EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1413891
Filing Year: 2025
Filename: 1413891_10-K_2025_0001213900-25-026353.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Business Overview
HWN, Inc., (d/b/a High Wire Network Solutions, Inc.) (“HWN”) was incorporated in Delaware on January 20, 2017. HWN is a global provider of managed cybersecurity, managed networks, and tech enabled professional services delivered exclusively through a channel sales model. Our Overwatch managed security platform-as-a-service offers organizations end-to-end protection for networks, data, endpoints and users via multiyear recurring revenue contracts in this fast-growing technology segment. HWN has continuously operated under the High Wire Networks brand for 24 years.
HWN and JTM Electrical Contractors, Inc. (“JTM”), an Illinois Corporation, entered into an operating agreement through which High Wire owned 50% of JTM. On February 15, 2022, HWN sold its 50% interest in JTM.
On June 16, 2021, we completed a merger with Spectrum Global Solutions, Inc. On January 7, 2022, Spectrum Global Solutions, Inc. legally changed its name to High Wire Networks, Inc. (“High Wire”). The merger was accounted for as a reverse merger. At the time of the reverse merger, High Wire’s subsidiaries included ADEX Corporation, ADEX Puerto Rico LLC, ADEX Canada, ADEX Towers, Inc. and ADEX Telecom, Inc. (collectively “ADEX” or the “ADEX Entities”), AW Solutions Puerto Rico, LLC (“AWS PR”), and Tropical Communications, Inc. (“Tropical”). For accounting purposes, HWN is the surviving entity. On March 6, 2023, HWN divested the ADEX Entities. On July 31, 2023, HWN paused the operations of its AWS PR subsidiary. On November 3, 2023, HWN paused the operations of its Tropical subsidiary.
On November 4, 2021, we closed on the acquisition of Secure Voice Corp (“SVC”). The closing of the acquisition was facilitated by a senior secured promissory note which has been repaid.
On August 4, 2023, we formed a new entity - incorporated as Overwatch Cyberlab, Inc. (“OCL”) - which is 80% owned by our company.
On June 27, 2024, HWN entered into an asset purchase agreement with INNO4 LLC pursuant to which INNO4 LLC agreed to purchase certain assets of HWN related to our technology services business unit. Additionally, the asset purchase agreement includes a non-compete which precludes our company from operating businesses similar to that of AWS PR and Tropical for five (5) years from the closing date. All historical operating results for the technology services business unit and for AWS PR and Tropical are presented as results from discontinued operations.
On February 10, 2025, we filed an Information Statement wherein a majority of our stockholders approved an amendment to our Articles of Incorporation authorizing the Reverse Split ranging up to a ratio of 1-for-250 (the “Reverse Split”). On March 24, 2025 the Board of Directors approved the 1-for-250 Reverse Split and the Company filed the amendment to the Articles of Incorporation.
The Reverse Split will not impact the par value of the Company’s common stock or the authorized number of shares of common stock. Our audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto are presented giving effect to the Reverse Split.
We provide the following categories of offerings to our customers:
● Managed Cybersecurity: Recognized by Frost and Sullivan as one of the “Top 12 Managed and Professional Cybersecurity Companies in the Americas” in February 2023 and again in 2024, High Wire’s award-winning Overwatch solution offers organizations end-to-end protection for networks, data, endpoints and users via multiyear, recurring revenue contracts. Managed cybersecurity is a fast-growing technology segment, and it provides nearly 100% recurring revenue through long-term contracts with our average contract length being more than two years. Overwatch delivers services through MSPs, strategic partnerships and alliances, VARs, distributors and network service providers.
● Secure Voice Corp. Offering wholesale SIP only network transport as an FCC registered IXC and partnering with providers around the country to deliver voice traffic to its end destination SVC provides attractive rates and voice products, running millions of minutes of calls per day.
Our Operating Units
Our company is comprised of the following:
● Managed Cybersecurity Solutions: High Wire’s Overwatch platform-as-a-service offers organizations end-to-end protection for networks, data, endpoints and users via multiyear recurring revenue contracts in this fast-growing technology segment.
● Secure Voice Corp: We provided wholesale telecommunications services to other carriers as an FCC registered IXC. We provide these services through a highly resilient virtual switching infrastructure.
Our Industry
The pace of technological evolution continues to accelerate and shows no sign of slowing down. As technology evolves, the demand for more robust networks, faster speeds, better experiences and protection from cyber threats continues to grow. This demand was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid transition to “work from home” for large swaths of the global workforce. Remote learning, virtual meetings, collaboration software and increased email volume, have all transformed and strained the way we do business and share information. Networks can no longer be secured with firewalls and other network centric cybersecurity controls. As a result of these developments, cybersecurity strategy will continue to evolve and create opportunities for companies to innovate and thrive.
With the rapid proliferation of device connectivity and the transition of the workforce to remote or hybrid, cyber security risks have grown significantly. Cyber security challenges have thus increased the demands on enterprise networks and all traditional networks. According to Grandview Research, the Global Cybersecurity market was $222.66 Billion in 2023 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.3% through 2030. According to Chainalysis, in 2023, Ransomware payments reached a record $1.1 billion. Cyber risk is now something that every business is forced to address around the globe. Closer to home, a patchwork of legislation has emerged in the United States with various states enacting different requirements for the protection of sensitive data, networks. These requirements often include the imposition of a duty to disclose cyber security incidents. Congress has yet to enact federal laws mandating cyber security protections thus far, but there have been many discussions on the subject. Federal agencies have already issued regulations with cyber risk in mind. For example, the Department of Defense has updated standards for private sector companies doing business with them.
Global Cyber Security spending is expected to exceed $1.75 trillion from 2021 to 2025 according to Cybersecurity Ventures. Enterprises, Service Providers, Wireless Providers, and Managed Service Providers are all working at a feverish pace to keep up with emerging threats. There are over 2,000 different “point” solutions on the market today. Most are focused on a single part of the problem or “attack surface.” Traditional solutions require a lot of work to deploy, constant monitoring, and well-trained personnel to interpret the massive amounts of data they produce. This sets the stage for a company which combines best-in-breed tools with a comprehensive solution.
High Wire Networks, Inc. was recognized by Frost and Sullivan in both the 2024 and 2023 Frost Radar: America’s Top Professional and Managed Cybersecurity Companies, as one of the top 12 companies in the Americas. This was based on a number of criteria around growth and innovation, ranking us amongst the largest and best companies in the industry. One of these criteria is identification and exploitation of mega trend opportunities in the space. Our Overwatch Managed Cybersecurity platform is built around an open ecosystem that is vendor and technology agnostic, and built for scale around extensive automation capabilities. Identifying that customers need vendors that can “meet them exactly where they are at” and truly operationalize cybersecurity for them in a way that they often cannot themselves, resonates with customers as they seek to better improve their security posture.
All of these trends come together at the network level. As networks improve from the carrier to the enterprise, demand for building, managing, and protecting these networks will rise. The amount of money that the industry is predicted to spend on cyber security will increase as well. The contracts to perform these services and provide human capital for them will last years.
INDUSTRY TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES
● Cyber Security Managed Service
● IOT creating deployment and cyber security opportunities
● International growth, developing and emerging markets
● Monetize our existing telecom network (Secure Voice Corp) in new ways
Competitors
Managed Services is a very competitive market and as such, our strategy is to continue to work through distribution channels with existing customer bases and robust sales organizations as well as selectively work with very large Enterprise in markets our channel partners do not serve. We believe that this strategy can provide rapid growth. Many of our competitors are wed to their own software, which makes it challenging to pivot as threats change. We have chosen to avoid this trap, allowing us to pivot quickly as needs change, and not spend tens or hundreds of millions in R&D, risking missing a single tech cycle and burning shareholder capital. Some of our significant competitors would be Arctic Wolf, Cydera, SecureWorks and numerous smaller competitors. This space is rapidly evolving, thus hiring and retaining talent can be challenging. Companies that leverage automation technologies to scale will have a significant advantage. In a crowded and evolving landscape, there will be a continued need to spend on marketing and sales to acquire partners and help them convert and acquire new customers. We believe that with the combination of businesses we have and the extensive investments we have made in hyper-automation and extensive experimentation with Generative Artificial Intelligence products, we will be able to differentiate our services and compete aggressively in this market, capitalizing on and monetizing trends ahead of the competition.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe our market advantage is our positioning as a trusted authority in the space, our highly experienced management team with long-term relationships, proven track record of growth, and industry reputation for high-quality service. High Wire’s investments in automation technologies, scalable and open architecture, help our partners and our clients create a competitive advantage in the war against cybercriminals.
We believe our additional strengths described below will enable us to continue to compete effectively and to take advantage of anticipated growth opportunities:
● Recognition by Frost and Sullivan in February of 2023 and again in 2024 as one of the “Top 12 Managed and Professional Cybersecurity Solution Providers”, selected from over 120 companies considered.
● Extensive sales distribution in cybersecurity and managed services with over 250 established MSP channel partners and over 1,300 paying end clients.
● Proven ability to recruit, manage and retain high-quality personnel. Our ability to recruit, manage and retain skilled labor is a critical advantage in an industry where the supply of highly skilled and experienced personnel is limited. This is often a key factor in our customers selecting High Wire Networks over our competitors. We believe that our highly skilled team members with professional certifications give us a competitive edge over other companies as we continue to expand and meet our clients’ needs.
● Expansion of our recurring revenue streams through increased focus on managed services, cyber security services, and professional services programs that are multiple years in duration will increase client retention, grow margins, and make the business more predictable through uncertain economic cycles.
● Our sales organization has extensive expertise and deep industry relationships. Paired with an effective and efficient marketing message that drives new client acquisition, we believe they position us to compete very well.
● Our highly experienced management team has deep industry knowledge and brings extensive combined experience across a broad range of disciplines. We believe our senior management team is a key driver of our success and is well-positioned to execute our strategy.
KEY ASPECTS
● Proven management team in place
● Extensive automation capabilities in Managed Cyber Services enabling scalability at high margin
● Competing in high growth markets
● Global operational capabilities
● Effective marketing and strong brand awareness in the industry
● Vast expertise in technology domains
● Top customers in the industry in every segment
● Diverse customer base of nearly 500 channel partners across three different sales channels
Our Growth Strategy
● Under our current management team, we have developed a growth strategy based on a combination of organic growth and growth through operations. Our strategy is focused on building the business on high margin recurring revenue to drive long term sustainability. We have consolidated our sales and management team to leverage the strength of our clients and sell across the existing base. We will continue to focus on existing offerings while adding robust new capabilities.
● We will continue to grow and expand our award winning, channel focused Overwatch platform. This service leverages our extensive expertise to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats 24x7x365. These services are in high demand around the world, and our platform is cutting edge.
● We intend to expand our relationships with new service partners. We plan to capture and expand new relationships. We believe that the business model for the expansion of these relationships, leveraging our core strengths, experience and broad array of service solutions, will support our business model for organic growth.
● We plan to increase operating margins by continuing to leverage advanced automation technologies as well as generative artificial intelligence technology to supplement our cybersecurity analysts and scale the business.
● We expect growth in our cybersecurity business driven by multi-year contracts with recurring revenue. Overwatch’s contractual relationships with our nearly 250 channel partners are driven by MSAs, and High Wire has a 24-year history of partner retention that spans years and decades. Typical customer engagement agreements are three-year contracts. As such, our MRR growth is predictable as it compounds with new partner and new end customer acquisition.
● In our Managed Cybersecurity segment, our strategy is considered “marketing driven” rather than “sales driven.” A marketing driven strategy drives new partner acquisition faster and more cost effectively. By acquiring partners this way, we typically migrate their entire customer base for at least one service, then move them into additional services once that is completed. This allows us to grow with incremental sales within their existing base, as well as new customers as they add to their base. This creates a “network multiplying effect” to our strategy. Our marketing strategy consists of attending trade shows geared to partners for brand awareness, speaking engagements, thought leadership events, search engine optimization campaigns and building our organic “domain relevance” with search engines by constantly providing expert content, which brings searchers to our site for expertise, not just sales. Behind our marketing, we focus on an efficient capture by our sales organization, which can be kept lean and focused on larger strategic initiatives to enable partners to bring us larger deals. Sales also focuses on the larger enterprise-oriented partners where relationships already exist from our technology services segment.
● We plan to acquire new partners and help them grow their business. Once partners are acquired and we onboard their customer base, we focus on enablement with them to help them upsell the more complex and high value solutions. This is done with webinars, on-site training, and infotainment events that we co-sponsor with the partners using funds they earn as a percentage of their overall annual sales.
● We expect to add contractual services in the SVC segment. These services include fully managed and hosted contact center services and voice call origination. Our updated and upgraded infrastructure positions us to grow and scale our traffic, and we believe adding more contractual recurring revenue in this segment will grow enterprise value. 2024 results have validated the scalability and profitability of this model.
● We intend to grow revenues and market share through selective acquisitions. We plan to acquire companies that enhance our earnings and offer complementary recurring revenue services plus expand our geographic reach and client base. We believe such acquisitions will help us to accelerate our revenue growth, leverage our existing strengths, and capture and retain market share. We intend to target companies where we can take advantage of our investments in automation to maximize profitability immediately by significant reductions in headcount.
Our Services
We provide award winning managed cyber security solutions, managed services, and wholesale communications exclusively through our channel partners around the world. We leverage state of the art cyber security tools to deliver these services. We have built out extensive data center/cloud infrastructure enabling our partners to provide concierge level security services and extend their value proposition to their own clients with a high degree of certainty. Our U.S. based Security Operations Center (SOC) provides SOC as a Service (SOCaaS) to manage all of the tools 24x7x365. Our cybersecurity operations are 100% U.S. based with no offshore presence, entirely provided by our own employees. Our open architecture ecosystem is vendor and technology agnostic and allows us to integrate and automate with a nearly limitless number of security tools and solutions.
Customers
The majority of our revenue is from partners, as opposed to end customers. This enables us to leverage a smaller sales, sales support and customer service team.
