????3. 警惕 “婚禮策劃師”型投行。上市是一套代價高昂的程序，因此往往會引來許多“服務提供商”，引誘你在任何一個關頭都選用“皇家套餐”。正如婚禮策劃人員，他們的理由是：反正這種事只有一次，何必在意花多少錢呢？這一邏輯有兩大問題：首先，對于馬上就要上市的公司來說，隨意亂花錢可要不得；第二，“皇家”套餐花的時間更長，拖延整個上市程序，自然會延長“申請-定價期間”。

????4. 各個環節都要聘請專業人士。公司的上市程序需要各種各樣專業人才的支持——審計人員、評估公司、薪酬規劃公司、外部顧問、承銷商顧問、銀行家、分析師，甚至是聽起來有些怪誕的“印刷者”。你需要精通業務的專業人士，他們與那些“婚禮策劃師”不可同日而語。想想《低俗小說》（Pulp Fiction）里哈維?凱特爾飾演的文森?沃爾夫吧，記得他的名言“我專門解決問題”嗎？化繁為簡才是真本事。

????5. 刻意控制發行股票的規模。許多投行都鼓勵公司發行大量股票（參見第三點），這對他們倒是很有好處，但可能會與最大化定價成功率的目標相違背。將股票供應量壓低的話，意味著只需要少量需求就能成功發行，發行額度較小，還能減輕所有股東對股權攤薄的憂慮，使他們不至于對發行價太敏感。我重申一次，如果沒有計劃好定價，就不要提交申請，這里所說的價格涵蓋計劃發行價區間中的任何水平。

????6. 不要忽視窗口期的珍貴價值。上述四家成功上市的公司都是在非常強勁的上市窗口期提交了申請，因此不費什么力氣就走完了程序。在形勢一片大好時做好準備是很有價值的，這意味著避開了你剛剛提交申請，全球市場就很不配合地崩盤那種尷尬情形。如果(1)貴公司的財務數據滿足上市需求，(2)貴公司條件齊備且已經準備好上市，(3)IPO市場健康，明顯出現了窗口期，而你還遲遲不上市，那就意味著你就選擇了將來的風險。用Rush樂隊主唱兼貝斯手蓋迪?李的話來說，“哪怕你選擇不作決定，這依然是一種決定。”增長可能會放緩，市場形勢可能逆轉，新的競爭者也可能會涌現，太早上市顯然有風險——但等待太久，錯失良機同樣不是好主意。

????IPO市場總是會有“撤銷”或“延期”上市的公司，市場天性如此。IPO窗口期往往會吸引兩種公司——理應上市的公司和那些急于籌資而“需要”上市的公司，后者中有一部分總是會面臨找不到足夠買單者的窘境，因此，不能把延期或撤銷上市看成IPO市場疲軟的信號。盡管如此，某些原因導致的推遲可以、也應當避免，如果計劃進行IPO，那就要確保企業符合條件、做好必要準備并下定決心堅持到底。如果沒有確定發行價的計劃，就不要提交S-1申請，提交該申請后長時間的等待可能會帶來災難性的后果。

????比爾?格利是標桿資本風投公司的普通合伙人，他的博客地址是http://abovethecrowd.com。

????譯者：小宇

????3. Watch out for "wedding planners." IPO are expensive and as such, they tend to attract "service providers" encouraging you to purchase the "royal package" at every turn. The argument, just as with a wedding, is that you only do this once, and therefore; expense should be of little concern. There are two problems with this logic. First, companies about to be public should not be carelessly wasting money. Second, the "royal" package takes more time and slows things down, and will inherently contribute to extending the pricing-filing window.

????4. Pick experienced professionals in every slot. There are many constituencies that are involved in your IPO process – auditors, valuation firms, compensation firms, external counsel, underwriter's counsel, bankers, analysts, even these whacky constituents known as "printers." You want professionals who know how to get things done, which is very different from the "wedding planners." Think Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction. "I solve problems." Facilitation is key.

????5. Intentionally target a smaller offering. Many investment banks will encourage larger offerings (see point 3). While this serves them well, it may be at odds with maximizing the probability of a successful pricing. Less supply means less demand is required to pull off a successful offering. A smaller offering also will make all shareholders less sensitive to dilution and therefore pricing. Once again, do not file if you do not plan to price, and this includes all prices in the planned offering range.

????6. Don't disrespect the precious nature of an open window. The four companies above were on file during a very strong IPO window, and as a result had seemingly error-free processes. Being prepared to go when things are good means avoiding the situation where you file, and the global market melts down in your face. If (1) your company has the numbers to be public, (2) your company is ready and prepared to be public, and (3) the IPO market is healthy and the window is clearly open and you still chose to wait to go public than you are accepting the timing risk of the future. To quote Geddy Lee of Rush, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." Growth can slow, markets can turn, new competitors can show up. Going public too early clearly has risks – but so does waiting too long and missing your opportunity.

????IPO markets will always have "pulled" and "delayed" IPOs. This is simply the nature of the beast. An open IPO window attracts two types of companies – those that should go public, and those that "need" to go public for capital reasons. Portions of the "need" group will always fail to find supporters, and therefore you should not view delays and withdrawals as signs of a weak IPO market. That said, certain delays can and should be avoided. If you are stepping up to the plate for an IPO, be ready, be prepared, and be committed to seeing it through. Don't submit an S-1 if you don't plan to price. Waiting on file for extended periods of time can be catastrophic.

????Bill Gurley is a general partner with venture firm Benchmark Capital. He blogs at Above The Crowd.