any of these problems could require significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions, delays or cessation of our licensing, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.

Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may in the future experience performance issues due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, website or third-party hosting disruptions or capacity constraints due to a number of potential causes including technical failures, cyber-attacks, security vulnerabilities, natural disasters or fraud. If our security is compromised, our website is unavailable or our users are unable to access our software within a reasonable amount of time or at all, our business could be negatively affected. Moreover, if our security measures, products or services are subject to cyber-attacks that degrade or deny the ability of users to access our website, products or services, our products or services may be perceived as unsecure and we may incur significant legal and financial exposure. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time. These cloud-based products are hosted at third-party data centers that are not under our direct control. If these data centers were to be damaged or suffer disruption, our ability to provide these products to our customers could be impaired and our reputation could be harmed.

In addition, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our website performance, especially during peak usage times and as our software becomes more complex and our user traffic increases. Adverse consequences could include unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times, degradation in level of customer support and impaired quality of users’ experiences, and could result in customer dissatisfaction and the loss of existing customers. We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve website performance and security and to enable rapid and secure releases of new features and applications for our software. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our use of open source software could negatively affect our ability to sell our software and subject us to possible litigation.

We use open source software in our software and expect to continue to use open source software in the future. We may face claims from others claiming ownership of, or seeking to enforce the license terms applicable to such open source software, including by demanding release of the open source software, derivative works or our proprietary source code that was developed using such software. These claims could also result in litigation, require us to purchase a costly license or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our software, any of which would have a negative effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, if the license terms for the open source code change, we may be forced to re-engineer our software or incur additional costs. Finally, we cannot assure you that we have not incorporated open source software into our software in a manner that may subject our proprietary software to an open source license that requires disclosure, to customers or the public, of the source code to such proprietary software. Any such disclosure would have a negative effect on our business and the value of our software.

We may require additional capital to fund our business and support our growth..

We intend to continue to make substantial investments to fund our business and support our growth. In addition, we may require additional funds to respond to business challenges, including the need to develop new features or enhance our software, improve our operating infrastructure or acquire or develop complementary businesses and technologies. As a result, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to provide the funds required for these and other business endeavors. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. We may not be able to obtain such additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business may be adversely affected. In addition, our inability to generate or obtain the financial resources needed may require us to delay, scale back, or eliminate some or all of our operations, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We are dependent on key personnel for our operations. If those key personnel were to leave the Company, operations may suffer.

Our performance is highly dependent on the continued services of our executive officers and other key personnel, the loss of any of whom could materially adversely affect our business. In addition, we need to attract and retain other highly-skilled, technical and managerial personnel for whom there is intense competition. For example, if we are unable to hire or continually train our employees to keep pace with the rapid and continuing changes in technology and the markets we serve or changes in the types of services our clients are demanding, we may not be able to develop and deliver new services and solutions to fulfill client demand. Our inability to attract and retain qualified technical and managerial personnel could materially adversely affect our ability to maintain and grow our business significantly.

If labor costs for key personnel increase, the increase may strain cash flows further.

Competition for labor could substantially increase our labor costs. Although we seek to preserve the contractual ability to pass through increases in labor costs to our clients, not all of our current contracts provide us with this protection, and we may enter into contracts in the future which limit or prohibit our ability to pass through increases in labor costs to our clients. If we are unable to pass costs through to our clients, our financial condition may be materially affected.

Though the Company incurs significant costs while attempting to acquire other businesses, there is no guarantee that such transactions will be consummated

The Company incurs significant costs associated with both searching for companies to acquire and in closing a transaction. These costs include, but are not limited to, airfare, legal, audit and consulting fees. Because the merger/acquisition is not only dependent on both parties being dedicated to the completion of the transaction, but also the operational fit must be right, we may not close on all transactions we pursue. Incomplete transactions may result in significant capital out flows with no benefit to the Company.

We may become a party to litigation involving intellectual property rights, employment violations, breach of contract, or other lawsuit, which may place a burden on management and cash flows.