A substantial portion of our revenue is derived from work performed under an MSA and multi-year service contracts with clients subject to the MSA terms. We have entered into MSAs with numerous service providers, VARS, stocking distributors and OEMs. MSAs are generally the contracting vehicle used to render our services for their clients, and we work with many clients under a single MSA with a partner. Customer specific SOWs generally contain customer-specified service requirements, including among others discrete pricing, specific security services to be managed, duration of the agreement, SLAs or service credits. Most of our MSAs may be cancelled by our customers upon minimum notice (typically 60 days), regardless of whether we are or are not in default, however specific customer SOWs may not be canceled without breach or specific causes of action. They are typically multi-year engagements, up to three years in duration, with our average across all end customers being more than two years. For the year ended December 31, 2024, three customers accounted for 8%, 5% and 4%, respectively, of consolidated revenues for the period. These customer relationships are driven by MSAs and relationships that have spanned for several years to over a decade. In addition, amounts due from these customers represented 2%, 0% and 0%, respectively, of trade accounts receivable as of December 31, 2024. For the year ended December 31, 2023, three customers accounted for 5%, 5% and 4%, respectively, of consolidated revenues for the period. In addition, amounts due from these customers represented 0%, 4% and 6%, respectively, of trade accounts receivable as of December 31, 2023.
Suppliers and Vendors
We have supply agreements with major technology vendors and other IXCs. However, for a majority of the managed services we perform, the most significant cost is the personnel in our SOC. We expect to continue to further develop our relationships with our technology vendors and to broaden our scope of work with each of our partners. In many cases, our relationships with our partners have spanned more than three years which we attribute to the relative importance of our solution set to their business, and our commitment to excellence. It is our objective to selectively expand our partnerships moving forward in order to expand our service offerings.
Safety and Risk Management
As a cybersecurity provider we take extensive precautions to defend and protect our systems from cyber risk. We have extensive internal procedures and practice to prevent cyber breaches and educate our personnel on cyber risk. We currently have no claims related to: workers’ compensation claims, general liability and damage claims, errors and omissions claims, cyber-related claims nor claims related to vehicle accidents, including personal injury and property damage. We insure against the risk of loss arising from our operations up to certain deductible limits in all of the states in which we operate. We evaluate our insurance requirements on an ongoing basis to help ensure we maintain adequate levels of coverage internally and externally for our clients.
Our internal policy is to carefully monitor claims and actively participate with our insurers in determining claims estimates and adjustments. The estimated costs of claims are accrued as liabilities and include estimates for claims incurred but not reported. If we experience future insurance claims in excess of our umbrella coverage limit, our business could be materially and adversely affected.
Additionally, we require all employees to pass background checks prior to hiring as a standard human resources practice.
Employees
As of December 31, 2024, we had 38 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees, of whom five were in administration and corporate management, three were accounting personnel, seven were sales personnel and 26 are engaged in professional engineering, operations, project managerial and technical roles.
We maintain a core of professional, technical, and managerial personnel and add employees as deemed appropriate to address operational and scale requirements related to growth.
Environmental Matters
A portion of the work related to the telecommunication division is work associated with above ground and underground networks of our customers. As a result, we are potentially subject to material liabilities related to encountering underground objects that may cause the release of hazardous materials or substances. We are subject to federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, including those regarding the removal and remediation of hazardous substances and waste. These laws and regulations can impose significant fines and criminal sanctions for violations. Costs associated with the discharge of hazardous substances may include clean-up costs and related damages or liabilities. These costs could be significant and could adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows.
Regulation
Our operations are subject to various federal, state, local and international laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, licensing, permitting and inspection requirements applicable to electricians and engineers; building codes; permitting and inspection requirements applicable to construction and installation projects; regulations relating to worker safety and environmental protection; telecommunication regulations affecting our wireless, wireline and fiber optic business; labor and employment laws; laws governing advertising, and laws governing our public business.
Our Corporate Information
Our principal offices are located at 30 North Lincoln Street, Batavia, Illinois 60510. Our telephone number is (952) 974-4000.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors and all other information contained in this report before purchasing our securities. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose some or all of your investment.
In addition to the other information in this annual report, you should carefully consider the following factors in evaluating us and our business. This annual report contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below, as well as those discussed elsewhere in this annual report, including the documents incorporated by reference.
There are risks associated with investing in companies such as ours. In addition to risks which could apply to any company or business, you should also consider the business we are in and the following:
Risks Related to Our Financial Results and Financing Plans
We have a history of losses and may continue to incur losses in the future.
We have a history of losses and may continue to incur losses in the future, which could negatively impact the trading value of our common stock. We incurred losses from operations of $8,554,067 and $11,950,409 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. In addition, we incurred a net loss from continuing operations attributable to common stockholders of $10,121,829 and $12,095,765 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We may continue to incur operating and net losses in future periods. These losses may increase, and we may never achieve profitability for a variety of reasons, including increased competition, decreased growth in the unified communications industry, and other factors described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section. If we cannot achieve sustained profitability, our stockholders may lose all or a portion of their investment in our company.
If we are unable to grow our revenue, we may never achieve or sustain profitability.
To become profitable, we must, among other things, continue increase our revenues. Our total revenues increased modestly from $6,906,160 in the year ended December 31, 2023 to $8,378,708 in the year ended December 31, 2024. In order to become profitable and maintain our profitability, we must, among other things, continue to increase our revenues. We may be unable to sustain our recent revenue growth, particularly if we are unable to develop and market our telecommunications, increase our sales to existing customers or develop new customers. However, even if our revenues continue to grow, they may not be sufficient to exceed increases in our operating expenses or to enable us to achieve or sustain profitability.
Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to meet our payment obligations.
As of December 31, 2024, we had total indebtedness of $2,677,904 consisting of $896,651 of convertible debentures, $1,422,696 of loans payable, and $358,557 of loans payable to related parties. $2,599,779 of this debt is due within the year ending December 31, 2025. Our substantial indebtedness could have important consequences to our stockholders. For example, it could:
● increase our vulnerability to and limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business;
● place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt;
● limit our ability to borrow additional funds, dispose of assets, pay dividends, and make certain investments; and
● make us more vulnerable to a general economic downturn than a company that is less leveraged.
A high level of indebtedness would increase the risk that we may default on our debt obligations. Our ability to meet our debt obligations and to reduce our level of indebtedness will depend on our future performance. General economic conditions and financial, business, and other factors affect our operations and our future performance. Many of these factors are beyond our control. We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flows to pay the interest on our debt and future working capital, borrowings or equity financing may not be available to pay or refinance such debt. Factors that will affect our ability to raise cash through an offering of our capital stock or a refinancing of our debt include our ability to access the public equity and debt markets, financial market conditions, the value of our assets and our performance at the time we need capital.
Risks Relating to Our Business
Our future success is substantially dependent on third-party relationships.
An element of our strategy is to establish and maintain alliances with other companies, such as suppliers of products and services as well as third-party software. These relationships enhance our status in the marketplace, which generates new business opportunities and marketing channels and, in certain cases, additional revenue and profitability. To effectively generate revenue out of these relationships, each party must coordinate and support required hence the sales and marketing efforts of the other, often including making a sizable investment in such sales and marketing activity. Our inability to establish and maintain effective alliances with other companies could impact our success in the marketplace, which could materially and adversely impact our results of operations. In addition, as we cannot control the actions of these third-party alliances, if these companies suffer business downturns or fail to meet their objectives, we may experience a resulting diminished revenue and decline in results of operations.
We license third-party software and other intellectual property for use in connection with our platform, including for various third-party product integrations with our platform. Our third-party licenses typically limit our use of intellectual property to specific uses and include other contractual obligations with which we must comply. These licenses may need to be renegotiated or renewed from time to time, or we may need to obtain new licenses in the future. Third parties may stop adequately supporting or maintaining their offerings or they or their technology may be acquired by our competitors. If we are unable to obtain licenses to third-party software and intellectual property on reasonable terms or at all, the functionalities available through our platform may be adversely impacted, which could in turn harm our business. Further, if we or our third-party licensors were to breach any material term of a license, such a breach could, among other things, prompt costly litigation, result in the license being invalidated and/or result in fines and other damages. If any of the following were to occur, it could harm our business, financial results, and our reputation. We also cannot be certain that our licensors are not infringing the intellectual property rights of others or that our licensors have sufficient rights to the intellectual property to grant us the applicable licenses. Although we seek to mitigate this risk contractually, we may not be able to sufficiently limit our potential liability. If we are unable to obtain or maintain rights to any of this intellectual property because of intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties against our licensors or against us, our ability to provide functionalities through our platform using such intellectual property could be severely limited and our business could be harmed. Furthermore, regardless of the outcome, infringement claims may require us to use significant resources and may divert management’s attention.
Claims by others that we infringed their proprietary technology or other intellectual property rights could harm our business.
Companies in the internet security and technology industries are frequently subject to litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, certain companies and rights holders seek to enforce and monetize patents or other intellectual property rights they own, have purchased, or have otherwise obtained. As we gain an increasingly high public profile, the possibility of intellectual property rights claims against us grows. Although we may have meritorious defenses, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in defending against these allegations or in reaching a business resolution that is satisfactory to us. Our competitors and others may now and in the future have patent portfolios that are used against us. In addition, future litigation may involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners who have no relevant product or service revenue and against whom our patents may therefore provide little or no deterrence or protection. Many potential litigants, including some of our competitors and patent-holding companies, have the ability to dedicate substantial resources to the assertion of their intellectual property rights. Any claim of infringement by a third-party, even those without merit, could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim, could distract our management from our business and could require us to cease use of such intellectual property.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, we risk compromising our confidential information during this type of litigation. We may be required to pay substantial damages, royalties or other fees in connection with a claimant securing a judgment against us, we may be subject to an injunction or other restrictions that prevent us from using or distributing our intellectual property, or from operating under our brand, or we may agree to a settlement that prevents us from distributing our offerings or a portion thereof, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
With respect to any intellectual property rights claim, we may have to seek out a license to continue operations found or alleged to violate such rights, which may not be available on favorable or commercially reasonable terms and may significantly increase our operating expenses. Some licenses may be non-exclusive, and therefore our competitors may have access to the same technology licensed to us. If a third party does not offer us a license to its intellectual property on reasonable terms, or at all, we may be required to develop alternative, non-infringing technology, which could require significant time (during which we would be unable to continue to offer our affected offerings), effort and expense and may ultimately not be successful. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property could be unenforceable or ineffective.
Intellectual property is a complex field of law in which few things are certain. Competitors may be able to design around our intellectual property, find prior art to invalidate it, or render the patents unenforceable through some other mechanism. If competitors can bypass our patent, trademark and copyright protection without obtaining a sub-license, the Company’s value will likely be materially and adversely impacted. This could also impair the Company’s ability to compete in the marketplace. Moreover, if our patent, trademarks and copyrights are deemed unenforceable, the Company will almost certainly lose any potential revenue it might be able to raise by entering into sub-licenses. This would cut off a significant potential revenue stream for the Company.
The cost of enforcing our trademarks and copyrights could prevent us from enforcing them.
Patent, trademark and copyright litigation has become extremely expensive. Even if we believe that a competitor is infringing on one or more of our patent, trademarks or copyrights, we might choose not to file suit because we lack the cash to successfully prosecute a multi-year litigation with an uncertain outcome, or because we believe that the cost of enforcing our patent(s), trademark(s) or copyright(s) outweighs the value of winning the suit in light of the risks and consequences of losing it, or for some other reason. Choosing not to enforce our patent(s), trademark(s) or copyright(s) could have adverse consequences for the Company, including undermining the credibility of our intellectual property, reducing our ability to enter into sublicenses, and weakening our attempts to prevent competitors from entering the market. As a result, if we are unable to enforce our patent(s), trademark(s) or copyright(s) because of the cost of enforcement, your investment in the Company could be significantly and adversely affected.
We are making substantial investments in new product offerings and technologies and expect to increase such investments in the future. These efforts are inherently risky, and we may never realize any expected benefits from them.
We have made substantial investments to develop new product offerings and technologies, including our data infrastructure and our secure browser module software, and we intend to continue investing significant resources in developing new technologies, tools, features, services, products, and product offerings. We expect to increase our investments in these new initiatives in the near term, which may result in lower margins. We also expect to spend substantial amounts as we seek to grow the verticals in which we operate our platform and increase our scale and expand our offerings to additional geographic markets. If we do not spend our development budget efficiently or effectively on commercially successful and innovative technologies, we may not realize the expected benefits of our strategy. Our new initiatives also have a high degree of risk, as each involves strategies, technologies, and regulatory requirements with which we have limited or no prior development or operating experience. There can be no assurance that demand for such initiatives will exist or be sustained at the levels that we anticipate, or that any of these initiatives will gain sufficient traction or market acceptance to generate sufficient revenue to offset any new expenses or liabilities associated with these new investments. It is also possible that product offerings developed by others will render our product offerings non-competitive or obsolete. Further, our development efforts for new product offerings and technologies could distract management from current operations and will divert capital and other resources from our more established product offerings and technologies. Even if we are successful in developing new product offerings or technologies, regulatory authorities may subject us to new rules or restrictions in response to our innovations that could increase our expenses or prevent us from successfully commercializing new product offerings or technologies. If we do not realize the expected benefits of our investments, our business, financial condition and operating results may be harmed.
Our new products could fail to achieve the sales projections we expected.
Our growth projections assume that with an increased advertising and marketing budget, our products will be able to gain traction in the marketplace at a faster rate than our current products. Our new products may fail to gain market acceptance for any number of reasons. If the new products fail to achieve significant sales and acceptance in the marketplace, this could materially and adversely impact the value of your investment.
The development and commercialization of our products and services are highly competitive.
We face competition with respect to any products and services that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future. Our competitors include major companies, some publicly listed, in the United States. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resources than we have and superior expertise in research and development and MSP/partner relationships and thus may be better equipped than us to provide requisite technical service and to develop and commercialize products. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified personnel and acquiring technologies. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors or disruptors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies and/or some of our competitors. Accordingly, our competitors may commercialize products more rapidly or effectively than we can, which would adversely affect our competitive position, the likelihood that our products and services will achieve initial market acceptance and our ability to generate meaningful additional revenues from our products and services.
We must correctly predict, identify, and interpret changes in consumer preferences and demand, offer new products to meet those changes, and respond to competitive innovation.
Consumer preferences may result in the need for our suite of products and services to change continually. Our success depends on our ability to predict, identify, and interpret the tastes and habits of consumers and to offer products and services that appeal to MSP, partner and end customer preferences. If we do not offer products and services that appeal to our customer base, our sales and market share will decrease. We must distinguish between short-term fads, mid-term trends, and long-term changes in consumer preferences. If we do not accurately predict which shifts in customer base preferences will be long-term, or if we fail to introduce new and improved products to satisfy those preferences, our sales could decline. If we fail to expand our product and service offerings successfully across categories, or if we do not rapidly develop products in faster growing and more profitable categories, demand for our products and services could decrease, which could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, achieving growth depends on our successful development, introduction, and marketing of innovative new products and services.
