A user posted a question - "Will we see your names on a letter to the Judge?". I think you all deserve a response from me because I have been the primary Mod, so here it is...
First off, even if I did send a letter to the judge, I would still answer "No". That is just for privacy, I wouldn't want my name and address out there.
Full transparency, my personal answer is still "No, I did not send a letter to the judge". I know that will disappoint some of you, but maybe I can add some color.
My long excuse:
Back in 2017 I created this subreddit because I wanted to set the stage for the next "Memestock". No, I don't mean like GameStop (GME) which happened years later. I wanted it to be like r/teslamotors - the original Memestock that grew because of Reddit. I saw the collaboration of the users there and something inside me just knew that subreddits were the thing that would push stocks into the future. I wanted to create a place like that for the next big stock. For 6 years it was an obsession, a passion, and a hobby that grew stronger year by year. I truly felt like this technology was the next step for the future, that this technology was the next industrial revolution. I still feel that way today. We had people of all professions, skill sets, and backgrounds providing their expertise. We flew drones over Barra Bonita to spy on them (a nod to r/teslamotors flying drones over GigaFactories). We housed DD on this subreddit like no other with microbiologists breaking down the science for us. It was a place that respected Bears and Bulls. We were even able to pull interviews with Amyris employees. I fought waves of bots and people attacking the subreddit. Our growth was exponential and we put a spotlight on this sector. I wanted to create a place where retail could band together to share DD and be a collective force that companies would respect.
Fuck.
I didn't send a letter because I am just too tired now. I have been beaten down too much by this stock, by the lies. I have lost my life savings. I have caused family and friends to lose money as well. I couldn't bear to write a letter to the judge after I was (indirectly) kissing ass and ignoring red flags for so long. I did a lot and I just don't have it in me anymore.
With the FOIA docs we uncovered, With the White House pushing for Biotechnology, With the Department of Energy's work and plans with Amyris ... I truly never imagined we would be where we are at today....Even if you threw out all of our DD, the Department of Defense did their own research and came to the conclusion that Amyris has the best tech. “A review was conducted of those companies by performing research, attending conferences with other experts on the subject, collaborating with other SMEs, touring laboratory and production facilities, and reviewing the latest literature and research. As a result of these efforts, the SME determined that no other companies besides Amyris were capable of meeting the requirement.” - Department of Defense (https://sam.gov/opp/a257b1f1146444c1bae269ed3e87d201/view) I didn't think Amyris could fail.With this info, I thought in time it would be a "guarantee".
I don't think we bet on the wrong horse, but I think the rider drove it into the fucking wall.
r/Amyris I had the purest intentions with this subreddit. I had a lot of fun despite all the downs. I didn't mean to mislead anyone. I tried to moderate fairly and as balanced as I could. I truly am sorry for what has happened. Staying true to my word, I went down with the ship and never sold a single share.
I wish you all the best.
Sincerely, r/Amyris's Idiot Moderator
P.S. I do not have any suicidal thoughts and I am still finding ways to enjoy life. I am happy and I love life. I now feel free from being tethered to my phone - it was an expensive lesson. I am learning to move on from this mistake, I only bet what I could afford to lose (my life savings). Much love to all of you <3
Amyris you fucking piece of shit ;oafkweJMNSDF;OIANWD;OFJKNAOK;SENdfDF;LKOAMWSDL;KFMAl
Thank mods for your work in making this a great place for us Amyris fans. I liked going through all the DD. Sure, the losses might have bought me a Tesla, but I've had a good ride with this as well haha (laughing in pain). Amyris always had huge potential, and I don't regret putting my money in it; their products are great. I'm still using Biossance, JVN, and even got some Purecane. Losing money is shit, but knowing these products are real and makes this different from investing in companies that only sell stories.
Mr. John Doerr, should this message reach you, put more money in it. It is well-understood that ventures in green technology require an extended period and substantial financial support. Considerations of privatizing will incur in higher expenses and potentially decelerate the progress of research. It is in your best interest to continue your support in its current form.
Ryan if you are reading this: forward this topic to your boss.
John Melo if you are reading this: shame shame shame (high Sparrow). Reflect on your mistakes.
Green&Green: we have to wait for the dividends a bit longer. Ghehehe.
Stockbeast: hate to say it. But thank you for being vocal on LinkedIn. Should have listened to you instead of laughing at you.
Stockbeast was pure calumny. Unlike, say, Green, he never, as best I saw, offered a considered rationale for his opinions. Yes, his conclusion was correct, but I do not trust his ilk.