Third parties may, in the future, assert that our business, the technologies we use, or the business practices we use, infringe on their intellectual property rights or employment rights or that we are in violation of other rights or laws. Defending the Company against such actions may require significant time of management and substantial amounts of money. We cannot predict whether third parties will assert claims in the future or whether any future claims will prevent us from offering our products or services. If we are found to be in the wrong, we may be required to pay a significant amount of money which could include damages and attorneys’ fees.

A portion of our services are provided by third parties which we do not control. Such third parties may provide poor service which may harm the relationships we have with our clients.

We currently, and may in the future, rely on third party providers to provide various portions of our service offering. If our business relationship with a third-party provider is negatively affected, or is terminated, we might not be able to deliver the corresponding service offering to our clients, which could cause us to lose clients and future business, reducing our revenues. Any such failure on the part of the third party, may damage our reputation and otherwise result in a material adverse effect upon our business and financial condition.

We target a global marketplace and compete in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive industry which makes our future operating results difficult to predict. If we are unable to enhance products or acquire new products that respond to rapidly changing customer requirements, technological developments or evolving industry standards, our long-term revenue growth will be harmed.

We target the global business intelligence, or BI, marketplace, which is an industry characterized by rapid technological innovation, changing customer needs, substantial competition, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products, enhancements and services. Any of these factors can render our existing software products and services obsolete or unmarketable. We believe that our future success will depend in large part on our ability to successfully:

As we encounter increasing competitive pressures, we will likely be required to modify, enhance, reposition or introduce new products and service offerings. We may not be successful in doing so in a timely, cost-effective and appropriately responsive manner, or at all, which may have an adverse effect on our business, quarterly operating results and financial condition. All of these factors make it difficult to predict our future operating results which may impair our ability to manage our business.

Our success is highly dependent on our ability to penetrate the existing market for business analytics software as well as the growth and expansion of that market.

Although the overall market for business analytics software is well-established, the market for business analytics software like ours is relatively new, rapidly evolving and unproven. Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to penetrate the existing market for business analytics software, as well as the continued growth and expansion of what we believe to be an emerging market for analytics solutions that are faster, easier to adopt, easier to use and more focused on self-service capabilities. It is difficult to predict customer adoption and renewal rates, customer demand for our products, the size, growth rate and expansion of these markets, the entry of competitive products or the success of existing competitive products. Our ability to penetrate the existing market and any expansion of the emerging market depends on a number of factors, including the cost, performance and perceived value associated with our products, as well as customers’ willingness to adopt a different approach to data analysis. Furthermore, many potential customers have made significant investments in legacy business analytics software systems and may be unwilling to invest in new software. If we are unable to penetrate the existing market for business analytics software, the emerging market for self-service analytics solutions fails to grow or expand, or either of these markets decreases in size, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

Our financial results would suffer if the market for BI software does not continue to grow or if we are unable to further penetrate this market.

Resistance from consumer and privacy groups to increased commercial collection and use of data on spending patterns and other personal behavior and governmental restrictions on the collection and use of personal data may impair the further growth of this market, as may other developments. We cannot be sure that this market will continue to grow or, even if it does grow, that customers will purchase our software products or services. We have spent, and intend to keep spending, considerable resources to educate potential customers about BI software in general and our software products and services in particular. However, we cannot be sure that these expenditures will help our software products achieve any additional market acceptance or enable us to attract new customers or new users at existing customers. A reduction in the demand for our software products and services could be caused by, among other things, lack of customer acceptance, weakening economic conditions, competing technologies and services or decreases in software spending. If the market and our market share fail to grow or grow more slowly than we currently expect, our business, operating results and financial condition would be harmed.

A large portion of our revenue is concentrated with a small number of clients.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, three clients represented approximately 31% of our service fee revenue. Termination, reduction, or delay of our services under a contract could result from factors unrelated to our work product or the progress of the project such as factors related to business or financial conditions of the client, changes in client strategies or the domestic or global economy generally. Termination, reduction or substantial delay of services any significant client, or nonrenewal of any significant client contract, or the nonpayment of a material amount of our service fees by a significant client, could have a material adverse effect upon our business, results of operation and financial condition.

If we do not accurately price our fixed fee projects, the Company may suffer from decreased cash flows.