Successful innovation depends on our ability to correctly anticipate customer and consumer acceptance, to obtain, protect and maintain necessary intellectual property rights, and avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of others and failure to do so could compromise our competitive position and adversely impact our business.
We depend on relationships with our MSPs, and any adverse changes in their financial strength, tightening of the technical standards required by their end-customers would adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our success depends on the financial strength and technical standards and reputation of our MSP’s and other partners on our platform. If our MSP’s and other technology partners experience financial difficulties or reputation damage, they may cease participating on projects or our cybersecurity platform, which could impact our results from operations. Our MSP’s and technology partners could also change their online marketing strategies or implement cost-reduction initiatives that decrease spending by their end customers. The occurrence of one or more of these events, alone or in combination, with a significant number of MSP’s or other technology partners, could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our financial performance is dependent on our ability to successfully engage with MSP’s and other technology partners, and these MSP’s and partners are not precluded from offering products and services outside of our offerings.
Our ability to earn revenue is dependent on our MSP’s and other technology partners engaging us with their services to their end customers. MSP’s or other technology partners may attempt to circumvent us, which would adversely affect our ability to earn revenue.
MSP’s and technology partners on our marketplaces may not provide competitive levels of service to end customers, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results.
The ability of our businesses to provide the end customers of our MSP’s and other technology partners with a high-quality experience depends, in part, on end customers receiving competitive levels of convenience, customer service, price and responsiveness from MSP’s and other technology partners. If the end customers are not provided with competitive levels of convenience, customer service, price and responsiveness, the value of our offering may not be realized, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Expenses or liabilities resulting from litigation could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We may become party to various legal proceedings and other claims that arise in the ordinary course of business, or otherwise in the future. Such matters are subject to many uncertainties and outcomes are not predictable with assurance. In addition, any such claims or litigation may be time consuming and costly, divert management resources, require us to change our platform, or have other adverse effects on our business. While we cannot assure the outcome of any legal proceeding or contingency in which we are or may become involved, we do not believe that any pending legal claim or proceeding arising in the ordinary course will be resolved in a manner that would have a material adverse effect on our business. However, if one or more of these legal matters resulted in an adverse monetary judgment against us, such a judgment could harm our results of operations and financial condition.
Our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover all significant risk exposures.
We maintain minimum insurance coverage to protect us against a broad range of risks, at levels we believe are appropriate and consistent with current industry practice. Our objective is to exclude or minimize the risk of financial loss at a reasonable cost.
Nevertheless, we could still be subject to risks in the following areas, among others:
● losses that might be beyond the limits, or outside the scope, of coverage of our insurance and that may limit or prevent indemnification under our insurance policies,
● inability to maintain adequate insurance coverage on commercially reasonable terms in the future,
● certain categories of risks are currently not insurable at a reasonable cost, and
● no assurance of the financial ability of the insurance companies to meet their claim payment obligations.
Any one or more of these events could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flow.
Additionally, we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be adequate for data security liabilities incurred, will cover any indemnification claims against us relating to any incident, will be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or coinsurance requirements, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Data breaches or incidents involving our technology or products could damage its business, reputation and brand and substantially harm its business and results of operations.
If the Company’s data and network infrastructure were to fail, or if the Company were to suffer an interruption or degradation of services or other infrastructure environments, it could lose important manufacturing and technical data, which could harm its business. The Company’s facilities, as well as the facilities of third parties that maintain or have access to the Company’s data or network infrastructure, are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures and similar events. If the Company’s or any third-party provider’s systems or service abilities are hindered by any of the events discussed above, the Company’s ability to operate may be impaired and its business could be adversely affected. A decision to close facilities without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problems, could adversely impact the Company’s operations. The Company’s infrastructure also could be subject to break-ins, cyber-attacks, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and other misconduct, from a spectrum of actors ranging in sophistication from threats common to most industries to more advanced and persistent, highly organized adversaries. Any security breach, including personal data breaches, or incident, including cybersecurity incidents, that the Company experiences could result in unauthorized access to, misuse of or unauthorized acquisition of its internal sensitive corporate data, such as financial data, intellectual property, or data related to contracts with commercial or government customers or partners. Such unauthorized access, misuse, acquisition, or modification of sensitive data may result in data loss, corruption or alteration, interruptions in the Company’s operations or damage to the Company’s computer hardware or systems or those of its employees and customers. Moreover, negative publicity arising from these types of disruptions could damage the Company’s reputation.
Threats from malicious persons and groups, new vulnerabilities and advanced new attacks against information systems create a risk of cybersecurity incidents. These incidents can include but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion, the Company may be unable to anticipate these incidents or techniques, timely discover them or implement adequate preventative measures.
Over the past several years, cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. The Company’s network and storage applications may be vulnerable to cyber-attack, malicious intrusion, malfeasance, loss of data privacy or other significant disruption and may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers, employees, consultants or other service providers. In addition, hardware, software or applications the Company develops or procures from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to the Company’s systems or facilities through fraud, trickery or other forms of deceiving the Company’s employees, contractors and temporary staff. As cyber threats continue to evolve, the Company may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance its protective measures or to investigate and remediate any cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The Company does not currently have a cyber liability insurance policy and even if a policy is purchased, the Company cannot be certain that its coverage will be adequate for liabilities incurred or that insurance will continue to be available to it on economically reasonable terms, or at all.
The significant unavailability of the Company’s services due to attacks could cause users to cease using the Company’s services and materially adversely affect the Company’s business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. The Company uses software that it has developed, which the Company seeks to continually update and improve. Replacing such systems is often time-consuming and expensive and can also be intrusive to daily business operations. Further, the Company may not always be successful in executing these upgrades and improvements, which may occasionally fail its systems. The Company may experience periodic system interruptions from time to time. Any slowdown or failure of the Company’s underlying technology infrastructure could harm its business, reputation and ability to execute its business plan, which could materially adversely affect its results of operations. The Company’s disaster recovery plan or those of its third-party providers may be inadequate.
Security incidents or real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our systems and platform could impair our operations, compromise our confidential information or our users’ personal information, damage our reputation and brand, and harm our business and operating results.
Our continued success depends on our systems, applications, and software continuing to operate and meet the changing needs of our customers, users and financial services partners. We rely on our technology and engineering staff and vendors to successfully implement changes to and maintain our systems and services efficiently and securely. Like all information systems and technology, our platform may contain or develop material errors, failures, vulnerabilities or bugs, particularly when new features or capabilities are released, and may be subject to computer viruses or malicious code, break-ins, phishing impersonation attacks, attempts to overload our servers with denial-of-service or other attacks, ransomware and similar incidents or disruptions from unauthorized use of our computer systems, as well as unintentional incidents causing data leakage, any of which could lead to interruptions, delays or shutdown of our platform.
Operating our business and products involves the collection, storage, use and transmission of large volumes of sensitive, proprietary and confidential information, including financial and personal information, pertaining to our current, prospective and past users, as well as our staff, contractors, and business partners. The security measures we take to protect this information may be breached as a result of computer malware, viruses, social engineering, ransomware attacks, account takeover attacks, hacking and cyberattacks, including by state-sponsored and other sophisticated organizations. Such incidents have become more prevalent in recent years. Our security measures could also be compromised by our personnel, theft, or errors, or be insufficient to prevent exploitation of security vulnerabilities in software or systems on which we rely. Such incidents may in the future result in unauthorized, unlawful or inappropriate use, destruction or disclosure of, access to, or inability to access the sensitive, proprietary, and confidential information that we handle. These incidents may remain undetected for extended periods.
Because there are many different cybercrime and hacking techniques and such techniques continue to evolve, we may be unable to anticipate attempted security breaches, react promptly or implement adequate preventative measures. While we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and security of our and our users’ confidential and personal information under our control, we cannot assure you that any security measures that we or our third-party service providers have implemented will be effective against current or future security threats.
A security breach or other security incident, or the perception that one has occurred, could result in a loss of confidence by both our users and financial services partners and damage our reputation and brand, reduce demand for our products, disrupt normal business operations, require us to expend significant capital and resources to investigate and remedy the incident and prevent a recurrence, and subject us to litigation, regulatory enforcement action, fines, penalties, and other liability, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we take steps that we believe are adequate to protect us from cyber threats, hacking against our competitors or other companies in our industry could create the perception among our users and financial services partners that our digital platform is not safe to use. Security incidents could also damage our IT systems and our ability to make the financial reports and other public disclosures required of public companies. These risks are likely to continue to increase as we continue to grow, process, store and transmit an increasingly larger and larger volume of data.
Computer malware, viruses, ransomware, hacking, phishing attacks and similar disruptions could result in security and privacy breaches and interruptions and delays in services and operations, which could harm our business.
Computer malware, viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions could lead to interruptions and delays in our services and operations and loss, misuse or theft of data. Computer malware, viruses, ransomware, hacking, phishing, and other attacks against online networks have become more prevalent and may occur on our systems in the future. We have implemented security measures, such as multi-factor authentication and security incident and event management tools. But any attempts by cyber attackers to disrupt our services or systems, if successful, could harm our business, introduce liability to data subjects, resulting in the misappropriation of funds, and be expensive to remedy and damage our reputation or brand. Insurance may not be sufficient to cover significant expenses and losses related to cyber-attacks. As cyberattacks evolve, the cost of measures designed to prevent such attacks continues to increase, and we may not be able to cause the implementation or enforcement of such preventions with respect to our third-party vendors. Though it is difficult to determine what, if any, harm may directly result from any specific interruption or attack, any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of systems and technical infrastructure may, in addition to other losses, harm our reputation, brand and ability to attract customers.
Service disruptions, outages and other performance problems can be caused by a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, cybersecurity threats, third-party service providers, human or software errors and capacity constraints.
If our services are unavailable when users attempt to access them, they may seek other services, which could reduce demand for our solutions from target customers. We have processes and procedures in place designed to enable us to recover from a disaster or catastrophe and continue business operations. However, there are several factors ranging from human error to data corruption that could materially impact the efficacy of such processes and procedures, including by lengthening the time services are partially or fully unavailable to customers and users. It may be difficult or impossible to perform some or all recovery steps and continue normal business operations due to the nature of a particular disaster or catastrophe, especially during peak periods, which could cause additional reputational damages, or loss of revenues, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results.
Changes in government regulation could adversely impact our business.
The Company is subject to legislation and regulation at the federal and local levels and, in some instances, at the state level. We expect that court actions and regulatory proceedings will continue to refine our rights and obligations under applicable federal, state, and local laws, which cannot be predicted. Modifications to existing requirements or imposition of new requirements or limitations could adversely impact our business.
Failure to obtain proper business licenses or other documentation or to otherwise comply with local laws and requirements regarding marketing or matching commercial property and business borrowers with financial services providers may result in civil or criminal penalties and restrictions on our ability to conduct business in that jurisdiction.
Compliance with these requirements may render it more difficult for us and our financial services partners to operate or may raise our internal costs or the costs of our financial services partners, which may be passed on to us through less favorable commercial arrangements. While we have endeavored to comply with applicable requirements, the application of these requirements to persons operating online is not always clear and the failure to comply with any such applicable requirements may require us to expend significant capital and resources to investigate and remedy the noncompliance and subject us to litigation, regulatory enforcement action, fines, penalties, and other liability, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, any of the licenses or rights currently held by us or our employees may be revoked prior to, or may not be renewed upon, their expiration. In addition, we or our employees may not be granted new licenses or rights for which they may be required to apply from time to time in the future.
Global health concerns and measures taken in response thereto impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.
Global health concerns have been weighing on the macroeconomic environment, and the outbreak has significantly increased economic uncertainty. Risks related to consumers and businesses lowering or changing spending, which impact domestic and international spend. The outbreak has resulted in authorities implementing numerous measures to try to contain the virus, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place orders, and business shutdowns. These measures have not only negatively impacted consumer spending and business spending habits, they have also adversely impacted and may further impact our workforce and operations and the operations of our customers, suppliers and business partners. These measures may remain in place for a significant period of time, and they are likely to continue to adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The spread of the contagious and fatal diseases may cause us to modify our business practices (including employee travel, employee work locations, and cancellation of physical participation in meetings, events and conferences), and we may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers and business partners. There is no certainty that such measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks posed by the virus or otherwise be satisfactory to government authorities.
The extent to which a global pandemic may impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the outbreak, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. A future pandemic could have a material impact on our results of operations, and we will continue to monitor the global health situation closely.
We rely on confidentiality agreements with our suppliers, employees, consultants and other parties; the breach of such agreements could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We rely on proprietary information, which we seek to protect, in part, through confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with our employees, customers and other parties. There can be no assurance that these agreements will not be breached, that we would have adequate remedies for any such breach or that our proprietary information or trade secrets will not otherwise become known to or independently developed by competitors. To the extent that consultants, key employees or other third parties apply technological information independently developed by them or by others to our proposed projects, disputes may arise as to the proprietary rights to such information that may not be resolved in our favor. We may be involved from time to time in litigation to determine the enforceability, scope and validity of our proprietary rights. Any such litigation could result in substantial cost and diversion of effort by our management and technical personnel at the expense of other tasks related to our business.
The imposition of new governmental export or import controls or of international sanctions could require us to comply with additional compliance obligations or limit our ability to compete in foreign markets.
If we fail to comply with applicable export and import regulations or our sanctions compliance obligations, we may be subjected to fines or other penalties or be unable to export our technologies into other countries. Our cybersecurity solutions and technologies incorporate encryption technology that may be exported outside the United States only if we obtain an export license or qualify for an export license exception. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our solutions and technologies may create delays in the introduction of our solutions and technologies in international markets, prevent our customers with international operations from utilizing our solutions and technologies throughout their global systems, or hinder the export of our solutions and technologies to some countries altogether. In addition, various countries regulate the import of our appliance-based technologies and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute, and our customers’ ability to implement, our technologies in those countries. New export, import, or sanctions restrictions against certain persons, entities, regions, or countries (such as those imposed on Russia and otherwise in response to the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine), changes to product classification processes, or new legislation or shifting approaches in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, could result in decreased use of our solutions and technologies by existing customers with international operations, loss of sales to potential customers with international operations, and decreased revenue.
If our solutions do not interoperate with our customers’ IT infrastructure, our solutions may become less competitive and our results of operations may be harmed.
