Every path to public, planned around you.
There are three ways to become a public company, and we've done all three: 11 direct listings, 4 reverse mergers and 2 IPOs. The right one depends on your stage, goals, timing, capital needs, the condition of your financial records and what's available in the market. We plan the strategy and the path around you.
The three routes, side by side
Direct listing
- Typical timeline, once capital is in place: 9 to 10 months
- Raises money at listing: No
- Where you usually land: OTC market
- Who sets your valuation: You and your investors
- Who has to agree: Essentially nobody
- Main risk: It takes longer
Reverse merger
- Typical timeline, once capital is in place: 4 to 6 months
- Raises money at listing: No
- Where you usually land: OTC market
- Who sets your valuation: You and the shell's holders
- Who has to agree: The shell's holders
- Main risk: Inheriting the shell's history
IPO
- Typical timeline, once capital is in place: 7 to 9 months, plus finding a bank
- Raises money at listing: Yes
- Where you usually land: Nasdaq or NYSE
- Who sets your valuation: The investment bank
- Who has to agree: An investment bank
- Main risk: A bank may not take you on
Five questions that decide the route
- Do you need a large amount of capital on the day you list?
- How much does speed actually matter, and why?
- Do you need a senior exchange now, or is that a goal for later?
- How clean and audit-ready are your financial records?
- Is a clean public shell available at a sensible price?
Absent a specific reason to do otherwise, we usually recommend a direct listing: it's the least expensive, carries no inherited risk, and doesn't depend on anyone else's decision. We recommend a reverse merger when speed has a real value and a clean shell is available, and an IPO when a bank is interested without needing to be convinced.
Also worth understanding: direct public offerings, which raise money from the public without making you publicly traded (covered on the Direct Listing page), and clean public shells, which are part of the reverse merger route.
The route is how you get there
What you build afterward is the point. Every engagement starts the same way: organizing the company and raising from your own network or beyond it, so there is capital in place before the listing begins. Start for $10,000 a month while you're raising. That mode typically runs about two months, so about $20,000. After that, the monthly fee follows the mode you're in and your company's size and scope, plus equity.
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