9.

Going Public

Growing firms with exceptional revenue potential have another option to achieve a significant cash infusion: they can seek financing through an IPO. This process presents ownership shares to the world of individual investors and institutional investors such as pension funds and mutual funds and results in a significant exchange of paper ownership shares for the hard cash the company needs for stability and expansion.

An IPO marks a major milestone in the life of a company. It signals that your enterprise has earned the confidence of people outside its inner circle of participants—it has “made it.” Going public also makes your company ...

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