Our solutions must effectively interoperate with each customer’s existing or future IT infrastructure, which often has different specifications, utilizes multiple protocol standards, deploys products and services from multiple vendors and contains multiple generations of products and services that have been added over time. As a result, when problems occur in a network, it may be difficult to identify the sources of these problems and avoid disruptions when we provide software updates or patches to defend against particular vulnerabilities. Ineffective interoperation could increase the risk of a successful cyber-attack and violations of our service level agreements, which would require us to provide service credits that would reduce our revenue.
New and evolving information security, cybersecurity and data privacy laws and regulations may result in increased compliance costs, impediments to the development or performance of our offerings, and monetary or other penalties.
We are currently subject, and may become further subject, to federal, state and foreign laws and regulations regarding the privacy and protection of personal data or other potentially sensitive information. These laws and regulations address a range of issues, including data privacy, cybersecurity and restrictions or technological requirements regarding the collection, use, storage, protection, retention or transfer of data. The regulatory frameworks for data privacy and cybersecurity issues worldwide can vary substantially from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, are rapidly evolving and are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future.
In the United States, federal, state and local governments have enacted data privacy and cybersecurity laws (including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws and consumer protection laws). For example, the California Privacy Rights Act, referred to as the CPRA, which updated the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, referred to as the CCPA, went into effect on January 1, 2023 and imposes obligations on certain businesses, service providers, third parties and contractors. These obligations include providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and granting California residents certain rights related to their personal data. The CCPA imposes statutory fines for non-compliance (up to $7,500 per violation). Other states have proposed privacy laws with similar compliance obligations.
Internationally, most of the jurisdictions in which we operate have established their own data security and privacy legal frameworks with which we or our customers must comply. For example, in the European Economic Area, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, imposes stringent operational and governance requirements for companies that collect or process personal data of residents of the European Union and Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein. The GDPR also provides for significant penalties for non-compliance, which can be up to four percent of annual worldwide “turnover” (a measure similar to revenues in the United States). Following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (i.e., Brexit), and the expiry of the Brexit transition period which ended on December 31, 2020, the European Union GDPR has been implemented in the United Kingdom, referred to as the U.K. GDPR. The U.K. GDPR sits alongside the U.K. Data Protection Act 2018, which implements certain derogations in the E.U. GDPR into English law. The requirements of the U.K. GDPR, which are (at this time) largely aligned with those under the E.U. GDPR, may lead to similar compliance and operational costs and potential fines.
Some countries are considering or have enacted legislation requiring local storage and processing of data that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services. In addition, under the GDPR and a growing number of other legislative and regulatory requirements globally, jurisdictions are adopting consumer, regulator and customer notification obligations and other requirements in the event of a data breach.
The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, these laws and regulations may become substantial and may limit the use and adoption of our offerings in new or existing locations, require us to change our business practices, impede the performance and development of our solutions, lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for noncompliance with such laws or regulations, including through individual or class action litigation, or result in reputational harm. We also may be subject to claims of liability or responsibility for the actions of third parties with which we interact or upon which we rely in relation to various services, including, among others, vendors and business partners.
The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this prospectus may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the markets in which we compete achieve the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, or at all.
The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this prospectus may prove to be inaccurate. Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate, including as a result of any of the risks described in this prospectus.
The variables that go into the calculation of our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of addressable customers covered by our market opportunity estimates will purchase our products at all or generate any particular level of revenues for us. Even if the markets in which we compete meet the size estimates and growth forecasted in this prospectus, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, or at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including our success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the forecasts of market growth included in this prospectus should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.
Our business is subject to the risk of earthquakes, fire, power outages, floods, other natural disasters, the physical effects of climate change and other catastrophic events, and to interruption by manmade events such as terrorism.
Our business is vulnerable to damage or interruption from power losses, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, acts of war, human errors, break-ins, natural disasters and the physical effects of climate change, which may include more frequent or severe storms, hurricanes, droughts and wildfires, and other similar events. The third-party systems and operations and suppliers and service providers we rely on are subject to similar risks. For example, a significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, or flood, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur. Acts of terrorism, which may be targeted at metropolitan areas that have higher population density than rural areas, could also cause disruptions in our or our suppliers’ and service providers’ businesses or the economy as a whole. We may not have sufficient protection or recovery plans in some circumstances, such as natural disasters affecting locations that store significant inventory of our products. We plan to initially engineer, manufacture and assemble our vehicles at a single facility in Normal, Illinois. Further, in many cases, we rely on a single-source supplier for vehicle parts. Any prolonged disruption of operations at our manufacturing facility or our suppliers’ facilities, whether due to technical, information systems, communication networks, strikes, accidents, weather conditions or other natural disasters, pandemics or otherwise, whether short- or long-term, would materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Risks Related to Our Industry
Our industry is highly competitive, with a variety of larger companies with greater resources competing with us, and our failure to compete effectively could reduce the number of new contracts awarded to us or adversely affect our market share and harm our financial performance.
The contracts on which we bid are generally awarded through a competitive bid process, with awards generally being made to the lowest bidder, but sometimes based on other factors, such as shorter contract schedules, larger scale to complete projects or prior experience with the customer. Managed Services is a very competitive market and as such, our strategy to work exclusively through distribution channels with existing customer bases and robust sales organizations that can provide rapid growth. Most of our competitors are not channel only, but rather serve customers directly as well as have a channel component. Many are also wed to their own software, which makes it challenging to pivot as threats change. Some of our significant competitors would be Arctic Wolf, ArmourPoint, Solutions Granted, Cyflare and Netsurion, and numerous smaller competitors. Our current and potential larger competitors in the professional services sector include CentricsIT, ADB Tech, Zero Day, Core Technologies, Broadview and Damovo. In some segments of our business, price is often an important factor in determining which service provider is selected by our customers, especially on smaller, less complex projects. As a result, any organization with adequate financial resources and access to technical expertise may become a competitor. Smaller competitors are sometimes able to win bids for these projects based on price alone because of their lower costs and financial return requirements. Additionally, our competitors may develop the expertise, experience and resources to provide services that are equal or superior in price to our services, and we may not be able to maintain or enhance our competitive position.
Some of our competitors have already achieved greater market penetration than we have in the markets in which we compete, and some have greater financial and other resources than we do. A number of national companies in our industry are larger than we are and, if they so desire, could establish a presence in our markets and compete with us for contracts. As a result of this competition, we may need to accept lower contract margins in order to compete against competitors that have the ability to accept awards at lower prices or have a pre-existing relationship with a customer. If we are unable to compete successfully in our markets, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Many of the industries we serve are subject to consolidation and rapid technological and regulatory change, and our inability or failure to adjust to our customers’ changing needs could reduce demand for our services.
We derive, and anticipate that we will continue to derive, a substantial portion of our revenue from customers in the telecommunications and utilities industries. The telecommunications and utilities industries are subject to rapid changes in technology and governmental regulation. Changes in technology may reduce the demand for the services we provide. For example, new or developing technologies could displace the wireline systems used for the transmission of voice, video and data, and improvements in existing technology may allow telecommunications providers to significantly improve their networks without physically upgrading them. Alternatively, our customers could perform more tasks themselves, which would cause our business to suffer. Additionally, the telecommunications and utilities industries have been characterized by a high level of consolidation that may result in the loss of one or more of our customers. Our failure to rapidly adopt and master new technologies as they are developed in any of the industries we serve or the consolidation of one or more of our significant customers could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Further, many of our telecommunications customers are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, and other international regulators. The FCC and other regulators may interpret the application of their regulations in a manner that is different than the way such regulations are currently interpreted and may impose additional regulations, either of which could reduce demand for our services and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Economic downturns could cause capital expenditures in the industries we serve to decrease, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
The demand for our services has been, and will likely continue to be, cyclical in nature and vulnerable to general downturns in the United States economy. The current election cycle may cause economic uncertainty. The wireless and wireline telecommunications industry are cyclical in nature and vulnerable to general downturns in the United States and international economies. Our customers are affected by economic changes that decrease the need for or the profitability of their services. This can result in a decrease in the demand for our services and potentially result in the delay or cancellation of projects by our customers. Slow-downs in real estate, fluctuations in commodity prices and decreased demand by end-customers for services could affect our customers and their capital expenditure plans. As a result, some of our customers may opt to defer or cancel pending projects. A downturn in overall economic conditions also affects the priorities placed on various projects funded by governmental entities and federal, state, and local spending levels.
In general, economic uncertainty makes it difficult to estimate our customers’ requirements for our services. Our plan for growth depends on expanding our company both in the United States and internationally. If economic factors in any of the regions in which we plan to expand are not favorable to the growth and development of the telecommunications industries in those countries, we may not be able to carry out our growth strategy, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Other Risks Relating to Our Company and Results of Operations
Our reported financial results may be negatively impacted by changes in U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements.
U.S. GAAP and related financial reporting requirements are complex, continually evolving and may be subject to varied interpretation by the relevant authoritative bodies, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”), the SEC and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. FASB has in the past issued new or revised accounting standards that superseded existing guidance and significantly impacted the reporting of financial results. Any future change in U.S. GAAP principles and financial reporting requirements or interpretations could also have a significant effect on our reported financial results and may even affect the reporting of transactions completed before the announcement or effectiveness of a change. It is difficult to predict the impact of future changes to accounting principles or our accounting policies, any of which could negatively affect our reported results of operations
Our operating results may fluctuate due to factors that are difficult to forecast and not within our control.
Our past telecommunications operating results may not be accurate indicators of future performance, and you should not rely on such results to predict our future performance.
Our operating results have fluctuated and could fluctuate in the future. Factors that may contribute to fluctuations include:
● changes in aggregate capital spending, cyclicality and other economic conditions, or domestic and international demand in the industries we serve;
● our ability to effectively manage our working capital;
● our ability to satisfy consumer demands in a timely and cost-effective manner;
● pricing and availability of labor and materials;
● shifts in geographic concentration of customers, supplies and labor pools; and
● seasonal fluctuations in demand and our revenue.
Actual results could differ from the estimates and assumptions that we use to prepare our financial statements.
To prepare financial statements in conformity with GAAP, management is required to make estimates and assumptions as of the date of the financial statements that affect the reported values of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses, and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. Areas requiring significant estimates by our management include:
● provisions for uncollectible receivables and customer claims and recoveries of costs from subcontractors, suppliers, and others;
● valuation of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in connection with business combinations;
● accruals for estimated liabilities, including litigation and insurance reserves; and
● goodwill and intangible asset impairment assessment.
At the time the estimates and assumptions are made, we believe they are accurate based on the information available. However, our actual results could differ from, and could require adjustments to, those estimates.
We exercise judgment in determining our provision for taxes in the United States and Puerto Rico that are subject to tax authority audit review that could result in additional tax liability and potential penalties that would negatively affect our net income.
The amounts we record in intercompany transactions for services, licenses, funding, and other items affects our potential tax liabilities. Our tax filings are subject to review or audit by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and state, local and foreign taxing authorities. We exercise judgment in determining our worldwide provision for income and other taxes and, in the ordinary course of our business, there may be transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Examinations of our tax returns could result in significant proposed adjustments and assessment of additional taxes that could adversely affect our tax provision and net income in the period or periods for which that determination is made.
Risks Related to our Common Stock
An active trading market for our common stock may not develop.
Our common stock has not yet been listed on any national securities exchange and has not been quoted on The OTC Bulletin Board or any of the marketplaces of OTC Link. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in us will lead to the development of an active public trading market or how liquid that public market may become.
Additionally, because the quoted price of our common stock is less than $5.00 per share, our common stock is considered a “penny stock,” and trading in our common stock is subject to the requirements of Rule 15g-9 under the Exchange Act. Under this rule, broker/dealers who recommend low-priced securities to persons other than established customers and accredited investors must satisfy special sales practice requirements, including making an individualized written suitability determination for the purchaser and receiving the purchaser’s written consent prior to the transaction. Securities and Exchange Commission regulations also require additional disclosure in connection with any trades involving a “penny stock,” including the delivery, prior to any penny stock transaction, of a disclosure schedule explaining the penny stock market and its associated risks. These requirements severely limit the liquidity of securities in the secondary market because few brokers or dealers are likely to undertake these compliance activities and this limited liquidity will make it more difficult for an investor to sell his shares of our common stock in the secondary market should the investor wish to liquidate the investment. In addition to the applicability of the penny stock rules, other risks associated with trading in penny stocks could also be price fluctuations and the lack of a liquid market.
Our stock price may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors and litigation.
In addition to changes to market prices based on our results of operations and the factors discussed elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section, the market price of and trading volume for our common stock may change for a variety of other reasons, not necessarily related to our actual operating performance. The capital markets have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. In addition, the average daily trading volume of the securities of small companies can be very low, which may contribute to future volatility. Factors that could cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly include:
● the results of operating and financial performance and prospects of other companies in our industry;
● strategic actions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions or restructurings;
● announcements of innovations, increased service capabilities, new or terminated customers or new, amended or terminated contracts by our competitors;
● the public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission;
● lack of securities analyst coverage or speculation in the press or investment community about us or market opportunities in the telecommunications services and staffing industry;
● changes in government policies in the United States and, as our international business increases, in other foreign countries;
● changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities or research analysts who track our common stock or failure of our actual results of operations to meet those expectations;
● market and industry perception of our success, or lack thereof, in pursuing our growth strategy;
● changes in accounting standards, policies, guidance, interpretations, or principles;
● any lawsuit involving us, our services, or our products;
● arrival and departure of key personnel;
● sales of common stock by us, our investors, or members of our management team; and
● changes in general market, economic and political conditions in the United States and global economies or financial markets, including those resulting from natural or man-made disasters.
Any of these factors, as well as broader market and industry factors, may result in large and sudden changes in the trading volume of our common stock and could seriously harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. This may prevent you from being able to sell your shares at or above the price you paid for your shares of our common stock, if at all. In addition, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, stockholders often institute securities class action litigation against that company. Our involvement in any class action suit or other legal proceeding could divert our senior management’s attention and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts of our common stock could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and could impair our future ability to raise capital through common stock offerings. The sale of these shares into the open market may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
In addition, at December 31, 2024, we also had outstanding $896,651 aggregate principal and $0 accrued interest of convertible debentures that were convertible into 40,486 shares of common stock on that date. As of December 31, 2024, there were also outstanding warrants to purchase an aggregate of 166,444 shares of our common stock at a weighted-average exercise price of $25.81 per share, and outstanding stock options to purchase 125,557 shares of our common stock at a weighted-average exercise price of $23.77 per share, 98,640 of which were exercisable as of such date at a weighted-average exercise price of $27.10 per share. As of December 31, 2024, there were also outstanding preferred shares convertible into 222,111 shares of our common stock based on the conversion terms of each class. The conversion of a significant principal amount of our outstanding convertible debt securities into shares of our common stock, our repayment of a significant amount of principal, interest or other amounts payable under such debt securities in shares of our common stock or the exercise of outstanding warrants at prices below the market price of our common stock could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. The market price of our common stock also may be adversely affected by our issuance of shares of our capital stock or convertible securities in connection with future acquisitions, or in connection with other financing efforts.