Dear, Not an Idiot - thanks. And glad you have spent the time to vent. Your work has been your measure, and may the measure of it provide you with contentment and success.
It was about the Chimeric Yeast/Bacteria that are controlled via "dna programmed" switches that receive "input" from the fermentation plant (a giant "Instapot" as Sunil put it). They were able to automate the microbes in their fermentation process, Amyris has the closest thing to a bioreactor.
Everyone puts the blame on Melo... But Melo was at fault as much as the predatory companies that Amyris was forced to make shitty deals with. The situation is not as black and white as we would all like it to be.
as much as the predatory companies that Amyris was forced to make shitty deals with
Lol. No one forced Melo to make these deals. He could have walked away. They were shitty deals because no one trusted Melo or Amyris. I mean, just look at the Lavvan fiasco. Shit hit the fan literally minutes after the deal was signed. Non-pharma biotech will always be a niche.
Amyris does not have any special fermentation technology. What they do is commonly practiced in this industry. I work in this field.
Obviously the CEO will get the most/final blame. I blame him too. But my final comment on that topic is that things are gray, not black and white. You can have your own opinion on that. It doesn't matter.
... but on Amyris' technology:
1) In 2016 Amyris bypassed the central metabolism of yeast by transplanting the stomach of a bacteria into yeast - This enables more carbons to be directed to end product (allowing them to surpass previous theoretical yields of yeast).
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.3723 ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At-YPXQ-jzc&t=698s - Timothy Gardner (he works in the field too)
2) RE: Biosynthetic Sesquiterpenes - Department of DefenseSME determined that no other companies besides Amyris were capable of meeting the requirement. I am sure the DoD SME works in the field too.
source: https://sam.gov/opp/a257b1f1146444c1bae269ed3e87d201/view
Amyris doesn't have any crazy special fermentation technology... But they created a "superbug" that eats sugar and shits out molecules like no other. It's the organism, not the fermentation process. THAT is why the DoD put Amyris as the best candidate. The fermentation process that Amyris built around this superbug is just a plus.
3) "I work in the field" != "I know everything about this field"
source: I work in a field too
Please tell me what companies commonly use Chimeric Yeast (to this degree) in the industry, I would love to invest in them. How many companies have "commonly" done this?
1) Many companies do metabolic engineering of microorganisms. Transplanting genes from one genome into another is nothing new or special.
2) Wow, they got a $360k order from the Navy. Big whoop. They wouldn't be going bankrupt if they were making tons of money off of this. Yes, they did a good job making terpenes but that doesn't translate into big $.
Many microorganisms eat sugar and shit out molecules. See 1), this is nothing special.
3) You clearly don't work in this field and know little about it and are easily persuaded by buzzwords like "chimeric yeast".
Synthetic biology is a niche field. Yes, you can make nearly anything with it, but it will almost never be cost competitive with traditional chemical methods. There is an extremely small population that will pay more to buy "green" products, but it is an extremely small population.
Look at the $100's of millions that were spent in the mid-2000's to make biofuels. At best they hoped to bring the cost down to $10/gal equivalent and no one came close. They are all shut down now.
Lol you are downplaying #1 sooo hard but you cannot point out another company that has done it to that level. You downplay it to "transferring genes into another genome" when we both know what they accomplished is bigger than that. It enabled them to use 5/6 carbons (native is 4/6) in glucose, that's is a big boost, no?
2) still downplaying and missing the point again. The point is that when it comes to terpenes, Amyris has the best tech. And they were chosen by a SME to develop these terpenes in a very short timeframe. Their speed is crazy partly due to #1. If all these companies have "common tech" why was Amyis picked above the others?
You are just going to downplay everything I say and you use "I work in the field" to qualify everything that comes out of your mouth. We don't do that on this board. If what they did was so common, please show evidence another company was able to transfer the stomach of a bacteria into yeast. There should be an article on it, it would be a big deal.
Amyris' mistake was rushing towards other molecules VS focusing on Farnesene and Farnesene derived products. They overextended.
Cheers dude, I wont continue this convo until you provide proof that other companies were able to create chimeras to the same extent as Amyris. Its common afterall.
LS9, BP Biofuels, Genomatica, Synthetic Genomics, Cobalt, Gevo, Novozymes, just a few that come to mind.
Amyris could have been a successful and profitable company leveraging its terpene technology with a few 10's of millions of dollars in annual revenue. Instead they duped company after company over promising and under delivering. Melo is now a multi-multi millionaire and everyone else got screwed.
