Companies decide to go public for many different reasons: expansion, need for capital, exit strategy, acquisition facilitation, globalization etc. But what are the real advantages to going public? First, let’s go over the disadvantages. Your life becomes an open book and as an executive your spending habits and failures will be a matter of public information with your annual and quarterly filings.

You’ll be accountable to shareholders. You’ll have a board whose main interest is the company and the shareholders no you or your need for a new luxury car, financial bonus or need for a quick loan from the company that was once possible and easy when your company was a sole proprietor entity. You need trading volume and without it your stock is worthless and your company becomes a blind, deaf, mute, quadriplegic (a bit extreme but you get the point).

The advantages are numerous if your company is ready for the public realm. With a solid trading volume, minimal dilution of stock, solid executive management, an active board of directors, powerful strategic alliances and the ongoing advisory of a strategies consultant your company can expand globally, identify and grow through acquisition and subsidiary mergers, purchase entities and services with stock to retain cash flow.

Banks and other institutional lenders will make more funding solutions available. Your exit strategy is built in and turn-key.

The most successful public companies have a few common themes built into their infrastructure. They have recruited a proven and tested CEO, CFO and COO with professional pedigrees and track records that are recognized in the industry and media and will bring with them a strong following of partners and solution mechanisms that will typically yield instantaneous, empirical results on behalf of the company. The board of directors is restructured so that major industry enhancing components are represented such as industry niche legal, financial, distribution, domestic and international. Each of these board members will put their contact portfolio to work for your company for immediate and long term growth and stabilization. One other aspect that all prosperous public entities have is a strategies consultant that keeps everything in line. This individual is also what is referred to as a ‘fixer’.

This professional will typically stand in the background constantly analyzing every aspect of the company for weak points and correct them. Whether it be a lazy board member, potential acquisition, CEO not pulling his/her weight, potential legal issues etc., this strategist has a keen eye and typically a massive contact base that, when put into place can correct virtually any situation quickly and seamlessly.

Going public is a great strategy for the right organization. Having all your ducks in a row pre and post public is the key to a successful offering and public markets longevity.

Find out how to globalize your business or You’re your Company Public , Find out how to Structure Your Company to grow fast and raise capital

There is a huge gap between a public company that is exists and thrives. An company that is merely existing has a stock price that is is stabilized by constant promotion and fund raising with every bell and whistle, warrant and promotional gimmick as the company’s business model is not conducive to inner and outer expansion, globalization or general scalability.

The public company that thrives will have an IPO that is both promotional and informative and will show a clear cut and active plan for growth via acquisitions, mergers and both domestic and international alliances. Public companies that thrive will have a team of consultants making introductions, setting up round table meet and greets to introduce and build rapport with funding players and potential partners where there is a strong synergy. The share price for the ‘thriving’ company will be triggered naturally by press releases in combination with promotion to investors by updating current and potential shareholders of these benchmark achievements.

Another massive element that is all together ignored 99% of the companies out there, even thriving public and private entities is the almighty legislative tie-in. Get to know your congressman, senator and all their affiliated groups. Become a permanent fixture at their fundraising events and look for angles that would help create a win/win situation for your political counterpart when his activity wanders into your particular business genre. Offer to consult with them to help them navigate the tepid waters of your industry without making the amateur mistakes of those not completely submerged in the industry. Be their industry expert, adviser then publicize your efforts in a way that helps both you and your political alliance.

Globally there are, maybe four or five consulting firms that specialize in the above. A full service, turn-key solution facilitating merger and acquisition identification and facilitation, all aspects and angles of investor relations, globalization and alliance identification and facilitation, professional executive placement into your organization, powerful board of director facilitation and more.

Though the above may sound like the consultants lack focus, to the contrary they are extremely focused and are well versed in walking into an organization and mapping the structure. What are the weak points and what are the strong points? And then they put together a strategy to build the structure that will gain rapid traction that will stick with expansion and funding benchmarks that are realistic, scalable and achievable. Taking a company public in today’s economic environment is fickle and impossible for the untested to succeed. Find a consultant to put together a team that will launch or maintain your corporate stabilization and expansion strategy properly.

Let’s change directions for a moment. If you are a seasoned investor looking to diversify, here are some guidelines that will help you find the best deals.

Investing in an IPO traditionally offers higher yields and a Pre IPO can offer 200%+ returns if the structure is solid. By structure I am referring to founders, C Level executives, board of directors, compliance legal team, pipeline contracts, overall profitability and dilution in the float (just to name a few items). Finding the right transaction takes more than just some advice from your broker, though their efforts may be pure in intent, they are, for the most part, unqualified to advise on such investment actions.

Unless your investment advisor is a strategies and structuring consultant with a ton of experience in globalization, they may be licensed to sell you securities but they are not qualified to strip an opportunity to the bone and reconstruct it looking for errors or chinks in the armor to justify a solid transaction or a pump and dump pipe dream.