If we do not meet the listing standards of a national securities exchange our investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities will be limited and we will be subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our securities currently are traded over-the-counter on the OTC QB market and are not qualified to be listed on a national securities exchange, such as NASDAQ. Accordingly, we face significant material adverse consequences, including:
● a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
● reduced liquidity with respect to our securities;
● our shares of common stock are currently classified as “penny stock” which requires brokers trading in our shares of common stock to adhere to more stringent rules, resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our shares of common stock;
● a limited amount of news and analyst coverage for our company; and
● a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Since our common stock is traded on the OTC Pink, our common stock is a covered security. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute allows the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. Further, if we were no longer traded over-the-counter, our common stock would not be a covered security and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
We may issue additional debt and equity securities, which are senior to our common stock as to distributions and in liquidation, which could materially adversely affect the market price of our securities.
In the future, we may attempt to increase our capital resources by entering into additional debt or debt-like financing that is secured by all or up to all of our assets, or issuing debt or equity securities, which could include issuances of commercial paper, medium-term notes, senior notes, subordinated notes or shares. In the event of our liquidation, our lenders and holders of our debt securities would receive a distribution of our available assets before distributions to our stockholders.
Any additional preferred securities, if issued by our company, may have a preference with respect to distributions and upon liquidation, which could further limit our ability to make distributions to our common stockholders. Because our decision to incur debt and issue securities in our future offerings will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings and debt financing.
Further, market conditions could require us to accept less favorable terms for the issuance of our securities in the future. Thus, you will bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the value of your securities and diluting your interest in us. In addition, we can change our leverage strategy from time to time without the approval of holders of our common stock, which could materially adversely affect the market share price of our securities
Our shares of common stock are subject to penny stock regulations. Because our common stock is a penny stock, holders of our common stock may find it difficult or may be unable to sell their shares.
The SEC has adopted rules that regulate broker/dealer practices in connection with transactions in penny stocks. Penny stocks generally are equity securities with a price of less than $5.00 (other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on the NASDAQ system, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange system). The penny stock rules require a broker/dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document prepared by the SEC that provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker/dealer also must provide the customer with bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker/dealer, and its salesperson in the transaction, and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. In addition, the penny stock rules require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from such rules, the broker/dealer must make a special written determination that a penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in any secondary market for a stock that becomes subject to the penny stock rules, and accordingly, holders of our common stock may find it difficult or may be unable to sell their shares.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock.
We have never paid cash dividends and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain any earnings to finance our operations and growth. As a result, any short-term return on your investment will depend on the market price of our common stock, and only appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur, will provide a return to stockholders. The decision whether to pay dividends will be made by our board of directors in light of conditions then existing, including, but not limited to, factors such as our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, business conditions, and covenants under any applicable contractual arrangements. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock.
If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, the market price of our common stock will likely decline.
The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts, over whom we have no control, publish about us and our business. We may never obtain research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of our company, the market price for our common stock could decline. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, the market price of our common stock could decline if one or more equity analysts downgrade our common stock or if those analysts issue unfavorable commentary, even if it is inaccurate, or cease publishing reports about us or our business.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our principal executive offices are located in Batavia, Illinois. We are occupying our 8,050 sq ft offices under a three-year lease that expires in July 2026 and has current monthly lease payments of $9,548.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time, we may become involved in various lawsuits and legal proceedings which arise in the ordinary course of business. However, litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and an adverse result in these or other matters may arise from time to time that may harm our business. We are currently not aware of any such legal proceedings or claims that we believe will have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or operating results.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Common Stock
Our common stock is currently available for quotation on the OTC QB market under the symbol “HWNI”.
On March 28, 2025, the closing sale price of our common stock, as reported by OTC Markets, was $0.0365 per share. On March 31, 2025, there were 113 holders of record of our common stock and 1,004,604 common shares outstanding. Because many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders.
Dividends
We have never paid or declared any dividend on our common stock and we do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
Information regarding our equity compensation plans is set forth in Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
During the year 2024, we issued securities in the following transactions, each of which was exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Except for the shares of our common stock that were issued upon the conversion of our convertible debt securities, the grants of shares of common stock under our 2012 Performance Incentive Plan, and the shares of common stock issued pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement discussed in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, all of the below-referenced securities were issued pursuant to the exemption from registration under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act and are deemed to be restricted securities for purposes of the Securities Act. There were no underwriters or placement agents employed in connection with any of these transactions. Use of the exemption provided in Section 4(2) for transactions not involving a public offering is based on the following facts:
● Neither we nor any person acting on our behalf solicited any offer to buy or sell securities by any form of general solicitation or advertising.
● The recipients were either accredited or otherwise sophisticated individuals who had such knowledge and experience in business matters that they were capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective investment in our securities.
● The recipients had access to business and financial information concerning our company.
● All securities issued were issued with a restrictive legend and may only be disposed of pursuant to an effective registration or exemption from registration in compliance with federal and state securities laws.
The shares of our common stock that were issued upon the conversion of our convertible debt securities were issued pursuant to the exemption from registration under Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and are deemed to be restricted securities for purposes of the Securities Act.
On September 1, 2024, we issued 3,837 shares of our common stock to Edward Vasko upon his appointment as our chief operations officer.
On December 20, 2024, we issued 4,000 shares of our common stock to ARIN Funding LLC in connection with the issuance of a note payable.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations includes a number of forward-looking statements that reflect Management’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “may” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate” and “continue,” or similar words. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of us and members of its management team as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements.
Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in this report and in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Important factors known to us could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in the future operating results over time. We believe that its assumptions are based upon reasonable data derived from and known about our business and operations and the business and operations of our company. No assurances are made that actual results of operations or the results of our future activities will not differ materially from its assumptions. Factors that could cause differences include, but are not limited to, expected market demand for our services, fluctuations in pricing for materials, and competition.
Basis of Presentation
Our consolidated financial statements are stated in United States dollars ($) and are prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and the related notes that appear elsewhere in this annual report. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below and elsewhere in this annual report.
All references to “common stock” refer to the common shares in our capital stock.
Unless specifically set forth to the contrary, when used in this report the terms “we”, “our”, the “Company” and similar terms refer to High Wire Networks, Inc., a Nevada corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries.
The information that appears on our website at www.HighWireNetworks.com is not part of this report.
Our consolidated financial statements and related notes are presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. These consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company including High Wire and its subsidiaries, HWN, SVC and Cyberlabs. All subsidiaries except for Cyberlabs are wholly-owned. Cyberlabs is 80% owned by High Wire and 20% owned by an individual third party.
On March 6, 2023, High Wire sold the ADEX Corporation and its subsidiaries. The operations of the ADEX Corporation have been included as discontinued operations in the accompanying financial statements.
On June 27, 2024, HWN sold the assets of its Technology Service business. The operations of the Technology Service business have been included as discontinued operations in the accompanying financial statements
Description of Business
HWN, Inc., (d/b/a High Wire Network Solutions, Inc.) (“HWN”) was incorporated in Delaware on January 20, 2017. HWN is a global provider of managed cybersecurity, managed networks, and tech enabled professional services delivered exclusively through a channel sales model. Our Overwatch managed security platform-as-a-service offers organizations end-to-end protection for networks, data, endpoints and users via multiyear recurring revenue contracts in this fast-growing technology segment. HWN has continuously operated under the High Wire Networks brand for 23 years.
HWN and JTM Electrical Contractors, Inc. (“JTM”), an Illinois Corporation, entered into an operating agreement through which High Wire owned 50% of JTM. On February 15, 2022, HWN sold its 50% interest in JTM.
On June 16, 2021, we completed a merger with Spectrum Global Solutions, Inc. On January 7, 2022, Spectrum Global Solutions, Inc. legally changed its name to High Wire Networks, Inc. (“High Wire”). The merger was accounted for as a reverse merger. At the time of the reverse merger, High Wire’s subsidiaries included ADEX Corporation, ADEX Puerto Rico LLC, ADEX Canada, ADEX Towers, Inc. and ADEX Telecom, Inc. (collectively “ADEX” or the “ADEX Entities”), AW Solutions Puerto Rico, LLC (“AWS PR”), and Tropical Communications, Inc. (“Tropical”). For accounting purposes, HWN is the surviving entity. On March 6, 2023, HWN divested the ADEX Entities. On July 31, 2023, HWN paused the operations of its AWS PR subsidiary. On November 3, 2023, HWN paused the operations of its Tropical subsidiary.
On November 4, 2021, we closed on the acquisition of Secure Voice Corp (“SVC”). The closing of the acquisition was facilitated by a senior secured promissory note which has been repaid.
On August 4, 2023, we formed a new entity - incorporated as Overwatch Cyberlab, Inc. (“OCL”) - which is 80% owned by our company and 20% owned by John Peterson.
On June 27, 2024, HWN entered into an asset purchase agreement with INNO4 LLC pursuant to which INNO4 LLC agreed to purchase certain assets of HWN related to our technology services business unit. Additionally, the asset purchase agreement includes a non-compete which precludes our company from operating businesses similar to that of AWS PR and Tropical.
Our SVC subsidiary is a wholesale network services provider with network footprint in the Northeast United States. This network carries VoIP and other traffic for other service providers.
We provide the following category of offerings to our customers:
● Security: High Wire’s award-winning Overwatch Managed Security offers organizations end-to-end protection for networks, data, endpoints, and users via multiyear recurring revenue contracts in this fast-growing technology segment. This segment is nearly 100% recurring revenue with multi-year contracts. Overwatch delivers services through Managed Service Providers (MSPs), strategic partnerships and alliances, Value Added Resellers (VARs), Distributors, and Network Service Providers.
Our Operating Units
Our company is comprised of the following two operating units:
● Managed Services: The Managed Services Segment encompasses all of our recurring revenue businesses including our Overwatch Managed Cybersecurity, all network managed services, all managed services performed under a Statement of Work (SoW), and
● SVC, which is a wholesale network services provider with network footprint in the Northeast United States. This network carries VoIP and other traffic for other service providers revenue.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
Changes in Demand for Data Security and IT
Cybersecurity is a dynamic and rapidly evolving sector. Our Overwatch cybersecurity platform is built to incorporate and accommodate the rapidly evolving landscape. Leveraging native Artificial Intelligence within the toolsets we use and our own hyper automated threat correlation and detection capabilities, we can deliver faster and more accurate detection and response to cyber threats at scale. This highly automated, open architecture design allows us to add or remove technologies quickly to adapt to the changing threats presented by adversaries and protect our clients.
As companies continue to return employees to the office, demand for IT and cybersecurity updates and upgrades has returned. Companies around the world shifted IT and cybersecurity budgets to “work from home” capabilities as the pandemic struck, and now must shift their budgets to a hybrid strategy. Dated infrastructure is no longer secure, and IPv6 standards to accommodate larger networks are forcing upgrades. Networks must now account for cloud applications, Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) applications, on premise networks and “work from anywhere” tendencies of the modern workforce.
Our Ability to Recruit, Manage and Retain High-Quality IT and Telecommunications Personnel
The shortage of skilled labor in the telecommunications industry and the difficulties in recruiting and retaining skilled personnel can frequently limit the ability of specialty contractors to bid for and complete certain contracts. We believe our access to a skilled labor pool gives us a competitive edge over our competitors as we continue to expand.
Our Ability to Expand Internationally
We believe international expansion represents a compelling opportunity for additional growth over the long-term because of the worldwide need for telecommunications infrastructure. We plan to expand our global presence either by expanding our current operations or by acquiring subsidiaries with international platforms.
Our Ability to Expand and Diversify Our Customer Base
Our customers for specialty contracting services consist of leading telephone, wireless, cable television, utility and other companies. Historically, our revenue has been significantly concentrated in a small number of customers. Although we still operate at a net loss, we have acquired additional subsidiaries and diversified our customer base and revenue streams.
Critical Accounting Policies
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our historical consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported therein and accompanying notes. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate these estimates and assumptions, including those related to recognition of revenue for costs, the fair value of reporting units for goodwill impairment analysis, the assessment of impairment of intangibles and other long-lived assets, income taxes, asset lives used in computing depreciation and amortization, allowance for doubtful accounts, stock-based compensation expense, contingent consideration and accruals for contingencies, including legal matters. These estimates and assumptions require the use of judgment as to the likelihood of various future outcomes and as a result, actual results could differ materially from these estimates.
We have identified the accounting policies below as critical to the accounting for our business operations and the understanding of our results of operations because they involve making significant judgments and estimates that are used in the preparation of our historical consolidated financial statements. The impact of these policies affects our reported and expected financial results and are discussed in this section. We have discussed the development, selection and application of our critical accounting policies with the Board of Directors, and the Board of Directors has reviewed the disclosure relating to our critical accounting policies in this section.
Other significant accounting policies, primarily those with lower levels of uncertainty than those discussed below, are also important to understanding our historical consolidated financial statements. The notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus contain additional information related to our accounting policies, including the critical accounting policies described herein, and should be read in conjunction with this discussion.
Our consolidated financial statements are impacted by the accounting policies used and the estimates and assumptions made by management during their preparation. A complete summary of these policies is included in Note 2 of the notes to our financial statements. We have identified below the accounting policies that are of particular importance in the presentation of our financial position, results of operations and cash flows, and which require the application of significant judgment by management.
Stock-based Compensation
The Company records stock-based compensation in accordance with ASC 718, “Compensation - Stock Compensation”, using the fair value method. All transactions in which goods or services are the consideration received for the issuance of equity instruments are accounted for based on the grant date fair value of the consideration received or the fair value of the equity instrument issued, whichever is more reliably measurable.
The Company accounts for stock-based compensation awards issued to non-employees for services, as prescribed by ASC 718, at either the grant date fair value of the services rendered or the instruments issued in exchange for such services, whichever is more readily determinable, using the measurement date guidelines enumerated in Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-07. In accordance with ASU 2016-09, the Company accounts for forfeitures as they occur.
