What are the three ways to go public?

IPO: The process to complete an IPO involves preparing financial statements, having them audited by a qualified auditor, preparing a comprehensive set of business disclosures, combining everything into a prospectus, filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, answering all of their questions, applying to trade on NASDAQ or NYSE, and when ready, an investment banking firm sells shares to their clients in the actual "Initial Public Offering."

If a company makes it through all those steps, and many don’t, then the company gets a bucket of cash, the stock begins trading on a senior stock exchange, the CEO gets to ring a loud bell and the VC firms laugh all the way to the bank and buy another jet.

Most private companies on the planet will never be large enough, sexy enough and have perfect timing to complete an IPO. If it's possible, we can help a company complete an initial public offering.

Direct listing: we specialize in a type of direct listing where literally any size company can list their shares in the United States by following the same process used by larger companies to complete a traditional IPO - but without an investment banker.

The goal of going public by direct listing is for a company to become more transparent in their business and financial results, to create a market for their common and preferred shares, but primarily to use the best 'growth hack ever' to complete acquisitions, attract the best talent, close more deals, raise capital, reduce business risk and increase their business valuation so significantly that it's a game changer after accounting for the cost, time and brain-damage.

About half of our direct listing clients do not need or want to raise any capital. We help the other half prepare their investment deck, investor pitch and offering documents, so they can raise capital faster, easier and with less dilution. However, capital is raised by the entrepreneur from their friends, family, business associates and sometimes through advertising on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, various investor related websites, email and direct mail. After a company goes public by direct listing, it can move to NASDAQ or NYSE whenever ready and qualified, generally in conjunction with a financing led by an investment banking firm.

Our founder took three of his companies' public through a direct listing and is uniquely qualified to help other entrepreneurs take their company public through a direct listing. This is our specialty. Companies can complete a direct listing to become publicly traded in about 10 months which is often five to ten years before they could ever qualify to complete a traditional IPO. For the right entrepreneur, a direct listing is a no-brainer.

Reverse merger: a private company goes public by merging into a company that is already publicly traded and takes over the board, management and business. During the process, the private company must provide the same level of business and financial transparency. A SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) or Micro-SPAC transaction involves a public company that is highly regulated and doesn't have any traditional business operations, whereas a typical reverse merger involves a public company that was previously an operating entity. A company can go public faster by reverse merger, but these transactions come with a unique set of disadvantages.