Traders News Source Senior Editor, Mark Roberts Interviews David J. Gandini, Chairman & CEO SOBR Safe Inc. (NASDAQ: SOBR)

Dave Gandini
Chairman & CEO

Dave is a serial entrepreneur and has spent his career identifying and seizing opportunities in telecommunications, technology, software and automated packaging. In his role at SOBR Safe, he is responsible for capital creation, new business acquisition, business strategy & development and partnership revenue generation.

Dave most recently served as President of IPS Denver, a bank card personalization and packaging entity, where he transformed the company into the leader in the US secured gift market space – growing the company from concept to $46 million in revenue. IPS was acquired by a public company in 2014. Prior to his engagement at IPS, Dave was the COO at First World Communications, a major US internet and Data Center provider, and participated in its successful IPO in 2000, raising over $250 million. Previously, Dave founded Pace Network Services, providing carrier SS7 signaling to US long distance providers and facilitated a successful exit to ICG Communications. He also co-founded Detroit-based Digital Signal in the fiber optic long haul market sector, where he executed a successful exit to SP Telecom.

Dave is a father of three boys, and resides with his wife in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Telecommunications. He was a scholarship NCAA Division I Hockey player, and was a member of the US Junior National Team and a US Junior All-American.

 

Thank you for giving us your time to answer our questions.

FULL INTERVIEW

 

For our readers unfamiliar with SOBR, can you briefly describe the company and their technology?

 

The annual cost of alcohol abuse in the U.S. is $249 billion. Nearly half of all industrial accidents with injuries are alcohol-related, and 13% of U.S. commercial driver’s test positive for alcohol (the highest rate worldwide). In response, Denver-based SOBRsafe™ has developed a proprietary, touch-based identity verification, alcohol detection and cloud-based reporting system. The technology is transferable across innumerable form factors, including stationary access control, personal wearables and for telematics integration.

A preventative solution in historically reactive industries, it is being deployed for commercial fleets, workplaces and alcohol rehabilitation; other intended applications include probation management and young drivers. This patent-pending alcohol detection solution helps prevent an intoxicated worker from taking the factory floor or a driver from receiving the keys to a truck, bus or rideshare vehicle. An offender is immediately flagged, and an administrator is empowered to take the appropriate corrective actions. At SOBRsafe, we are creating a culture of prevention. To learn more, visit www.sobrsafe.com.

 

SOBR recently announced a relationship with TerraTech, an oilfield services company. Can you describe that relationship, how it came to be, and have you evaluated the level of revenues that may come from that relationship?

 

[This relationship came through one of our Board member’s personal contacts. Unfortunately, we are under NDA and per the terms of our agreement we cannot discuss in more detail the TerraTech opportunity until the demonstrations are complete in Q1 2023. So, for now, we would like to reference Dave’s quote from the news release:]

 

“Drinking on the job makes for dramatic deadlines, and it is an epidemic in America. But the silent problem facing organizations is employee binge drinking the night prior,” said SOBRsafe Chairman and CEO Dave Gandini. “It can take an hour or more to metabolize each ounce of alcohol, so numerous drinks even hours before work can result in impairment well into a shift – significantly increasing the risk of injury to not only the employee, but to his or her co-workers as well. Existing detection solutions do not account for this more subtle assault on workplace safety.

 

“We believe that uniform pre-entry and pre-exit screening through SOBRcheck can help change binge drinking behavior, and we expect these demonstrations to provide the oil and gas industry definitive proof of concept and open a path to revenue.”

 

To total industry revenue opportunity, we would first reference the statistics previously cited in the news release:

 

• Oil and gas experiences the highest rate of binge drinking of any industry in the United States [1]:

 

• Across all industries and occupations, binge drinking is most common among oil and gas extraction workers at 26%

 

• Four other safety-sensitive occupations critical to oil and gas rank in the first five positions for excessive drinking, including construction; installation, maintenance & repair; production; and transportation

 

• Per the 2021 US Census, these oil and gas occupations employ more than 50,000 workers

 

• Across all occupations, the industry employs over 100,000 people [2]

 

The monthly software-as-a-service (SaaS) fee for both our stationary device SOBRcheck™ and our wearable band SOBRsure™ is $30 per user. Applying that to the worker count, the most safety-sensitive 50,000 workers would yield a total annual revenue opportunity, from recurring revenue only, of $18 million. If applied to all employees in the industry in the U.S., that would equate to a $36 million annual opportunity.

 

Oil and gas workers record an elevated level of binge drinking. Have any cost/benefit analysis been conducted, to your knowledge, for alcohol control in that sector?

 

Not specific to oil and gas, but consider these alcohol statistics in the broader commercial landscape:

 

 

SOBR just announced the Child Safety Network (CSN) has awarded the company its Safe Family Seal of Approval and that SOBRcheck would be used in ensuring school bus safety. Congratulations! Can you describe how that school bus opportunity may develop?

 

Thank you! CSN is a trusted source of free guidance to all of America’s school districts, representing approximately 500,000 school buses and 25 million student passengers. The Safe Family Seal of Approval gives us immediate credibility, and with stories like this continually making national headlines, we feel that our solutions are both timely and necessary.

 

As with the calculations above, 500,000 school buses equates to a $180 million total annual revenue opportunity.

 

How do you think that CSN award might impact SOBR’s entry into other opportunities and ultimately impact SOBR revenues?

 

It is a very gratifying award, and we believe the recognition we have already received – in just the first few months of commercials sales – combines to validate our technology. We believe that these translate across all addressable verticals and paint a very compelling picture for prospective customers:

 

• SOBRsafe Receives Child Safety Network Safe Family Seal of Approval
• SOBRsafe Awarded OH&S 2022 New Product of the Year in Safety Monitoring Device Category
• SOBRsafe Named a MFG Innovation Excellence Award Finalist by the Michigan Manufacturers Association

 

SOBR recently announced a cash position of more than $10M. Specifically how will that cash be used and how long of an operating runway will it provide?

 

As SOBRsafe Chairman and CEO Dave Gandini recently stated, “This cash on hand empowers us to accelerate the building of our national sales team and gives us the opportunity to ‘pull forward’ value-added features that drive increased margin and key differentiation in the detection market. Finally, we believe we have the cash to fully implement and execute on our business plan in 2023 and beyond.”

 

Hypothetically, If I consume five ounces of alcohol during my Friday night bowling league that ends at 11:00 p.m., will SOBRcheck still indicate a positive result at 8:00 a.m. the next morning?

 

Per the AlcoholRehabGuide.org, “Every person processes alcohol at a constant rate of about one standard drink per hour. However, there are many factors that can influence how long an individual feels the effects of alcohol, including: age, gender, body composition, and overall health.”

 

So statistically speaking and in consideration of those other factors, 9 hours should be more than sufficient to metabolize 5 ounces of alcohol and SOBRcheck would not indicate a positive result. SOBRsafe does not seek to penalize a personal life (we have lives of our own as well!), but just to help ensure that the night before doesn’t carry over into the work day and place colleagues at risk.

 

What is your perspective on the total addressable market for SOBR products now and in the future?

 

Our perspective on our addressable market in 2023 is as follows:

Is there any non-public material information you would like to announce for our distribution or near term potential catalysts to highlight for our readers?

Not that we can share at this time.

 

Thank you David,

The Traders News Team