The Company uses certain pricing models to calculate the fair value of stock-based awards. This model is affected by the Company’s stock price as well as assumptions regarding a number of subjective variables. These subjective variables include, but are not limited to, the Company’s expected stock price volatility over the term of the awards, and actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors. The value of the portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as an expense in the consolidated statement of operations over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period.
Revenue Recognition
We recognize revenue based on the five criteria for revenue recognition established under Topic 606: 1) identify the contract, 2) identify separate performance obligations, 3) determine the transaction price, 4) allocate the transaction price among the performance obligations, and 5) recognize revenue as the performance obligations are satisfied.
Contract Types
Our contracts fall under two main types: 1) fixed-price and 2) time-and-materials. Fixed-price contracts are based on purchase order line items that are billed on individual invoices as the project progresses and milestones are reached. Time-and-materials contracts include employees working on an as needed basis at customer locations and materials costs incurred by those employees.
A significant portion of our revenues come from customers with whom we have a master service agreement (“MSA”). These MSA’s generally contain customer specific service requirements.
Performance Obligations
A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer, and is the unit of account in the new revenue standard. The contract transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and recognized as revenue when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied. For our different revenue service types the performance obligation is satisfied at different times. For professional services revenue, the performance obligation is met when the work is performed. In certain cases this may be each day, or each week depending on the customer. For construction services, the performance obligation is met when the work is completed and the customer has approved the work.
Revenue Service Types
The following is a description of the Company’s revenue service types, which include professional services and construction:
● Managed Services are services provided to the clients where the Company monitors, maintains, handles break/fix issues and protects customer networks. The Managed Services Segment encompasses all of the Company’s recurring revenue businesses including Overwatch, all network managed services, all managed services performed under an SOW and the Company’s SVC revenue.
Disaggregation of Revenues
For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company had two revenue operating segments including:
● Cybersecurity, which consists of the Company’s HWN subsidiary.
● SVC, which consists of the Company’s SVC subsidiary.
Factors used to identify the Company’s reportable segments include the organizational structure of the Company and the financial information available for evaluation by the chief operating decision-maker in making decisions about how to allocate resources and assess performance. The Company’s operating segments have been broken out based on similar economic and other qualitative criteria. The Company operates all reporting segments in one geographical area (the United States).
Contract Assets and Liabilities
Contract assets include costs and services incurred on contracts with open performance obligations. These amounts are included in contract assets on the consolidated balance sheets.
Contract liabilities include payment received for incomplete performance obligations and are included in contract liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.
Goodwill
The Company has two reporting units, HWN and SVC, and tests its goodwill for impairment at least annually on December 31 and whenever events or circumstances change that indicate impairment may have occurred. A significant amount of judgment is involved in determining if an indicator of impairment has occurred. Such indicators may include, among others: a significant decline in the Company’s expected future cash flows; a significant adverse change in legal factors or in the business climate; unanticipated competition; and slower growth rates. Any adverse change in these factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and the Company’s consolidated financial results.
The Company tests goodwill by estimating fair value using a Discounted Cash Flow (“DCF”) model. The key assumptions used in the DCF model to determine the highest and best use of estimated future cash flows include revenue growth rates and profit margins based on internal forecasts, terminal value and an estimate of a market participant’s weighted-average cost of capital used to discount future cash flows to their present value. The Company’s HWN reporting unit, which included goodwill of $382,750 and $1,732,431 as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, had negative carrying values as of each date. During the year ended December 31, 2024, and 2023, there were a goodwill impairment charge of $1,207,234 and $2,243,820, respectively, on the Company’s SVC reporting unit.
In connection with the sale of HWN’s technology services business unit discussed in Note 3, Recent Subsidiary Activity, the Company assigned $1,349,681 of HWN’s goodwill to the sold assets. This amount was based on relative fair values in accordance with ASC 350-20-40 and is included in the gain on sale of business unit within net income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax on the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Intangible Assets
At December 31, 2024 and 2023, definite-lived intangible assets consist of tradenames and customer relationships which are being amortized over their estimated useful lives of 10 years.
We periodically evaluate the reasonableness of the useful lives of these assets. Once these assets are fully amortized, they are removed from the accounts. These assets are reviewed for impairment or obsolescence when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. If impaired, intangible assets are written down to fair value based on discounted cash flows or other valuation techniques. We have no intangibles with indefinite lives.
For long-lived assets, impairment losses are only recorded if the asset’s carrying amount is not recoverable through its undiscounted, probability-weighted future cash flows. We measure the impairment loss based on the difference between the carrying amount and the estimated fair value. When an impairment exists, the related assets are written down to fair value. There were no impairment charges during the year ended December 31, 2024. During the year ended December 31, 2023, there was an intangible asset impairment charge of $438,374 on HWN’s customer relationships and lists.
Long-lived Assets
In accordance with ASC 360, “Property, Plant and Equipment”, we test long-lived assets or asset groups for recoverability when events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying amount may not be recoverable. Circumstances which could trigger a review include, but are not limited to: significant decreases in the market price of the asset; significant adverse changes in the business climate or legal factors; accumulation of costs significantly in excess of the amount originally expected for the acquisition or construction of the asset; current period cash flow or operating losses combined with a history of losses or a forecast of continuing losses associated with the use of the asset; and current expectation that the asset will more likely than not be sold or disposed significantly before the end of its estimated useful life. Recoverability is assessed based on the carrying amount of the asset and its fair value, which is generally determined based on the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and the eventual disposal of the asset, as well as specific appraisal in certain instances. An impairment loss is recognized when the carrying amount is not recoverable and exceeds fair value. Other than the intangible asset impairment charges noted above, there were no impairment charges recorded on long-lived assets during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.
Warrant Liabilities
The Company accounts for its liability-classified warrants in accordance with ASC 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” and all warrant liabilities are reflected as liabilities at fair value in the balance sheet. The Company uses estimates of fair value to value its warrant liabilities. Fair value is defined as the price to sell an asset or transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing and able market participants. In general, the Company’s policy in estimating fair values is to first look at observable market prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets, where available. When these are not available, other inputs are used to model fair value such as prices of similar instruments, yield curves, volatilities, prepayment speeds, default rates and credit spreads, relying first on observable data from active markets. Depending on the availability of observable inputs and prices, different valuation models could produce materially different fair value estimates. The values presented may not represent future fair values and may not be realizable. The Company categorizes its fair value estimates in accordance with ASC 820 based on the hierarchical framework associated with the three levels of price transparency utilized in measuring financial instruments at fair value as discussed above. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, the Company had warrant liabilities of $80,520 and $833,615.
Sequencing Policy
Under ASC 815-40-35, the Company has adopted a sequencing policy whereby, in the event that reclassification of contracts from equity to assets or liabilities is necessary pursuant to ASC 815 due to the Company’s inability to demonstrate it has sufficient authorized shares as a result of certain securities with a potentially indeterminable number of shares, shares will be allocated on the basis of the earliest issuance date of potentially dilutive instruments, with the earliest grants receiving the first allocation of shares. Pursuant to ASC 815, issuance of securities to the Company’s employees or directors are not subject to the sequencing policy.
Going Concern Assessment
Management assesses going concern uncertainty in our consolidated financial statements to determine whether there is sufficient cash on hand and working capital, including available borrowings on loans, to operate for a period of at least one year from the date of the consolidated financial statements are issued or available to be issued, which is referred to as the “look-forward period”, as defined in GAAP. As part of this assessment, based on conditions that are known and reasonably knowable to management, management will consider various scenarios, forecasts, projections, estimates and will make certain key assumptions, including the timing and nature of projected cash expenditures or programs, its ability to delay or curtail expenditures or programs and its ability to raise additional capital, if necessary, among other factors. Based on this assessment, as necessary or applicable, management makes certain assumptions around implementing curtailments or delays in the nature and timing of programs and expenditures to the extent it deems probable those implementations can be achieved and management has the proper authority to execute them within the look-forward period.
We generated losses in 2024 and 2023, and High Wire has generated losses since its inception and has relied on cash on hand, sales of securities, external bank lines of credit, and issuance of third-party and related party debt to support cash flow from operations. As of and for the year ended December 31, 2024, we had an operating loss of $8,554,067, cash flows used in continuing operations of $8,593,948, and a working capital deficit of $6,224,966. These factors raise substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of one year from the issuance of Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis under which we are expected to be able to realize its assets and satisfy its liabilities in the normal course of business.
Management believes that based on relevant conditions and events that are known and reasonably knowable (including the cash proceeds from the Securities Purchase Agreement discussed in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data), our forecasts of operations for one year from the date of the filing of the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K indicate improved operations and our company’s ability to continue operations as a going concern. We have contingency plans to reduce or defer expenses and cash outlays should operations not improve in the look forward period. The continuation of our company as a going concern is dependent upon the continued financial support from our shareholders, the ability of management to raise additional equity capital through private and public offerings of our common stock, and the attainment of profitable operations. These consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.
Management requires additional funds over the next twelve months to fully implement our business plan. Management is currently seeking additional financing through the sale of equity and from borrowings from private lenders to cover our operating expenditures. There can be no certainty that these sources will provide the additional funds required for the next twelve months.
Results of Operations
Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023
The following summary of our results of operations should be read in conjunction with our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.
Our operating results for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 are summarized as follows:
Year Ended
December 31,
Statement of Operations Data:
Revenue $ 8,378,708 $ 6,906,160
Operating expenses 16,932,775 18,856,569
Loss from operations (8,554,067 ) (11,950,409 )
Total other (expense) income (1,567,762 ) (145,356 )
Net income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax 9,737,003 (2,390,235 )
Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders $ (384,826 ) $ (14,486,000 )
Revenues
Our revenue increased from $6,906,160 for the year ended December 31, 2023 to $8,378,708 for the year ended December 31, 2024.
A significant portion of our services are performed under master service agreements and other arrangements with customers that extend for periods of one or more years. We are currently party to numerous master service agreements, and typically have multiple agreements with each of our customers. Master Service Agreements (MSAs) generally contain customer-specified service requirements, such as discreet pricing for individual tasks. To the extent that such contracts specify exclusivity, there are often a number of exceptions, including the ability of the customer to issue work orders valued above a specified dollar amount to other service providers, perform work with the customer’s own employees and use other service providers when jointly placing facilities with another utility. In most cases, a customer may terminate an agreement for convenience with written notice. The remainder of our services are provided pursuant to contracts for specific projects. Long-term contracts relate to specific projects with terms in excess of one year from the contract date. Short-term contracts for specific projects are generally three to four months in duration. The percentage of revenue from long-term contracts varies between periods depending on the mix of work performed under our contracts.
Operating Expenses
Cost of revenues includes all direct costs of providing services under our contracts, including costs for direct labor provided by our Security Operations Center (SOC) employees, direct subscription services, and other direct costs.
General and administrative costs include all of our corporate costs, as well as costs of our subsidiaries’ management personnel and administrative overhead. These costs primarily consist of employee compensation and related expenses, including legal, consulting, and professional fees, information technology and development costs, provision for or recoveries of bad debt expense and other costs that are not directly related to performance of our services under customer contracts. Information technology and development costs included in general and administrative expenses are primarily incurred to support and to enhance our operating efficiency. We expect these expenses to continue to generally increase as we expand our operations but expect that such expenses as a percentage of revenues will decrease if we succeed in increasing revenues.
During the year ended December 31, 2024, our operating expenses were $16,932,775, compared to operating expenses of $18,856,569 for the same period of 2023. The decrease of $1,923,794 was primarily related to a decrease of $586,027 in salaries and wages due to certain cost cutting measures taken during 2024, a decrease in general and administrative expenses of $1,175,613, a decrease of $1,474,960 due to goodwill and intangible impairment charges, and a decrease of $49,619 in depreciation and amortization.
Other Expense
During the year ended December 31, 2024, we had other expense of $1,567,762, compared to other expense of $145,356 for the same period of 2023. The change of $1,422,406 is primarily related to a gain on change in fair value of derivative liabilities of $3,140,404 and a gain on extinguishment of derivatives of $1,692,232 during the 2023 period. These changes were partially offset by one-time liquidated damages related to escrow shares of $1,222,000 in the 2023 period along with a gain on extinguishment of warrant liabilities of $921,422 in the 2024 period and a decrease of $1,295,085 in interest expense in 2024 compared to the 2023 period.
Net Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax
For the year ended December 31, 2024, we had net income from discontinued operations, net of tax of $9,737,003, compared to a net loss from discontinued operations, net of tax of $2,390,235 in the same period of 2023. The 2024 period included income from operations of $1,786,230, the gain on sale of business unit of $7,950,773, while the 2023 period included loss from operations of $280,865, the loss on disposal of subsidiary of $1,434,392, and the gain on sale of asset of $204,081.
Net Income (Loss)
For the year ended December 31, 2024, we had net loss attributable to High Wire Networks, Inc. common shareholders of $384,826, compared to a net loss of $14,486,000 in the same period of 2023.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2024, our total current assets were $1,263,745 and our total current liabilities were $7,488,711, resulting in a working capital deficit of $6,224,966, compared to a working capital deficit of $9,915,819 as of December 31, 2023.
We have historically suffered recurring losses from operations. The continuation of our company is dependent upon our company attaining and maintaining profitable operations and raising additional capital as needed. In this regard, we have historically raised additional capital through equity offerings and loan transactions.
Cash Flows
Year Ended
December 31,
Net cash used in operating activities $ (6,125,491 ) $ (7,931,673 )
Net cash provided by investing activities $ 9,766,321 $ 190,000
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities $ (3,753,363 ) $ 7,426,003
Change in cash $ (112,533 ) $ (315,670 )
For the year ended December 31, 2024, cash decreased $112,553 compared to a decrease in cash of $315,670 for the same period of 2023. For the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash provided by financing activities included net repayments of loans payable of $891,406, net repayments of convertible debentures of $1,423,499, repayments of loans payable to related parties of $111,314 and net repayments of factor financing of $1,361,656. Net cash used in operating activities included the net loss from continuing operations of $10,121,829, as well as a net cash outflow from changes in operating assets and liabilities of $1,738,008.
In order to improve our liquidity, we intend to pursue additional equity financing from private placement sales of our equity securities or shareholders’ loans. Issuances of additional shares will result in dilution to our existing shareholders. There is no assurance that we will be successful in completing any further private placement financings. If we are unable to achieve the necessary additional financing, then we plan to reduce the amounts that we spend on our business activities and administrative expenses in order to preserve our liquidity.
