Thursday, November 19, 2009

Is Vertiflex Losing Its Flex?

Recently, TSB has heard a rumor on the street that there is something amiss at Vertiflex! Could there be trouble in paradise? Could the 'flex be losing some of its muscle? To our knowledge some of our sources have stated that it's not a question of solvency, yet, it seems that some integral employees have been shown the door. Sometimes you have to wonder whether the right people are leaving this operation.

Questions have been raised about their burn rate, and how this is affecting their ability to bring products to the market. If they are burning capital at an exceedingly high rate and failing to bring revenue in to offset expenditures, no matter who is affiliated with this company, there could be trouble looming on the horizon. The question remains if they need more cash who is willing to roll the dice on this venture?

Is there is a real weak link at this company? Based on what we hear, it may be the VP of R&D who seems to like to tout himself as a Master of the R&D Universe! How funny is it when you read that he was responsible for leading Interpore Cross to a company with a comprehensive product line. Most companies that begin to experience engine trouble start out by saying that the organization is changing strategic direction. The only problem with that excuse is that its like setting sail for Europe and half way across the Atlantic you decide you need to sail around the Cape Horn and any sailing buff knows that the climate gets cool in the southern latitudes. TSB wants to know what are readers have heard?

11 comments:

  1. I have heard that they are struggling with their Superion (X-Stop like device) IDE... IDEs are very expensive in today's world and struggling to get one done can be a huge drain on cash. Also, I've heard that they are struggling to get some sales traction - word is that they are around $10mm in sales and trying to find growth...

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  2. Yes, the VP of R&D does think he is the master of the universe! In fact he was not the leader at Interpore Cross of the department, he was the leader of "the road block, do it my way because it is the only way and being surly" department. That pretty much sizes it up. TSB your right again.

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  3. Well said TSB, maybe Mr.Timm should give his old colleague the VP of R&D of Vertiflex some advice. Bail in the middle of all failures just like I did!!!!!!!!
    Peter Drucker said it best,"Management by objectives works if you first think through your objectives. Ninety percent of the time you haven't".

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  4. It is surprising that the CEO has not figured out that the "master of the universe" is problamatic along with the "big head" running international.

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  5. I think that Earl Fender has done a very good job in his time with this company. He inherited a lot of problems!

    It is clear that the VP of R&D is and will forever be an issue. I'm not sure what can be done about it since Moti is tight with Keegan Harper and the only person who apparently is smart enough to use the technology without "additional training". Nice work TSB, keep it up!

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  6. Just read all of the comments, the phones are ringing, I just was given the blogger address to look at. All is accurate! What Earl does not know is that Moti has gone out of his way to block great candidates that know what he is all about or those that know more than he does or intimidate him. Go figure! I agree about the comments about Hughes. He is an absolute BS'r!

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  7. Let me pile on here. Nobody did any real reference checks here on Moti or Hughes. Obviously no one checked out why Hughes really left EBI/Biomet. Vertiflex deserves them both!

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  8. Let me add a comment, Moti hires his buddies! How can you hire in an administration assistant as the director of marketing who just left to be a senior product manager at Alphatec?

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  9. ROTF LMAO... glad to see that the TRUTH about Moti and VertiFlex is finally shining through.

    What a mortifying mess of completely useless IP and products.

    Everything breaks, everything! They have sucked since day one and so long and Moti and Keegan are on board, always will.

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  10. Moti has NO QUALIFICATIONS to on any board! Are you joking or just on drugs!

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  11. How many times do we hear of companies with supposedly hot IP that have a rapid burn rate and no sales? Hiring DePuy cronies isn't going to solve it. It's a technology co and not a spine co. What a mess with no real vision. They should start by doing prospective studies with their dynamic rod. You could grab $10M in revenue by licensing that rod to other spine companies, instead of force-feeding it along with their bogus open ped screw system. The ISP device wont go anywhere without a better protocol and leadership that understands pathology. Nothing smells worse than a spine company that doesn't really understand spine. What a waste of VC money.

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