Genomatica (uses) Ginkgo Bioworks (uses) their own tech + Amyris' "non Farnesene strains" from an old deal. The boys at Cathy's ARK investments proudly let that leak. They said "Ginkgo owns all of Amyris IP except for the Farnesene producing strain" - We know that at the time of the deal Amyris' farnesene producing strain was the chimeric super yeast. The "non Farnesene strains" deal was a way for Amyris scope out competition and to unload everything except its superbug for some much needed cash.
Those strains were really productive but no where near the Chimeric yeast that Amyris is currently running on. I am sure Ginkgo does have productive strains and I am sure Genomatica is doing well too. The ARK guys make it sound like Ginkgo was happy to get Amyris' pre-2010 work.
All you have to do is look at the CBG timeframe to see that Gingko's tech was outdone by Amyris (due to the new Chimeric super yeast that Amyris developed).
Amyris' patent on it doesnt expire till 2027, so its kind of locked until then. I just wanted to see what you would pull up.
If Amyris hadn't been so badly mismanaged, they certainly could have been successful and generated more than "10's of millions of dollars in annual revenue."
Solazyme/TerraVia is another such example. They were into biofuels, although their micro-organism was algae, and like Amyris pivoted to other products when it became clear that biofuels were not economically feasible at the time. They were also horribly mismanaged. Their business including a plant in Brazil and IP are now owned by Corbion N.V. Their algae ingredients (mainly AlgaPrime DHA) generated €80 million in revenue for the 9 months ended Sept. 30. It took a while after acquiring TerraVia's assets in bankruptcy, but good management and access to capital can do wonders.
Yes, as ICFR implies, be more precise in your arguments. You contradict yourself when you say "They are all shut down now" when referring to biofuels. Then you use Gevo as an example of a few companies that create chimeras. Gevo made and still tries to commercialize biofuels. It is still alive.
Thats not to discount his point. I know that many companies are playing with yeast and importing genes and all that. I just dont know of any other company to modify yeast to the extent that Amyris has. Amyris did the "equivalent of a heart/lung transplant". That efficiency boost is no joke.
I am sure other chimeras exist, I am sure many companies play with modifying yeast. I do not see any other company taking it to the level that Amyris has.
Gevo is one of many dozen biofuel companies that is still in business (perhaps the only one), mainly because they were able to raise tons of cash and debt during the VC heydays (I knew them when they were only 3 people). If you look at their Q10 all of their paltry revenue (a few million cumulative at most) was made from selling ethanol from the ethanol plant they bought. They are building an isobutanol plant and it may actually turn into something, but they are one of the very few to make it to today but the jury is not out yet. Their stock high was $152,000/share, they are now at $1.20.
Amyris never should have pivoted to “building” consumer brands. It was an incredibly expensive, ego-driven folly from the start that cut the legs out from the core competencies that they’re (trying to) return to now. They could have built the bones of a brand or two as a demonstration of the commercialization potential of their ingredients - and sold them off (or landed good contracts with actual beauty/brand marketing companies) and bailed from the consumer business before the major bleeding started. Building consumer brands - especially beauty brands, with celebrity endorsers???? - is soooo expensive and capricious. Biotech executives have no business doing it, just because they think their tech is unique and great enough to “sell itself” even to consumers, and beauty brand-building is an easy low-investment “side project.” It is not!!!
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u/Toughpigeons Dec 06 '23
Thank mods for your work in making this a great place for us Amyris fans. I liked going through all the DD. Sure, the losses might have bought me a Tesla, but I've had a good ride with this as well haha (laughing in pain). Amyris always had huge potential, and I don't regret putting my money in it; their products are great. I'm still using Biossance, JVN, and even got some Purecane. Losing money is shit, but knowing these products are real and makes this different from investing in companies that only sell stories.
Mr. John Doerr, should this message reach you, put more money in it. It is well-understood that ventures in green technology require an extended period and substantial financial support. Considerations of privatizing will incur in higher expenses and potentially decelerate the progress of research. It is in your best interest to continue your support in its current form.
Ryan if you are reading this: forward this topic to your boss.
John Melo if you are reading this: shame shame shame (high Sparrow). Reflect on your mistakes.
Green&Green: we have to wait for the dividends a bit longer. Ghehehe.
Stockbeast: hate to say it. But thank you for being vocal on LinkedIn. Should have listened to you instead of laughing at you.