As of December 31, 2024, we had cash of $220,824 compared to $333,357 as of December 31, 2023.
Indebtedness
As of December 31, 2024, the outstanding balances of loans payable to related parties, loans payable, convertible debentures, and factor financing were $358,557, $1,375,727, $838,192 and $0, respectively. The loans payable to related parties, loans payable, and convertible debentures amounts are net of debt discounts of $0, $46,969, and $58,459, respectively.
The total outstanding principal balance per the loan agreements and factor financing due to our debt holders was $2,677,904 at December 31, 2024. We are currently in discussions with certain of our creditors to restructure some of these loan agreements to reduce the principal balance and extend maturity dates. However, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in reducing the principal balance or extending the maturity dates of any of our outstanding notes.
Loans Payable to Related Parties
At December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had outstanding the following loans payable to related parties:
December 31,
Promissory note issued to Mark Porter, 9% interest, unsecured, matures December 31, 2025 $ 115,672 $ 100,000
Convertible promissory note issued to Mark Porter, 12% interest, secured, matures December 31, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $10,968, respectively 242,885 154,032
Convertible promissory note issued to Mark Porter, 18% interest, secured, matures March 25, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $25,297, respectively - 44,703
Total $ 358,557 $ 298,735
Less: Current portion of loans payable to related parties (358,557 ) (254,032 )
Loans payable to related parties, net of current portion $ - $ 44,703
Additional information on our loans payable to related parties is set forth in our consolidated financial statements included in this report in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Loans Payable
As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, loans payable consisted of the following:
December 31,
Future receivables financing agreement with Cedar Advance LLC, non-interest bearing, matures June 1, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $23,040, respectively $ 156,250 $ 623,118
Future receivables financing agreement with Pawn Funding, non-interest bearing, matures June 1, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $18,240, respectively 156,250 692,885
Future receivables financing agreement with Slate Advance LLC, non-interest bearing, matures December 1, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $26,786, respectively 195,333 630,092
Future receivables financing agreement with Meged Funding Group, non-interest bearing, matures July 1, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $24,986, respectively 240,000 700,059
Promissory note issued to InterCloud Systems, Inc., non-interest bearing, unsecured and due on demand - 217,400
Future receivables financing agreement with Arin Funding LLC, non-interest bearing, matures January 12, 2024, net of debt discount of $0 and $1,000 respectively - 47,741
Future receivables financing agreement with Arin Funding LLC, non-interest bearing, matures January 23, 2024, net of debt discount of $ 0 and $2,500 respectively - 84,508
Channel Partners Capital LLC Loan, matures May 14, 2026, net of debt discount of $2,986 233,101 -
Future receivables financing agreement with Arin Funding LLC, non-interest bearing, matures September 29, 2025, net of debt discount of $40,739 256,767 -
OnDeck Capital Loan, matures November 27, 2025, net of debt discount of $3,244 138,026 -
Total $ 1,375,727 $ 2,995,803
Less: Current portion of loans payable (1,297,602 ) (2,995,803 )
Loans payable, net of current portion $ 78,125 $ -
Additional information on our loans payable is set forth in our consolidated financial statements included in this report in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Convertible Debentures
At December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had outstanding the following convertible debentures:
December 31,
Convertible promissory note issued to Herald Investment Management Limited, 18% interest, secured, matures March 25, 2025, net of debt discount of $36,372 and $282,945, respectively $ 663,628 $ 417,055
Convertible promissory note issued to 1800 Diagonal Lending LLC, 12% interest, unsecured, matures August 30, 2025, net of debt discount of $22,086 and $0, respectively 174,564
Convertible promissory note, Jeffrey Gardner, 18% interest, unsecured, matured September 15, 2021, due on demand - 125,000
Convertible promissory note, James Marsh, 18% interest, unsecured, matured September 15, 2021, due on demand - 125,000
Convertible promissory note issued to Roger Ponder, 10% interest, unsecured, matures March 31, 2024 - 23,894
Convertible promissory note issued to Kings Wharf Opportunities Fund, LP, 18% interest, secured, matures March 25, 2025, net of debt discount of $0 and $181,894, respectively - 268,106
Convertible promissory note issued to Mast Hill Fund, L.P., 12% interest, unsecured, matures December 7, 2024, net of debt discount of $0 and $407,890, respectively - 36,555
Convertible promissory note issued to FirstFire Global Opportunities Fund, LLC, 12% interest, unsecured, matures December 11, 2024, net of debt discount of $0 and $206,666, respectively - 15,556
Total $ 838,192 $ 1,011,166
Less: Current portion of convertible debentures, net of debt discount/premium (838,192 ) (326,005 )
Convertible debentures, net of current portion, net of debt discount $ - $ 685,161
Additional information on our convertible debentures is set forth in our consolidated financial statements included in this report in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have no significant off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in our financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that are material to our stockholders.
Inflation
The effect of inflation on our revenue and operating results has not been significant.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Not required under Regulation S-K for “smaller reporting companies.”

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The financial statements required to be filed pursuant to this Item 8 are appended to this report. An index of those financial statements is found in Item 15.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures.
Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In addition, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and that management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs.
Based on management’s evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer concluded that, as a result of the material weaknesses described below, as of December 31, 2024, our disclosure controls and procedures are not designed at a reasonable assurance level and are not effective to provide reasonable assurance that information we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. The material weaknesses, which relate to internal control over financial reporting, that were identified are:
a) Due to our small size, we do not have a proper segregation of duties in certain areas of our financial reporting process. The areas where we have a lack of segregation of duties include cash receipts and disbursements, approval of purchases and approval of accounts payable invoices for payment. This control deficiency, which is pervasive in nature, results in a reasonable possibility that material misstatements of the consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis; and
b) the lack of the quantity of resources to implement an appropriate level of review controls to properly evaluate the completeness and accuracy of transactions entered into by our company.
We are committed to improving our financial organization. In addition, we will look to increase our personnel resources and technical accounting expertise within the accounting function to resolve non-routine or complex accounting matters.
Management’s report on internal control over financial reporting.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2024 for the reasons discussed above.
Changes in internal control over financial reporting.
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the year ended December 31, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Our bylaws state that the authorized number of directors shall be not less than one and not more than fifteen and shall be set by resolution of the board of directors. Our board of directors consists of three (3) members, all of whom are not considered “independent directors,” as defined in applicable rules of the SEC and NASDAQ. Officers are appointed and serve at the discretion of our board of directors. There are no family relationships among any of our directors or executive officers.
Our current directors and officers are as follows:
Name
Position
Age
Date First Elected or Appointed
Mark W. Porter
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
March 1, 2021
Curtis E. Smith
Chief Financial Officer
May 31, 2023
Stephen W. LaMarche
Former Chief Operating Officer and Director
August 9, 2021
Edward Vasko
Chief Operating Officer
September 19, 2024
Peter H. Kruse
Director
September 27, 2021
All directors serve for one year and until their successors are elected and qualified. All officers serve at the pleasure of the Board of Directors. There are no family relationships among any of our officers and directors.
The following is information about the experience and attributes of the members of our board of directors and senior executive officers as of the date of this report. The experience and attributes of our directors discussed below provide the reasons that these individuals were selected for board membership, as well as why they continue to serve in such positions.
Mark W. Porter, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Mr. Porter was appointed our Chief Executive Officer on March 1, 2021. Since January 2001, Mr. Porter has been President and Chief Executive Officer of HWN, Inc. (“High Wire Networks”). With over two decades of technology industry experience, Mr. Porter is a channel veteran with extensive experience in pioneering new and more innovative ways to deliver professional and managed services.
Curtis E. Smith, Chief Financial Officer
On May 31, 2023, the Board appointed Curtis E. Smith to serve as our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Smith has over 30 years of finance and operational experience, primarily as a Chief Financial Officer for NASDAQ-listed and privately held companies.
Stephen W. LaMarche, Former Chief Operating Officer and Director
On August 9, 2021, Stephen W. LaMarche was appointed to the Board of Directors. Since 2019, Mr. LaMarche has been providing consulting services to the managed technology and professional services space where he has extensive experience leading sales & marketing, product and service innovation, finance and operational management. From 2016 to 2018, Mr. LaMarche served as Vice President of Product Management at TPx Communications. On February 1, 2023, the Board appointed Stephen W. LaMarche to serve as our Chief Operating Officer. On September 19, 2024, Stephen LaMarche, the former Chief Operations Officer of High Wire Networks, Inc. (the “Company”), resigned from his position with the Company. Mr. LaMarche will remain on the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”).
Edward Vasko, Chief Operating Officer
On September 19, 2024, the Board appointed Edward Vasko, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company’s Overwatch managed cybersecurity services division (“Overwatch”), to serve as Chief Operations Officer of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Vasko will continue to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Overwatch. Mr. Vasko, 54, has more than 33 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, including extensive experience in business formation and development. He has also led several strategic mergers and acquisitions and exits. As a respected industry thought leader, he has addressed the national cybersecurity workforce development requirements for protecting the United States and its allies. Prior to joining the Company, from February 2020 until July 2024, Mr. Vasko served as the Director of Boise State University’s Institute of Pervasive Cybersecurity, a leader in cybersecurity research and host of the competency development hub known as the Cyberdome. From May 2019 until May 2020, Mr. Vasko served as Senior Vice President, Service Delivery, DevSecOps, and Customer Success of Avertium, a cybersecurity firm.
Peter H. Kruse, Director
On September 27, 2021, Peter H. Kruse was appointed to the Board of Directors. Since 2016, Mr. Kruse has been President of P410 Group LLC, which provides coaching to companies to implement a practical business operating system to align, simplify and focus entrepreneurial businesses to achieve strong results.
Family Relationships
None.
Board Independence and Committees
We are not required to have any independent members of the Board of Directors.
Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings
To the best of our knowledge, none of our directors or executive officers has, during the past ten years:
1. been convicted in a criminal proceeding or been subject to a pending criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations and other minor offences);
2. had any bankruptcy petition filed by or against the business or property of the person, or of any partnership, corporation or business association of which he was a general partner or executive officer, either at the time of the bankruptcy filing or within two years prior to that time;
3. been subject to any order, judgment, or decree, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any court of competent jurisdiction or federal or state authority, permanently or temporarily enjoining, barring, suspending or otherwise limiting, his involvement in any type of business, securities, futures, commodities, investment, banking, savings and loan, or insurance activities, or to be associated with persons engaged in any such activity;
4. been found by a court of competent jurisdiction in a civil action or by the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have violated a federal or state securities or commodities law, and the judgment has not been reversed, suspended, or vacated;
5. been the subject of, or a party to, any federal or state judicial or administrative order, judgment, decree, or finding, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated (not including any settlement of a civil proceeding among private litigants), relating to an alleged violation of any federal or state securities or commodities law or regulation, any law or regulation respecting financial institutions or insurance companies including, but not limited to, a temporary or permanent injunction, order of disgorgement or restitution, civil money penalty or temporary or permanent cease-and-desist order, or removal or prohibition order, or any law or regulation prohibiting mail or wire fraud or fraud in connection with any business entity; or
6. been the subject of, or a party to, any sanction or order, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any self-regulatory organization (as defined in Section 3(a)(26) of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(26))), any registered entity (as defined in Section 1(a)(29) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1(a)(29))), or any equivalent exchange, association, entity or organization that has disciplinary authority over its members or persons associated with a member.
Code of Ethics
We adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to all of our directors, officers, employees and consultants, which is a “code of ethics” as defined by applicable rules of the SEC. Our Code of Ethics was attached as an exhibit to our Registration Statement filed on Form S-1 filed with the SEC on February 26, 2008. If we make any amendments to our Code of Ethics other than technical, administrative, or other non-substantive amendments, or grant any waivers, including implicit waivers, from a provision of our Code of Ethics to our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, or certain other finance executives, we will disclose the nature of the amendment or waiver, its effective date and to whom it applies in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC.
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to all of our employees, officers and directors. We will provide a copy of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, without charge, to any person desiring a copy, by written request to our company at 30 North Lincoln Street, Batavia, Illinois 60510.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Compliance Reporting
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires our executive officers and directors and persons who own more than 10% of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the SEC initial statements of beneficial ownership, reports of changes in ownership and annual reports concerning their ownership of our shares of common stock and other equity securities, on Forms 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Executive officers, directors and greater than 10% shareholders are required by the SEC regulations to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) reports they file.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The following table provides certain summary information concerning compensation awarded to, earned by or paid to our Chief Executive Officer, the two highest paid executive officers and up to two other highest paid individuals whose total annual salary and bonus exceeded $100,000 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.
Changes in
Pension Value and
Non-Equity Non-Qualified
Incentive Deferred All
Name and
Stock Option Plan Compensation Other
Principal Fiscal Salary Bonus Awards Awards Compensation Earnings Compensation Total
Position Year ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($)
Mark W. Porter 266,923 150,750 - 95,813 - - - 513,486
Chief Executive Officer 259,615 - - 151,789 - - 27,500 (a) 438,904
Curt Smith (1) 257,000 137,463 - 279,019 - - 15,595 (b) 689,077
Chief Financial Officer 171,384 - - 500,627 - - - 672,011
Stephen W. LaMarche (2) 228,923 150,750 - 299,003 - - 25,767 (b) 704,443
Chief Operating Officer 228,462 - - 580,347 - - - 808,809
Daniel J. Sullivan (3) - - - - - - - -
Former Chief Financial Officer 112,529 - - - - - - 112,529
Edward
Vasko
$86,667
-
$40,000
-
-
-
-
$126,667
Chief Operating Officer
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(a) This amount represents a car allowance.
(b) This amount represents medical insurance premiums paid by the Company.
(1) Mr. Smith was appointed as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer on May 31, 2023
(2) Mr. LaMarche was appointed as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer on January 31, 2023
(3) Mr. Sullivan, the Company’s former Chief Financial Officer, retired effective May 31, 2023
(4) The determination of the value of option awards is based upon the Black-Scholes option pricing model, details and assumptions of which are set out in Note 14 to the Company’s financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.
Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End
The following table shows the outstanding equity awards held by the named executive officers and directors as of December 31, 2024. Note the table below does not take into account the Reverse Split.
