I've been through two IPOs (one as insider, one as outsider) and watched a friend (co-founder in his company) go through one recently. This was a pretty good summary but didn't capture nearly the level of stress and anxiety involved. ;)
I've been part of taking a number of software companies public and it's always a taxing process because of the amount of work to be done and regulations to be observed. I have massive respect for the executives who can manage this process. The timeline described here seems approximate to what happens, though I imagine it looks and feels slightly differently depending on where you're sitting.
I used to work for a mid-size startup that got investment from a "scale-up VC" with 5-year funds in 2016. There have been rumors floating around the internet since January (with an extra boost in June) that this company has been looking to IPO in 2021 with a unicorn valuation. There have also been rumors that investors laughed in their face at that valuation however and the IPO has been cancelled (at least for now). However as I understand it, the VC will still need to wind up their 5-year fund.
Can anyone explain what the usual procedure is at this point? As I see it there are a few options:
- IPO still goes through but at reduced valuation, VC eats the "loss" (more like reduced win but OK).
- Company somehow convinces IPO investors to still pay a high valuation.
- Company goes public via a SPAC and since the marketing regulations for those are much looser, perhaps they can advertise themselves into a higher valuation.
- VC fund offloads their stake to some other investment company and IPO is postponed indefinitely.
Reading the part about greenshoe it hit me that is exactly what happened with Facebook's IPO. Initially the share price fell bellow opening price for 2 days straight, then somehow stabilized and then started to creep up for the next month barely above the initial price. During those 2 days forums/tweets were full of people wishing to crash and burn.
Who was Bala in Facebook's case? Because that person definitely kept Zucky alive.
This is really good. I work in due diligence, though for the Gooli Guru's in the story, not IPOs, haha. This piece does a great job capturing the details in a readable and fun way. I will be saving it to send to new hires!
In my opinion, an IPO from a competent organization will release at a price that remains stable throughout the first week or so. If it goes up, the people who helped you with the IPO pocket it, and if it goes down everyone loses.
