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 in 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.

The Company’s broad target industry focus includes energy, staffing, facilities operations, and management services with the goal of ensuring increased market opportunities.

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 of the Company since 2003.

Mentor’s 100% owned subsidiaries, Mentor IP, LLC (“MCIP”), Mentor Partner I, LLC, (“Partner I”), Mentor Partner II, LLC (“Partner II”), and TWG, LLC (“TWG”), are headquartered in Plano, Texas.

MCIP holds intellectual property and licensing rights related to one United States and one Canadian patent associated with THC and CBD vape pens. Patent application and national phase maintenance fees were expensed when paid rather than capitalized and therefore, no capitalized assets related to MCIP are recognized on the consolidated financial statements at June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022.

On August 27, 2021, the Company and Mentor Partner I entered into a Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release with the G Farma Entities and guarantors (“G Farma Settlors”) to resolve and settle all outstanding claims on an unpaid finance lease receivable and notes receivable of balances of $803,399 and $1,045,051, respectively, plus accrued interest (“Settlement Agreement”). On October 12, 2021, the parties filed a Stipulation for Dismissal and Continued Jurisdiction with the Superior Court of California in the County of Marin. The Court ordered that it retain jurisdiction over the parties under Section 664.6 of the California Code of Civil Procedure to enforce the Settlement Agreement until the performance in full of its terms is met.

In August 2022, September 2022, and October 2022, the G Farma Settlors failed to make monthly payments, and failed to cure each default within 10 days’ notice from Company pursuant to the Settlement Agreement. As a result, $2,000,000 should be added to the amount payable by the G Farma Settlors in accordance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement. In February 2023, the Company and Mentor Partner I filed a Request for Court Judgment requesting that the stipulated judgment be entered against the G Farma Settlors for (1) the remaining amount of the $500,000 settlement amount which has not yet been paid by the G Farma Settlors plus $2,000,000 and all accrued unpaid interest, (2) the Company’s incurred costs, and (3) attorneys’ fees paid by the Company to obtain the judgment.

The Company has retained the reserve on collections of the unpaid lease receivable balance due to the long history of uncertain payments from G Farma. Payments from G Farma will be recognized in Other Income as they are received. Recovery payments of $3,550 and $2,000 were included in other income in the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. No recovery payments have received since October 11, 2022. See Notes 8 and 18.

Subsequent to quarter end, on July 11, 2023, the Court entered judgment against the G Farma Settlors and in favor of Mentor and Partner I in the amount of $2,539,596.73. Mentor and Mentor Partner I will continue to pursue collection of the judgment amount from the G Farma Settlors. See Note 20.

Note 1 - Nature of operations (continued)

On September 27, 2022, Pueblo West Organics, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company (“Pueblo West”) exercised a lease prepayment option and purchased manufacturing equipment from Partner II for $245,369. On September 28, 2022 Partner II transferred full title to the equipment to Pueblo West. Originally, Mentor contributed $400,000 to Partner II to facilitate the purchase of manufacturing equipment to be leased from Partner II by Pueblo West under a Master Equipment Lease Agreement dated February 11, 2018, as amended. 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 8.

On November 18, 2022, following the filing of a declaratory relief action, Mentor received $459,990 from Electrum Partners, LLC (“Electrum”) pursuant to a certain November 14, 2022 Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release, following the Company’s October 21, 2022 lawsuit against Electrum and the escrow agent in the County of San Mateo. The Company applied $196,666 to a certain October 30, 2018, Recovery Purchase Agreement, and $200,000 to an October 31, 2018 and January 28, 2019 Capital Agreement. The Company applied the remaining $63,324 to its $194,028 equity interest in Electrum; this resulted in a $130,704 loss on the Company’s investment in Electrum. See Note 9.

On December 21, 2018, Mentor paid $10,000 to purchase 500,000 shares of NeuCourt, Inc. (“NeuCourt”) common stock, representing approximately 6.13% of NeuCourt’s issued and outstanding common stock at June 30, 2023.