Equity compensation
plans not approved by
shareholders Equity compensation
plans approved by
shareholders
Number of
securities
underlying
unexercised
options
exercisable Number of
securities
underlying
unexercised
options
exercisable Number of
securities
underlying
unexercised
options
exercisable Number of securities
underlying
unexercised
options
exercisable Option
exercise
price Option
expiration
Name and Principal Position (#) (#) (#) (#) ($) date
Current Officers:
Mark W. Porter
First Award
13,274
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Second Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Third Award
3,579 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Fourth Award
1,096 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Fifth Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Sixth Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Seventh Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Eighth Award
- 3,061 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Ninth Award
1,531 $ 12.25 September 30, 2029
Tenth Award
2,083 $ 9.28 December 31, 2029
Curtis E. Smith
First Award
16,044 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Second Award
2,815 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Third Award
3,878 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Fourth Award
1,939 $ 12.25 September 30, 2029
Fifth Award
1,667 $ 9.28 December 31, 2029
Stephen W. LaMarche
First Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Second Award
1,143 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Third Award
3,478 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Fourth Award
16,044 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Fifth Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Sixth Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Seventh Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Eighth Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Ninth Award
2,449 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Tenth Award
1,224 $ 12.25 September 30, 2029
Eleventh Award
1,667 $ 9.28 December 31, 2029
Current Directors:
Peter H. Kruse
First Award
$ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Second Award
1,143 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Third Award
1,182 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Fourth Award
2,712 $ 11.28 June 21, 2029
Former Officers:
Daniel J. Sullivan
First Award
$ 145.00 February 21, 2026
Second Award
1,210 $ 63.63 August 18, 2026
Employment Contracts and Termination of Employment and Change-In-Control Arrangements
Mark W. Porter Employment Agreement
On March 31, 2021, we entered into an employment agreement (the “Porter Employment Agreement”) with Mark W. Porter, our Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to which Mr. Porter will serve as our Chief Executive Officer for an initial term of five (5) years with automatic two (2) year renewals unless terminated by us or Mr. Porter. Pursuant to the Porter Employment Agreement, Mr. Porter will receive an annual base salary of $375,000, plus an annual cash bonus based on our achievement of certain performance targets made at the discretion of our Board. If all performance targets are achieved, Mr. Porter’s annual cash bonus shall not be less than five percent (5%) of our earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, derivative-related expenses and other certain non-cash expenses (“EBITDA”), for the applicable year. Additionally, until the Company is listed on a major stock exchange, Mr. Porter is receiving cash salary of $300,000 per annum with the difference from the annual base salary being awarded in the Company’s stock options calculated using the Black-Scholes valuation method. Mr. Porter’s employment agreement includes customary provisions for compensation provisions based on change of control and termination.
Stephen W. LaMarche Employment Agreement
On January 31, 2023, we entered into an employment agreement (the “LaMarche Employment Agreement”) with Stephen W. LaMarche, our Chief Operating Officer, pursuant to which Mr. LaMarche will serve as our Chief Operating Officer for an initial term of three (3) with automatic two (2) year renewals unless terminated by us or Mr. LaMarche. Pursuant to the LaMarche Employment Agreement, Mr. LaMarche will receive an annual base salary of $360,000, plus an annual cash bonus based on our achievement of certain performance targets made at the discretion of our Board. If all performance targets are achieved, Mr. LaMarche’s annual cash bonus shall not be less than five percent (5%) of our EBITDA for the applicable year. Additionally, until the Company is listed on a major stock exchange, Mr. LaMarche is receiving cash salary of $180,000 per annum with the difference from the annual base salary being awarded in the Company’s stock options calculated using the Black-Scholes valuation method. Mr. LaMarche’s employment agreement includes customary provisions for compensation provisions based on change of control and termination.
Curtis E. Smith Employment Agreement
On June 29, 2023, we entered into an employment agreement (the “Smith Employment Agreement”) with Curtis E. Smith, our Chief Financial Officer, pursuant to which Mr. Smith will serve as our Chief Financial Officer for an initial term of three (3) with automatic two (2) year renewals unless terminated by us or Mr. Smith. Pursuant to the Smith Employment Agreement, Mr. Smith will receive an annual base salary of $360,000, plus an annual cash bonus based on our achievement of certain performance targets made at the discretion of our Board. If all performance targets are achieved, Mr. Smith’s annual cash bonus shall not be less than one percent (1%) of our EBITDA for the applicable year. Additionally, until the Company is listed on a major stock exchange, Mr. Smith is receiving cash salary of $300,000 per annum with the difference from the annual base salary being awarded in the Company’s stock options calculated using the Black-Scholes valuation method. Upon obtaining the listing to a major stock exchange, Mr. Smith is entitled to a one-time bonus of $75,000. Mr. Smith’s employment agreement includes customary provisions for compensation provisions based on change of control and termination.
Edward Vasko Employment Agreement
On September 19, 2024, the Board appointed Edward Vasko, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company’s Overwatch managed cybersecurity services division (“Overwatch”), to serve as Chief Operations Officer of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Vasko will continue to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Overwatch. Mr. Vasko, 54, has more than 33 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, including extensive experience in business formation and development. He has also led several strategic mergers and acquisitions and exits. As a respected industry thought leader, he has addressed the national cybersecurity workforce development requirements for protecting the United States and its allies. Prior to joining the Company, from February 2020 until July 2024, Mr. Vasko served as the Director of Boise State University’s Institute of Pervasive Cybersecurity, a leader in cybersecurity research and host of the competency development hub known as the Cyberdome. From May 2019 until May 2020, Mr. Vasko served as Senior Vice President, Service Delivery, DevSecOps, and Customer Success of Avertium, a cybersecurity firm.
Pursuant to the employment agreement (“Vasko Employment Agreement”) from the Company in connection with Mr. Vasko’s position as Chief Executive Officer of Overwatch, which will remain in effect in connection with his appointment as Chief Operations Officer of the Company, in consideration for his service Mr. Vasko will receive an annualized base salary of $260,000 and will receive a one-time equity award with a grant date fair value of $40,000. In addition, Mr. Vasko will be eligible for (i) a target quarterly cash bonus in an amount of up to $45,000 based on a revenue target for existing revenue and (ii) a target quarterly cash bonus in an amount of up to $81,250 based on a revenue target for incremental net new revenue.
Board of Directors Compensation
Directors who are employees of our company or of any of our subsidiaries receive no additional compensation for serving on our Board of Directors or any of its committees. All directors who are not employees of our company or of any of our subsidiaries are compensated at the rate of $25,000 per year in stock compensation and are paid $1,500 for each board meeting attended and are reimbursed for their expenses incurred in attending Board and committee meetings.
Name and
Principal
Fiscal Fees earned or paid in cash Stock
Awards
Option
Awards Non-Equity
Incentive
Plan
Compensation Non-Qualified
Deferred
Compensation
Earnings All
Other
Compensation Total
Position Year ($) ($) ($)(3) ($) ($) ($) ($)
Stephen W. LaMarche (1) - - - - - - (2) -
Director and Former Chief Operating Officer - - - - - 25,000 (2) 25,000
Peter H. Kruse - - 9,142 - - 11,000 20,142
Director - - 36,791 - - 42,500 79,291
(1) Mr. LaMarche was appointed as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer on January 31, 2023 and resigned on September 19, 2024.
(2) Represents consulting fees. Mr. LaMarche was to be paid $15,000 per month as a consulting retainer through January, 2023 at which time he converted to a full-time employee.
(3) The determination of the value of option awards is based upon the Black-Scholes option pricing model, details and assumptions of which are set out in Note 14 to the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The following table sets forth, as of March 31, 2025, the names, addresses and number of shares of our common stock beneficially owned by all persons known to us to be beneficial owners of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, and the names and number of shares beneficially owned by all of our directors and all of our executive officers and directors as a group (except as indicated, each beneficial owner listed exercises sole voting power and sole dispositive power over the shares beneficially owned). As of March 31, 2025, we had a total of 1,004,604 shares of common stock outstanding.
Number of
shares and
nature of Percent of
beneficial common stock
Name of beneficial owner ownership (1) outstanding (2)
Mark W. Porter (3) 113,432 11.3 %
Curtis E. Smith (4) 15,112 1.5 %
Peter H. Kruse (5) 5,423 *
Stephen W. LaMarche (6) 15,222 1.5 %
Edward Vasko 3,837 *
All directors and officers as a Group 153,026 14.9 %
Shannon Kizer (7) 220,000 21.9 %
Aaron Kizer (8) 44,000 4.4 %
Jason Kizer (9) 88,000 8.8 %
William Kizer (10) 88,000 8.8 %
Herald Investment Management (11) 64,000 6.4 %
Mark Munro IRA, Trust & 1996 Charitable Remainder UniTrust (12) 72,560 7.2 %
* Less than 1%
(1) A person is considered to beneficially own any shares: (i) over which such person, directly or indirectly, exercises sole or shared voting or investment power, or (ii) of which such person has the right to acquire beneficial ownership at any time within 60 days (such as through exercise of stock options or warrants) of March 31, 2025. Unless otherwise indicated, voting and investment power relating to the shares shown in the table for our directors and executive officers is exercised solely by the beneficial owner or shared by the owner and the owner’s spouse or children. Includes 63,856 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of vested stock options and 85,333 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of Series D Preferred Stock.
(2) Shares of our common stock issuable upon the conversion of our convertible preferred stock are deemed outstanding for purposes of computing the percentage shown above. In addition, for purposes of this table, a person or group of persons is deemed to have “beneficial ownership” of any shares of common stock that such person has the right to acquire within 60 days after the date of this annual report. For purposes of computing the percentage of outstanding shares of our common stock held by each person or group of persons named above, any shares that such person or persons has the right to acquire within 60 days after the date of this annual report is deemed to be outstanding, but is not deemed to be outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person. The inclusion herein of any shares listed as beneficially owned does not constitute an admission of beneficial ownership.
(3) Represents 28,099 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of vested stock options as well as 85,333 shares of common stock issuable on the conversion of Series D Preferred Stock.
(4) Represents 15,112 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of vested stock options.
(5) Represents 5,423 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of vested stock options.
(6) Represents 15,222 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of vested stock options.
(7) The address of Shannon Kizer is 8917 Country Road, Lubbock, TX 79407.
(8) The address of Aaron Kizer is 6970 Filly Road, Wolfforth, TX 79382.
(9) The address of Jason Kizer is 5623 State Highway 206, Pep, NM 88126.
(10) The address of William Kizer is1698 South Roosevelt Road, Portales, NM 88130.
(11) The address of Herald Investment Management is 0-11 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6EE.
(12) Represents 22,633 shares of common stock, 30,277 shares issuable upon the conversion of Series E Preferred Stock by the Mark Munro IRA and 19,650 shares issuable upon the conversion of Series E Preferred Stock by the Mark Munro CRUT. The address of the Mark Munro 1996 Charitable Remainder UniTrust is 980 North Federal Highway, Suite 304, Boca Raton, FL 33432.
From time to time, the number of our shares held in the “street name” accounts of various securities dealers for the benefit of their clients or in centralized securities depositories may exceed 5% of the total shares of our common stock outstanding.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
Other than compensation arrangements for our named executive officers and directors, we describe below each transaction or series of similar transactions, since January 1, 2023, to which we were a party or will be a party, in which:
● the amounts involved exceeded or will exceed $120,000; or
● any of our directors, executive officers or holders of more than 5% of our capital stock, or any member of the immediate family of the foregoing persons, had or will have a direct or indirect material interest.
See “Executive Compensation” for a description of certain arrangements with our executive officers and directors.
Loans Payable to Related Parties
Promissory note, Mark Porter, 9% interest, unsecured, matures December 15, 2021
On June 1, 2021, the Company issued a $100,000 promissory note to Mark Porter in connection with the reverse merger between High Wire and HWN. The note was due on December 15, 2021 and bore interest at a rate of 9% per annum. During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company paid $13,572 of the original balance under the note. As of December 31, 2024, the outstanding balance of this note was $115,672.
Convertible promissory note, Mark Porter, 12% interest, unsecured, matures December 31, 2025
On December 6, 2023, the Company issued to Mark Porter an unsecured promissory note in the aggregate principal amount of $165,000. The Company received cash of $150,000 and recorded a debt discount of $15,000. The interest on the outstanding principal due under the note accrues at a rate of 12% per annum.
On June 28, 2024, the Company and the holder of the note entered into an amendment whereby outstanding accrued interest and a penalty of $75,000 was added to the principal balance and the maturity date of the note was extended to December 31, 2025. The updated principal amount is $253,529. Additionally, the Company is to begin making monthly payments of $6,320 in July 2024.
During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company paid $24,436 of the original balance under the note.
As December 31, 2024, the outstanding balance of the note was $242,885.
Convertible promissory note, Mark Porter, 18% interest, secured, matures March 25, 2025
On September 25, 2023, the Company issued to Mark Porter a senior subordinated secured convertible promissory note in the aggregate principal amount of $70,000 pursuant to a securities purchase agreement. The interest on the outstanding principal due under the note accrues at a rate of 18% per annum. All principal and accrued but unpaid interest under the note is due on March 25, 2025. The note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a fixed conversion price of $25.00 per share. As of December 31, 2024, the outstanding balance of this note was $0.
Additionally, in connection with the note, the Company issued Mark Porter a warrant to purchase 2,800 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $37.50 per share. These warrants expire on September 25, 2028. The warrants, including those issued to the placement agent, had a relative fair value of $31,852, which resulted in a debt discount of $31,852. The amount is also included within additional paid-in capital.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The aggregate fees billed for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 for professional services rendered by the principal accountant for the audit of our annual financial statements and review of the financial statements included in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and services that are normally provided by the accountant in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements for these fiscal periods were as follows:
For the year ended
December 31,
Sadler, Gibb & Associates, LLC
Audit Fees
$ 159,000
$ 135,000
Audit-Related Fees
-
10,080
Tax Fees
-
-
All Other Fees
-
-
Total
$ 159,000
$ 145,080
Our board of directors pre-approves all services provided by our independent auditors. All of the above services and fees were reviewed and approved by the board of directors either before or after the respective services were rendered.
Our board of directors has considered the nature and amount of fees billed by our independent auditors and believes that the provision of services for activities unrelated to the audit is compatible with maintaining our independent auditors’ independence.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Financial Statements.
See the “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” on page below for the list of financial statements filed as part of this report.
Financial Statement Schedules.
All schedules have been omitted because they are not required or because the required information is given in the Consolidated Financial Statements or Notes thereto set forth below beginning on page.
Exhibits.
See the Exhibit Index immediately following the signature page of this Report on Form 10-K. The exhibits listed in the Exhibit Index below are filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Report on Form 10-K.