When making a proposal for, or managing, a fixed-price engagement, we rely on our estimates of costs and timing for delivering our services, which may be based on limited data and could be inaccurate. If we do not accurately estimate our costs and the timing for completion of a fixed-price project, the contract for such a project could prove unprofitable or yield a profit margin that is lower than expected. Losses, if any, on fixed-price contracts are recognized when the loss is determined. Any increased or unexpected costs or unanticipated delays in connection with the performance of fixed-price contracts, including delays caused by factors outside of our control, could make these contracts less profitable or unprofitable and may affect the amount of revenue, profit, and profit margin reported in any period.

Our industry is dependent on quickly evolving technologies and knowledge. If we do not maintain proper technology or knowledge, then our operations may be adversely affected.

To remain competitive, we must continue to enhance and improve the responsiveness, functionality and features of our services and the underlying network infrastructure. If we are unable to adapt to changing market conditions, client requirements or emerging industry standards, our business could be adversely affected. The internet and e-commerce environments are characterized by rapid technological change, changes in user requirements and preferences, frequent new product and service introductions embodying new technologies and the emergence of new industry standards and practices that could render our technology and systems obsolete. We must continue to address the increasingly sophisticated and varied needs of our clients and respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices on a cost-effective and timely basis.

In addition, many competitors expend a considerably greater amount of funds on their research and development programs, and those that do not may be acquired by larger companies that would allocate greater resources to competitors’ research and development programs. If we fail to maintain adequate research and development resources or compete effectively with the research and development programs of competitors, our business could be harmed. Our ability to grow is also subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver business intelligence solutions at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently or more securely, such technologies could adversely affect our ability to compete.

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of past or future acquisitions, and integration of these acquisitions may disrupt our business and management.

Our growth strategy is dependent on the success of our completed acquisitions and in the future we may acquire additional companies, products or technologies or enter into joint ventures or other strategic initiatives. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions or any other future acquisition, and any acquisition has numerous risks. These risks include the following:

Mergers and acquisitions of companies are inherently risky and, if we do not complete the integration of acquired businesses successfully and in a timely manner, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions to the extent anticipated, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are subject to governmental laws, regulation and other legal obligations, particularly those related to privacy, data protection and information security, and any actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could impair our efforts to maintain and expand our customer base, causing our growth to be limited and harming our business.

We receive, store and process personal information and other data from and about customers in addition to our employees and services providers. Also, in connection with future feature offerings, we may receive, store and process additional types of data, including personally identifiable information, related to end consumers. Our handling of data is subject to a variety of laws and regulations, including regulation by various government agencies, such as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and various state, local and foreign agencies. Our data handling also is subject to contractual obligations and may be deemed to be subject to industry standards, including certain industry standards that we undertake to comply with.

The U.S. federal and various state and foreign governments have adopted or proposed limitations on the collection, distribution, use and storage of data relating to individuals, including the use of contact information and other data for marketing, advertising and other communications with individuals and businesses. In the United States, various laws and regulations apply to the collection, processing, disclosure, and security of certain types of data. Additionally, the FTC and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws as imposing standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of data. The laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security are evolving, can be subject to significant change and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.

Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with laws, regulations, policies, legal or contractual obligations, industry standards, or regulatory guidance relating to privacy, data protection, information security, marketing or consumer communications may result in governmental investigations and enforcement actions, litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity, and could cause our customers and partners to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, marketing, consumer communications and information security in the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and we cannot determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. Future laws, regulations, standards and other obligations or any changed interpretation of existing laws or regulations could impair our ability to develop and market new features and maintain and grow our customer base and increase revenue. Future restrictions on the collection, use, sharing or disclosure of data or additional requirements for express or implied consent of our customers, partners or end consumers for the use and disclosure of such information could require us to incur additional costs or modify our platform, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to achieve in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and which could limit our ability to develop new features. If our policies, procedures, or measures relating to privacy, data protection, information security, marketing, or customer communications fail, or are perceived as failing, to comply with laws, regulations, policies, legal obligations or industry standards, we may be subject to governmental enforcement actions, litigation, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties and negative publicity and could cause our application providers, customers and partners to lose trust in us, which could materially affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Future acquisitions may include an equity component that may dilute the positions of current stockholders.

