Posts Tagged ‘how to go public’

Before You Write A Private Placement Memorandum Read This

March 2nd, 2010

Why Are You Writing A Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) To Raise Capital? I feel like I have to put this out there as a corporate strategies consultant with a firm that is completely submerged in the industry of authoring business plans, private placement memorandums (regulation d rule 504, 505 and 506), facilitating direct public offerings to our database of investors and taking companies public on the OTCBB.

When I get calls about private placement memorandums it is typically one of two scenarios: 1. They want to raise capital and they are shopping around for the cheapest PPM author they can find. 2. They have made the mistake of using the cheapest PPM author they could find and now they can’t find an investor that will fund their 70 page stack of toilet paper.

It never ceases to amaze me when companies are trying to convince investors that they are ready for that next step in their corporate evolution, yet they are being penny wise and dollar foolish with the most technical document their company has ever had done. And why do people put the cart before the horse? I mean, why do people write the private placement memo before they know who their audience is? As a rule of thumb you should write for your audience.

A ppm that is being written for venture capital firms will demonstrate and cater to more of an equity control and technical audience whereas a ppm that is being written for angel investors, private investors and small private equity firms who want to be in and out of a transaction will typically want to buy low and sell high and will typically want to invest in companies that are going public in as short of a time as possible.

The investors in pre public companies and other ‘angel’ type investors have a minimal bankroll of $1m or less (usually) so they have to be in and out of a transaction fast, thus the need for a ’selling shareholder offering’. This is a mandatory prerequisite for a company that wants to raise capital from angels and go public. With a selling shareholder offering you are setting up a scenario that ever investor dreams of.

You are giving them the ability to buy deeply discounted stock and 3 or 4 months later, when the company goes public, they can sell their stock into the market at an offering price that is typically 4 or 5 times what they originally purchased the shares at and the company is happy because the investor created a bridge for the company to go public and then created a public float.

Now, after reading this, you will see why writing a PPM before you know who your audience is and before you’ve contracted with a consulting firm is a critical mistake. Find a consulting firm that is well rounded as a capital raising facilitator and have them help you set a goal as an end result and then build your strategy from there.

For Corporate Consulting or Invest Seed Capital In Pre-IPO Companies, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Tags: , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in internet | Comments (0)

Take Your Company Public OTCBB: S1, 211 Here Is What You Need To Know

March 1st, 2010

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.

Here are some things you need to keep in mind when gearing up to take your company public. Forget everything that you’ve read and heard and pay attention to what you’re about to read because this is the straight forward, objective reality of the process. First, do not hire an attorney to take you public as they will take you on a long drawn out process to get as many billable hours as possible, instead, hire a consulting firm whose sole business model is to take companies public and take advantage of the relationships that they have with attorneys. This is the first rule: hire a consulting firm that offers a complete A to Z turn-key solution for taking a company through the process of going public, achieving a symbol and preserving the trade with a solid, ongoing post public investor relations strategy.

Next, when you’ve decided on a consulting firm evaluate their team, don’t ask for references to call to research their track record, better yet, ask for symbols of previous clients and links to the Edgar database to check out current deals in the comments stage. The proof is in the empirical track record, not potentially fraudulent phone references that are easily engineered and BS.

Now look at their team. Make sure that the consulting group has a solid legal team, market makers, investor relations team, auditing group and someone well versed in the comments stage response as this can be one of the major hang-ups in achieving your symbol in a timely manner. Also, most important, they absolutely MUST have a solid group of investors to fund the process for equity and to sell their shares into the marketplace post public to create a market for your stock as well as a network of market makers familiar with your deal to piggyback off of the sponsoring market maker’s 211.

About one month away from symbol achievement you’ll want to meet with your consultants to get a solid IR strategy together for a big offering dbut. You will want to set up a strategy for 30 day IR intensives every other month with general corporate publicity strategies in between. I suggest changing your IR firm each quarter to keep it fresh and open up your trade to a new network of investors.

One special note to consider is that when you are raising your initial round of capital from seed investors, the fastest way to do this is to have a fist full of contracts and purchase orders in hand to strengthen your position and publicize this reality with an arsenal of press releases. Its 100 times easier to raise capital if you are showing seed investors a handful of ’soon to be’ cash than to solicit them empty handed.

Obviously there are a multitude of other issues that you need to take into consideration when going public so find a consulting firm that can help you make it happen. Don’t try to venture out into these waters on your own as you’ll be diving into shark infested waters and you’ll almost certainly fail.

For Corporate Consulting or Invest Seed Capital In Pre-IPO Companies, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Tags: , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in internet | Comments (0)

Public Companies: How To Make Your Stock Price Soar! A Must Read!

February 12th, 2010

I consult in the turnaround sector with public companies on the Pinks, OTCBB, London Exchange, Frankfurt Exchange and every exchange in-between and everyone seems to have the same issue: there stock isn’t trading at the price they desire and they are dying to find a way to fix the problems that are hindering their trade. It usually comes down to a few basic elements. Use each of these elements with caution as this industry is full of predatory organizations and consultants and can be dangerous to amateurs. If you’re a newbie, that’s ok. Do what you can but know when you are in over your head and turn the remaining process over to people that swim with sharks for a living.

Public company structuring and turnaround strategies typically center around the elements of: corporate publicity, individual executive publicity, lack of an experienced publicist, lack of strategic alliances and lack of the proper promotion that is conducive to getting stock investors to pull the trigger.

Corporate publicity can be broken down into the immediate and ongoing use of: press releases, viral marketing video and article submission, corporate blogs, investor relations, market maker or broker dealer that is affective and of course the almighty strategic alliances that build hype and build power behind your brand.

Another major component that most companies are lacking is ‘Individual Executive Publicity’ by use of press release, viral market: video uploads with interviews and how to type material, article submission and personal blogs that center around the particular industry genre issues. It is important to make each executive stand out like a beacon in the industry and to press the reality or create the reality that your executive staff is composed of the who’s who of your industry.

Next you’ll need a corporate publicist with a focus on getting your CEO, CFO and/or corporate executives on TV and radio panel discussions as industry authority as well as newspaper and magazine articles and interviews about your company and its executives.

Don’t forget the importance of ‘Strategic Partnerships’. Announce new partnerships with multiple press releases, photo ops and articles. Pick strategic partners that have name recognition or are about to be in the public eye to piggy back off of the publicity they are receiving.

If you are an OTCBB or Pink Sheets company email campaigns to stock Investors are a quick way to get a nice bump in exposure and stock price but too many of these campaigns done the wrong way can hurt your company so be careful. Your investor relations consultant should have you listed on multiple stock alert services that run ongoing back to back. And the last but not least, the old fashion snail mail ‘Direct mail to stock investors’ can be the added bang to your stock price rising and stabilizing.

Turning around a company can and expensive proposition today but can increase your company’s value exponentially if done by an experienced professional. It’s a process that’s worth it to companies with an eye toward longevity.

Need A Corporate Consultant?, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183We Can Transform Your Business

categories: company go public,corporate structuring,how to go public,how to take a company public,princeton corporate solutions,how to take company public,how to take your company public,investor relations services,small business corporate structure

Tags: , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in internet | Comments (0)

« Older Entries