Note 1 - Nature of operations

Corporate Structure Overview

Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor” or “the Company”), reincorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in September 2015.

The entity was originally founded as an investment partnership in Silicon Valley, California, by the current CEO in 1985 and subsequently incorporated under the laws of the State of California on July 29, 1994. On September 12, 1996, the Company’s offering statement was qualified pursuant to Regulation A of the Securities Act, and the Company began to trade its shares publicly. On August 21, 1998, the Company filed for voluntary reorganization, and on January 11, 2000, the Company emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization. The Company relocated to San Diego, California, and contracted to provide financial assistance and investment into small businesses. On May 22, 2015, a corporation named Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor Delaware”) was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. A shareholder-approved merger between Mentor and Mentor Delaware was approved by the California and Delaware Secretaries of State, and became effective September 24, 2015, thereby establishing Mentor as a Delaware corporation. In September 2020, Mentor relocated its corporate office from San Diego, California to Plano, Texas.

The Company’s common stock trades publicly under the trading symbol OTCQB: MNTR.

In 2009, the Company began focusing its investing activities in leading-edge cancer companies. In 2012, in response to government limitations on reimbursement for certain highly technical and expensive cancer treatments and a resulting business decline in the cancer immunotherapy sector, the Company decided to exit that space. In the summer of 2013, the Company was asked to consider investing in a cancer-related project with a medical marijuana focus. On August 29, 2013, the Company decided to divest of its cancer assets and focus its next round of investments in the medical marijuana and cannabis sector. In late 2019, the Company expanded its target industry focus to potentially include energy, mining and minerals, technology, consumer products, management services, and manufacturing sectors with the goal of ensuring investment diversification.

Mentor has a 51% interest in Waste Consolidators, Inc. (“WCI”). WCI was incorporated in Colorado in 1999 and operates in Arizona and Texas. It is a long standing investment that was first invested into in 2003.

On April 18, 2016, the Company formed Mentor IP, LLC (“MCIP”), a South Dakota limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor. MCIP was formed to hold interests related to patent rights obtained on April 4, 2016, when Mentor Capital, Inc. entered into that certain "Larson - Mentor Capital, Inc. Patent and License Fee Facility with Agreement Provisions for an -- 80% / 20% Domestic Economic Interest -- 50% / 50% Foreign Economic Interest" with R. L. Larson and Larson Capital, LLC (“MCIP Agreement”). Pursuant to the MCIP Agreement, MCIP obtained rights to an international patent application for foreign THC and CBD cannabis vape pens under the provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty of 1970, as amended. R. L. Larson continues its efforts to obtain exclusive licensing rights in the United States for THC and CBD cannabis vape pens for various THC and CBD percentage ranges and concentrations. Patent application national phase maintenance fees were expensed when paid and there were no assets related to MCIP on the consolidated financial statements at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. On January 21, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a Notice of Allowance for the United States patent application and on May 5, 2020, the United States patent was issued. On March 23, 2020, MCIP applied for expedited prosecution with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office under the Patent Cooperation Treaty Patent Prosecution Highway Program based on the claims allowed in the corresponding United States patent application. On June 29, 2020, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office granted a Notice of Allowance for the Canada patent and on September 22, 2020, the Canadian patent was issued.

On April 13, 2017, Mentor entered into an agreement to provide $40,000 of funding to offset costs of the application of cannabis oil in a glaucoma study conducted by and otherwise paid for by Dr. Robert M. Mandelkorn, MD, of which $30,000 had been funded at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. Mentor, doing business as GlauCanna, was to hold an 80% interest in any commercial opportunities that result from the study. Dr. Mandelkorn would hold the remaining 20%. Subsequent to quarter end, on October 28, 2020, Dr. Mandelkorn paid the Company $31,000 in exchange for Mentor’s 80% interest.

The Company has a membership equity interest in Electrum Partners, LLC (“Electrum”) which is carried at cost of $194,028 and $194,028 as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. On January 28, 2019, as part of a Second Capital Agreement between Mentor and Electrum (described in Note 10), Mentor was granted an option to convert its 6,198 membership interests in Electrum into a cash payment of $194,028 plus an additional 19.4% of anything of value received by Electrum as a result of the pending litigation in British Columbia (see below).

On September 19, 2017, the Company formed Mentor Partner I, LLC (“Partner I”), a California limited liability company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor. In 2018, Mentor contributed $996,000 of capital to Partner I to facilitate the purchase of manufacturing equipment to be leased from Partner I by G FarmaLabs Limited (“G Farma”) under a Master Equipment Lease Agreement dated January 16, 2018, as amended. Amendments expanded the Lessee under the agreement to include G FarmaLabs Limited and G FarmaLabs DHS, LLC, (collectively referred to as “G Farma Lease Entities”). The finance leases resulting from this investment have been impaired by $803,399 and $765,001 as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, due to circumstances described in Note 9.