We have traditionally used our equity to finance our acquisitions. As we search for additional companies to acquire, the components of the purchase price may include a combination of cash, debt and equity. The issuance of a substantial amount of equity may have a dilutive effect on our current shareholders upon such equity being deemed free-trading. This dilution may result in lower market prices, which may limit an investor’s ability to obtain a return on their investment.

In addition, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

RISKS RELATED TO OUR COMMON STOCK

Due to the low price and volume of our stock, a shareholder may be unable to sell shares, or may lose money on their investment.

The trading price of our common stock may be subject to wide fluctuations in response to quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in operating results, announcements of material adverse events, general conditions in our industry or the public marketplace and other events or factors, including the thin trading of our common stock. In addition, stock markets have experienced extreme price and trading volume volatility in recent years. This volatility has had a substantial effect on the market prices of securities of many technology-related companies for reasons frequently unrelated to the operating performance of the specific companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In addition, if our operating results differ from our announced guidance or the expectations of equity research analysts or investors, the price of our common stock could decrease significantly.

Our principal stockholders, officers and directors own a controlling interest in its voting stock and investors have a limited voice in our management. 

Our principal stockholders, officers and directors, in the aggregate, beneficially own approximately 54% of our outstanding common stock. As a result, these stockholders acting together, have the ability to control substantially all matters submitted to the Company’s stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. In addition, sales of significant amounts of shares held by our principal stockholders, directors and executive officers, or the prospect of these sales, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Their stock ownership may discourage a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the Company, which could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their capital stock as part of a sale of our company and might ultimately affect the market price of our common stock.

Our common stock is subject to the “penny stock” rules of the sec and the trading market in our securities is limited, which makes transactions in our stock cumbersome and may reduce the value of an investment in our stock.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted Rule 15g-9 which establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for the purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require:

In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must:

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prescribed by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, which:

Generally, brokers may be less willing to execute transactions in securities subject to the “penny stock” rules. This may make it more difficult for investors to dispose of our common stock and cause a decline in the market value of our stock

We have never paid dividends and have no plans to pay dividends in the future. As a result, our common stock may be less valuable because a return on an investor’s investment will only occur if our stock price appreciates.

Holders of shares of our common stock are entitled to receive such dividends as may be declared by our Board of Directors. To date, we have paid no cash dividends and we do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We intend to retain future earnings, if any, to provide funds for operations of our business. Therefore, any return investors in will be in the form of appreciation, if any, in the market value of our shares of common stock. There can be no assurance that shares of our common stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which our stockholders have purchased their shares.

There is a limited trading market for our common stock, and investors may find it difficult to buy and sell our shares.

Our common stock is not listed on any national securities exchange. Accordingly, investors may find it more difficult to buy and sell our shares than if our common stock was traded on an exchange. Although our common stock is quoted on the OTC Pink, it is an unorganized, inter-dealer, over-the-counter market which provides significantly less liquidity than the Nasdaq Capital Market or other national securities exchange. Further, there is limited trading volume in our common stock, and any significant trading volume in our common stock may not be sustained. These factors may have an adverse impact on the trading and price of our common stock.

We have a substantial number of convertible securities outstanding. The exercise of our outstanding warrants/options and conversion of our outstanding convertible notes can have a dilutive effect on our common stock.

We have a substantial number of convertible securities outstanding. The exercise of our outstanding options and convertible preferred stock can have a dilutive effect on our common stock. As of December 31, 2022, we had (i) outstanding options to purchase approximately 879 million shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $0.009 per share, (ii) outstanding shares of our Series, A, B, C, D, E, and G Preferred Stock that, upon conversion without regard to any beneficial ownership limitations or advance conversion notice, would provide the holders with an aggregate of 966 million shares of our common stock. The issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of outstanding options or conversion of preferred stock could result in substantial dilution to our stockholders, which may have a negative effect on the price of our common stock.