{"id":41884,"date":"2023-10-20T15:17:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/an-award-winning-silicon-valley-cfo-on-when-your-startup-should-go-public-and-why-its-a-stepping-stone-not-a-finish-line-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:17:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:17:11","slug":"an-award-winning-silicon-valley-cfo-on-when-your-startup-should-go-public-and-why-its-a-stepping-stone-not-a-finish-line-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/an-award-winning-silicon-valley-cfo-on-when-your-startup-should-go-public-and-why-its-a-stepping-stone-not-a-finish-line-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"An award-winning Silicon Valley CFO on when your startup should go public and why it\u2019s a stepping stone not a finish line – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"peter<\/div>\n

Going public is part of a startup\u2019s journey rather than the finish line, an award-winning Silicon Valley CFO says.<\/p>\n

Nitro CFO Peter Bardwick, who has taken three companies public, says it should be viewed as like getting a qualification from college after years of hard work and development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIPO is one step along the road to being a successful company,\u201d Bardwick tells StartupSmart.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/i>You\u2019re just starting off on your journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bardwick\u2019s career includes helping shepherd CBS MarketWatch and Rocket Fuel to list, both highly successful IPOs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe excitement about completing an IPO is hard to understand unless you live and work in the Valley,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Typically, a US tech IPO has had at least three rounds of venture capital and reached significant amount of revenue scale, says Bardwick.<\/p>\n

The time-consuming and highly risky process means only a few complete it, particularly in a volatile market<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get to the end and get there successfully, I\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t celebrate but it doesn\u2019t change your business,\u201d Bardwick says.<\/p>\n

He says customers will still want to like your product, competitors will still try to take your business from you and employees will still want to be satisfied working for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to go right back to work and keep getting things done,\u201d Bardwick says.<\/p>\n

The right time to go public<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a complex equation to consider in determining the ideal time for a startup to go public and Bardwick says it depends on market conditions and the ability to foresee future revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors don\u2019t like companies where revenues are hard to predict\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A startup also needs to be at the right maturity level, not too old that growth is slow, but established enough so to have a good read of future revenue.<\/p>\n

Bardwick says fluctuating stock market conditions, can give good companies a hard time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a canary in the coal mine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, he does expect things to improve in the next 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see an interesting class of companies that have raised money in private,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The benefit and challenges of going public<\/b><\/p>\n

While private markets are becoming increasingly sophisticated, Bardwick says the best thing about getting an IPO is you have access to the most liquid market in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies that go public are typically the leaders in their space,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It also means you have a clear picture of the value of your business as determined by the stock market every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to have a successful IPO, build a good company and tell people about it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As a CFO, Bardwick spends a lot of time speaking with investors about upcoming plans, the customers they\u2019re excited about and what they\u2019ve achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to go and see people before an IPO,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The fundamental aim being to make investors confident and believe you are credible.<\/p>\n

After going public, Bardwick says it\u2019s vital to have a strong leadership team to effectively handle the increase in risk management and administrative burden on the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to measure the cost of your employees looking at the stock price, that can be real challenge,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It also means that chief executives will be spending more time speaking to investors and less time managing the company so a good management team is crucial, Bardwick says.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not a good time for on-the-job training.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe sure you have a team that is fully prepared,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/i> Facebook<\/i>,<\/i> Twitter<\/i>, and<\/i> LinkedIn<\/i>.<\/i>  <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going public is part of a startup\u2019s journey rather than the finish line, an award-winning Silicon Valley CFO says. Nitro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}