On February 1, 2018, the Company formed Mentor Partner II, LLC (“Partner II”), a California limited liability company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor. On February 8, 2018, Mentor contributed $400,000 to Partner II to facilitate the purchase of manufacturing equipment to be leased from Partner II by Pueblo West Organics, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company (“Pueblo West”) under a Master Equipment Lease Agreement dated February 11, 2018. On March 12, 2019, Mentor agreed to use Partner II earnings of $61,368 to facilitate the purchase of additional manufacturing equipment to Pueblo West under a Second Amendment to the lease, see Note 9.

On February 20, 2018, the Company formed Mentor Partner III, LLC (“Partner III”), a California limited liability company, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor for the purpose of acquisition and investing. Partner III has had no activity since its inception.

On February 28, 2018, the Company formed Mentor Partner IV, LLC (“Partner IV”), a California limited liability company, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor for the purpose of acquisition and investing. Partner IV has had no activity since its inception.

On October 30, 2018, the Company entered into a Recovery Purchase Agreement with Electrum. Electrum is the plaintiff in an ongoing legal action pending in the Supreme Court of British Columbia (“Litigation”). As described further in Note 10, Mentor provided capital for payment of Litigation costs in the amount of $181,529 and $146,195 as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. After repayment to Mentor of all funds invested for payment of Litigation costs, Mentor will receive 18% of anything of value received by Electrum as a result of the Litigation (“Recovery”), after first receiving reimbursement of the Litigation costs. On October 31, 2018, Mentor entered into a secured Capital Agreement with Electrum and invested an additional $100,000 of capital in Electrum. Under the Capital Agreement, on the payment date, Electrum will pay Mentor the sum of (i) $100,000, (ii) ten percent (10%) of the Recovery, and (iii) 0.083334% of the Recovery for each full month from October 31, 2018 to the payment date for each full month that $833 is not paid to Mentor. The payment date is the earlier of November 1, 2021, or the final resolution of the Litigation. On January 28, 2019, the Company entered into a second secured Capital Agreement with Electrum and invested an additional $100,000 of capital in Electrum with payment terms similar to the October 31, 2018 Capital Agreement. As part of the January 28, 2019 Capital Agreement, Mentor was granted an option to convert its 6,198 membership interests in Electrum into a cash payment of $194,027 plus an additional 19.4% of the Recovery.

On December 21, 2018, Mentor paid $10,000 to purchase 500,000 shares of NeuCourt, Inc. common stock, representing approximately 6.1% of NeuCourt’s issued and outstanding common stock as of September 30, 2020.

On March 14, 2019, the Company was notified by G Farma that, on February 22, 2019, the City of Corona Building Department closed access to G Farma’s corporate location and posted a notice preventing entry to the facility. The notice cited unpermitted modifications to electrical, mechanical, and plumbing, including all undetermined building modifications, as the reason for closure.

On April 24, 2019, the Company was informed that certain G Farma assets at G Farma’s corporate location, including equipment leased to G Farma by Mentor Partner I valued at approximately $427,804, were impounded by the City of Corona on or around February 22, 2019. This event significantly impacted G Farma’s financial position and its ability to make payments under the finance leases receivable and notes receivable due the Company. See Notes 8, 9, and 10. In March 2020, we discovered that an additional component valued at $36,594 was missing from the equipment we recovered in early 2020.

G Farma has not made scheduled payments on the finance lease receivable or the notes receivable since February 19, 2019 and Company management feels it is unlikely we will recover amounts due us. We recorded a bad debt allowance of $765,001 on the finance lease receivable as of December 31, 2019, and increased the allowance by $19,519 for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, see Note 9. In 2020, the Company repossessed leased equipment under G Farma’s control and sold equipment with a cost of $622,670 to the highest offerors for net proceeds of $348,734, after shipping and delivery costs.

At December 31, 2019, we fully impaired G Farma notes receivable of $1,045,051, accrued interest of $28,680, and our investment in the G Farma contractual interest in legal recovery of $600,002. The Company’s equity investment in G Farma Entities, previously valued at $41,600, was also impaired and reduced to $0, at December 31, 2019, see Notes 8 and 10.

On May 28, 2019, Mentor Capital, Inc. and Mentor Partner I, LLC filed a complaint against the G Farma Entities and three guarantors to the G Farma agreements, described herein and in Notes 8, 9, and 10, in the Superior Court of California in the County of Marin. The Company is primarily seeking monetary damages for breach of the G Farma agreements including promissory notes, leases, and other agreements, as well as actions for an injunction to recover leased property, to recover collateral under a security agreement, and to collect from guarantors on the agreements, among other things. Mentor intends to vigorously pursue this matter; however, collection is uncertain at this time. On January 22, 2020, the Court granted the Company’s motion for writ of possession and preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from retaining control of or selling leased property. On January 31, 2020, all remaining equipment leased to G Farma by Mentor Partner I, which was not impounded by the Corona Police was repossessed by the Company and moved to storage under the Company’s control. All repossessed equipment was sold in the nine months ended September 30, 2020, see Note 9.