Waiting in the Wings to IPO?

The curtain may soon go up for the next class of healthcare IPOs. This has prompted questions about what companies should be doing, from a communications standpoint, to prepare for the public markets. We have an IPO checklist of communications action items for before, during and after the S-1 filing and SEC quiet periods. Email me if you’d like a copy.

Two communication action items top the list: One, well in advance of making its debut to a larger, more demanding audience of investors (or at least more of them), a private company should act like a public company. And two, establish a normal-course of business pattern of communications.

My ballet teacher used to tell me to perform even in daily technique class. Only she, the pianist and my classmates would see me. But it is great advice. When I stepped onto the stage, there were hundreds more people watching me but no sweat – I knew all the steps and was used to performing all-out in class.  It wasn’t much different from the rehearsal, and I could just enjoy the performance.

OK, the executive team can skip the tutus. But prior to going public, a company should establish external and internal communications policies and practices of the same caliber of its publicly traded peers. The venerable disclosure policy will guide transparency and most importantly adherence to SEC Regulation Fair Disclosure laws as the company communicates its progress.

A company’s news flow in the year prior to an org meeting establishes a normal-course of business communications. The news will not only serve to position and generate visibility for the company, it will establish a pattern of public disclosures. The consistent tempo of news (real, not fluff) prior to entering the pre-offering quiet period can be particularly advantageous for when a company’s registration quiet period extends for months longer than anticipated. If the company set precedent, it will have more flexibility to release news.

By acting like a public company and treating communications with the same discipline as its new financial controls, there will be one less item of change before its logo flashes on the giant marquee at the NASDAQ MarketSite at Times Square. It’s show time!