Taking Your Company Public? Post Public Investor Relations Can Make Or Break Your Company Going public is an amazing undertaking with the light anticipated at the end of the tunnel is increased market share, financial stability and of course the almighty strategy of growth through acquisition. The problem is for most companies that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t anything even remotely close to the above; instead it’s a train that will crush you under it’s weight as it’s steaming full speed ahead. That train is a personification of the ‘lack’ of solid investor relations strategies in your post public existence.
As a global corporate strategies firm we are beginning to get many inquiries from foreign corporations that wish to take advantage of the rapid growth capabilities of trading stock in the US. Getting set up with a consulting firm that specializes in fund-raising mechanisms such as private placement memorandum, direct public offering and/or taking one’s company public on the OTCBB can help a foreign entity obtain virtually instant gratification of raising large amounts of capital in an expedient manner.
Business Owners: Build A Corporate Structure That Investors Love! Ok, you’ve decided to go after investment capital but you’re not sure where to start. Here are the basics that you should pay close attention to before putting your company in front of investors.
For many professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners the current reality of their intercompany and inter industry promotion and prominence is a far cry from where they originally envisioned themselves to be. What is the factor that thrusts some people and companies forward in the professional sense and why are some straggling behind like desperate, obsolete room size computers in a hand held PC world?
OK, so you’ve just spent 5 months to a year in the process of going public. You’ve paid fat fees to auditors, consultants and lawyers, now you’re public…now what? How do you make a success of your new public company? Obviously you have solid executives at the helm and a board of directors advising you on various strategies and setting up new strategic alliances. You’ve eyed up companies to purchase as growth through acquisition is one of the main reasons for being public but how do you keep your stock selling and stable? How can you make it so your company stands head and shoulders above all other priorities of your market maker or broker dealer? You need to make their phone ring by pounding the pavement via public relations and pure publicity.
Bypassing the blistering reality that banks aren’t making small or medium size business loans. Lines of credit are deal. Hard money predators are out in full force and legitimate funding sources are at an all time low. Companies can take the tried and tested route in hiring a consultant, structuring their company, building strategic alliances, creating a solid board of directors and then authoring the business plan and PPM for the initial raise but why would they when they have so many scammers telling them that they can easily raise the capital with a shelf corporation or reverse merger into a pink sheets public shell.
So many companies dream of going public both as a growth and exit strategy but unfortunately few succeed with this process. The third party audit, sponsoring of the S1 and 211 by a market maker and SEC comments stage is just one of the obstacles involved with taking a company public. The attempt at going public and actually achieving a symbol are two entirely different things and if you are lucky enough to achieve a symbol there’s a completely separate area of expertise needed to keep your stock trading and to preserve a company’s longevity in the marketplace.
Think back to just a few short years ago, banks were on a lending spree, corporate lines of credit were being issued in record volume and companies were able to raise equity and debt capital with reasonable ease; then came the banking crash which unfortunately brought on an entirely new group of scams preyed on the innocent and naive small business owner which damaged the economy that much more.
Selling Shareholder Offering: The Key To Raising Fast Capital For Pre-Public Companies. As a consultant who has taken many companies public on the OTCBB (Over The Counter Bulletin Boards), consulted on even more and turned around and structured more companies I can even count, there are a few common threads inherent in all of them.
February 27, 2010 – 3:14 am
Becoming a publicly traded company is an exciting and rewarding experience. The following sets forth the method, steps, fees and estimated timetable to go public on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) ‘from scratch’, or through a self-filing and discusses the 1934 Exchange Act responsibilities after a company’s registration statement has gone effective (after the company has become publicly traded):