新上市科技公司行為準則
????當一家由風投注資的科技公司成功上市之后,它的日子會變得難過得多。即便是馬林軟件(Marin Software)這樣表現搶眼的公司,也必須要成功地管理好股東群由風投公司向公共資金的轉變。如果在這個過程中出了岔子,公司必將付出重大代價。 ????如果你是一個成長期公司的企業家,而且準備長期發展,那么在上市的過程中,你也會遇到類似的挑戰。首先,會有很多分析師和基金經理想和你談話。這些人提出的問題和風投公司提出的問題是很不一樣的——他們會非常詳細地詢問關于競爭對手、客戶和供應商的情況,同時也會問一些開放性的、寬泛的問題。你可能弄不清楚他們真正想知道的是什么。你也不會經常知道誰在買賣、持有和做空你的股票。同時,你的股價可能會因為一些看似不相關和不重要的新聞而上下波動。 ????如果你是一家新上市公司的管理者,下面的建議也許能幫你應對前方道路上的各種困難。 正確行為 ????關注基本面;不要忘了歸根結底是什么讓你上市的。如果你的公司已經上市了,說明你已經做了很多正確的事。作為一家上市公司,你的基本戰略不應該改變。如果你的企業文化是以客戶為導向的,那么即便你上市了,這一點也應該堅持下去。如果你為公司制定了非常大膽的目標,也不要害怕讓公共投資人知道(但要做好準備,隨著時間的推移,他們會督促你實現這個目標)。首次公開募股和越來越多的媒體關注可能會讓你的員工分心,甚至可能給公司的業績拖后腿。因此,必須讓團隊像往常一樣繼續把注意力放在業務上,以便繼續保持成功。 ????長期貪婪,短期謹慎。天馬行空地展望未來可能很過癮,然而如果沉迷于不切實際的幻想,將來可能會讓你頭痛不已。因此,要切實制定對未來的預期。這和典型的私人公司的行為恰恰是背道而馳的。對于私人公司來說,你的風投可能會逼著你制訂龐大的計劃和大膽的預期,然后實現計劃的80%到90%就可以了。當你一旦上市了,如果你的業績與當初的預期相差了10%,則可能會導致災難性的后果。保持較低的預期可能會壓低你的股價,但是如果你連續達到、甚至超過了預期,那么你就為機構投資人賺了錢,同時建立起了信譽,有望得到機構投資人的支持。 ????尊重投資界。一旦你的公司上市了,不可避免地會有許多新的事務占用你的時間。你一方面要花時間應付這些事,一方面還不能把重點從業務上轉移開來。因此,你必須在兩者之間取得平衡。要持之以恒,如果你在運營上遇到了困難,不要沉默以對,也不要因為有些投資者或分析師對你的股票持負面態度就拒人千里。要知道賣方分析師是一個支點,他們可以幫你不把你的壞消息傳到投資者耳朵里。 |
????When a venture-backed tech company goes public, their life becomes much tougher. Even for strong companies like Marin Software (MRIN), the key is successfully managing the shift of their shareholder base from VCs to public funds. Failure to do so can be punishing. ????If you're a growth-stage entrepreneur looking to go long, you'll have a similar challenge when you go public. New analysts and fund managers will want your time. The types of questions you'll field from these folks will be very different than those from your VCs -- they'll get very specific about competitors, customers and suppliers -- and also ask open-ended, big-picture questions. It can be unclear what they're getting at. Knowledge of who is buying, selling, holding and/or shorting can be sporadic. Meanwhile, your stock price can vacillate up and down on unrelated and seemingly unimportant news. ????The suggestions below aim to help you navigate the bumpy terrain you'll confront as a newly-public company: DOs ????Focus on fundamentals; don't forget what got you public in the first place. If you've gotten public, you're doing a lot right. Your recipe for success as a public company shouldn't change. If you've built your culture to focus on the customer, this should remain consistent even after you're public. Similarly, if you've rallied your company around an audacious goal, don't be afraid to share it with public investors (but expect them to hold you to this goal over time). IPOs and increased media attention can be very distracting to your employees and a drag on performance. It's critical that you keep your team focused on business as usual to maintain success. ????Be long term greedy, not short term greedy. It can feel euphoric to let future expectations run wild, but it can cause big headaches down the road when you're held to these lofty projections. Instead, keep expectations tamped down wherever possible. This runs counter to typical private company behavior, where VCs push you to think big, make bold projections and reward the achievement of 80-90% of your plan. When you're public, missing numbers by 10% can have disastrous effects. Keeping expectations low may depress your stock price, but if you make money for institutional investors and establish credibility with them by achieving or beating numbers consistently, you'll earn their support. ????Be respectful of the investment community. Once you've gone public, you'll inevitably have many new demands on your time. You need to balance being available with the risk of losing focus on your business. Be consistent -- don't go silent if you're in the midst of a rough patch in your operations and don't turn off to investors or analysts who are negative on your stock. Recognize that sell-side analysts are a point of leverage -- they help you keep your story out in front of investors. |