.."if Poet announces multiple customers but doesn't get additional investors on board in a timely manner, a buyout well below market potential is likely to occur..."

While this is outcome is possible, the premise isn't.

When POET announces multiple customers there may be revenue estimates attached to that announcement, or not, depending on who those multiple customers are and what the timelines are.

Additionally, if you look at the BB/Amazon deal last week, no numbers were announced, yet BB went for a wild ride.

The point being, when POET announces multiple customers I believe the market will awaken in a big hurry....and we should be finding out about that before too long.