Most brokers make a tremendous effort to evolve out of the burnout genre of pitching and selling stock and more toward mergers and acquisitions where the real money is. Part of M & A is merging private companies into public entities, restructuring the company, stock and management and then turning out the entity with a new symbol and price and pounding the pavement with multiple genres of IR simultaneously. Selling shareholders who invested in the Pre IPO phase of the company will create the float and make the quickest returns with minimal risk as they will typically buy their shares at a deep discount to the retail price. Next, with a controlled incline of the stock price the investors who buy at the road show outings will make nice chunks of change and may receive some type of warrants.

Using online mechanisms for stock promotion such as social media, webinars, opt in email, banners and other white hat processes will assist with daily volume. Phone room buzz generation materialized by phone rooms calling around and introducing the company and it’s stock symbol to investors and market makers allows for eyes to be focused on the company and in return will result in both short term and long term investors. Then you have the road show which are also referred to as ’round table’ meetings. I’m not talking about the free suppers in Manhattan for free loaders and wannabe’s; I mean a targeted audience of 15 to 20 tops, investors who are ready to listen, ask questions and buy.

If you are considering investing in a Pre IPO, make sure that the company has a clear cut plan for all the above promotion. If the company structure is sound and the promotional element is there, chances are it’s a safe bet for the short term. Legislative contacts, globalization, board member alliance facilitation and a professional C level staff will be the critical factor to take the company toward long term success. Before making an investment of any kind consult a licensed professional.

Want to find out more about Taking Your Company Public, then visit Belvedere Global Strategies Corporation’s site on how to choose between a Reverse Merger or S1 Filing for the best results

Clean OTCBB shells that are ready for a reverse merger are like the legends of White Elephants, the Chupacabre and Bigfoot. Everyone has heard of them but no one has seen one. I have seen so many fly-by-night consulting firms pop up in the past year it’s depressing. Of course the claim to have 17 years in the industry with 100′s of reverse mergers tomb stoned on a page that ‘they just can’t remember the link to’.

I’ll tell you what, if you’re sold on going public with a shell and won’t consider any other way, make it easy on yourself walk into your local Burger King, give the cashier $200,000, lay down behind a Mack Truck that is backing out of a parking space and fill your bathtub with razorblades and rubbing alcohol and dive in face first, be sure to set yourself on fire before the dive. Believe me, the above is far less painful than a messy reverse merger.

Sure, solid shells exist but it will cost you a ton of equity, $500k + in upfront fees and an ongoing Sumo Wrestling match with FINRA and inherited shareholders. That said, I have seen a few successful reverse mergers into Pink Sheet shells with the intent of qualifying for the BB. The bad news is, they didn’t and don’t have a chance in hell of ascending to another exchange (well maybe Frankfurt and other pump and dump domains) and the good news is, they did successfully merge while simultaneously being 80% diluted within three months with a par value of .007 per share. So they succeeded in merging but completely failed at the attempt to fund their company or secure actual trading volume.

Going public is a big decision and if done properly can be incredibly rewarding for the company, shareholders and the company’s strategic partners who find themselves in the spotlight and mentioned on press releases, webinars, roadshows and other investor relations branding and promotion. Do yourself a favor, if you care about your company at all; if you want to survive and thrive in the public realm and don’t have $200m in annual revenues, file an S1. It takes a few months longer but it’s a move that will create a foundation for a customized filing.

Consulting firms that actually care about their clients and truly make their money on the back end once the company is public as opposed to front heavy fee oriented structures will always do an S1 to preserve the longevity of their client’s company. Think about it!

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Private Placement Memorandum authoring and the process of taking one’s company public are services that require extensive experience and the ability to look at a deal objectively and peripherally to evaluate all the angles to enhance the ability of the client to achieve funding in a timely manner.

Many times, when I’m hired to structure a company before funding, they will be under the impression that my evaluation is a mere formality and they are ready to go. Often I’m the bearer of bad news when I have to break it to the client that their company has more holes than Swiss cheese and 30 to 60 days away from starting the fund raising process.

They will often get a second and then third opinion and usually run into the same thing before they eventually find their way back to our firm. As they call around to consulting firms they perpetually experience the ‘hard sell’ by firms who ‘need’ the business because they lack the rewards and referrals that come with cultivating each client relationship because they take on and spit out deals so fast they hardly remember their client’s name during the transaction.

This mentality dominates the larger firms because of their gargantuan overhead while the boutique firms can take a more personal approach because they have a steady flow of business and referrals because they are not stressed about bringing in the next big deal so they can meet payroll and keep their lights on. The smaller companies that focus on turnaround consulting, private placement memorandum authoring, top tier business plan writing and taking companies public usually take a one on one approach to the consulting process and will rarely pressure clients to sign on because their phone is ringing off the hook with previous clients who want to hire them for the next stage in the evolution of their company’s growth.

This business is all about relationships. Ditch the consultant that applies the high pressure sales tactics and seek out the smaller, more personalized groups that don’t ‘need’ your business but will cultivate and value it.

Want To Grow Your Company? Free Reverse Merger Info Video , call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183. We can also help you create Global Strategic Alliances