Monday, November 9, 2009

How To Go Public

By James Scott

Raising funds has become quite a chore in this depressing economic state so entrepreneurs are thinking outside the box when it comes to obtaining funds for their start-up corporations or businesses in expansion. Institutional lenders are a thing of the past, liberal hedge fund lenders are a mere cast skin of what they once were and with the massive infiltration of scams like shelf corporations and public shells leave the minds of individuals trying to raise funds in perpetual skeptic mode. Though the banks have brought small and medium size business lending to a screeching halt, there are still various turnkey methods that one can facilitate in order to raise the optimal amount of funds needed to pursue their venture.

Have you ever considered taking your company public? Don't be scared off by the nightmare stories of needing millions in financial backing or the critical and ultra costly SOX 404 audits that can make or break your efforts. There are several ways to raise public capital in a cost effective and rapid turnaround process. If you are considering a public offering in the United States, your options are OTCBB, Pink Sheets, Reverse Merger (not recommended), IPO and Private Placement Memorandum. Obviously the IPO is the most sought after method of raising public funds but it is the most expensive and longest route to funding. OTCBB and Pink Sheets are a great way to raise capital without the expense of an IPO but be prepared to battle investor skepticism and 'pump 'em and dump 'em' securities scrappers who can have you on cloud nine and swimming in a surplus of cash one day and broke as a joke the next.

The next method that one will run into on their trek to raise capital is the mysterious reverse merger into a public shell. You'll hear many entrepreneurs talk about this method but few actually understand the intricacies of this process and sadly don't realize it's high failure rate until they are sitting alone at their office at 2 am holding their head in their hands when faced with the reality that 99.9% of reverse mergers into shell companies don't work and they just threw away $200k.

The safest, cheapest and quickest way to raise capital from the public is by way of Regulation D exemption rules 504, 505 and 506. This process is also referred to as a Private Placement Memorandum, Private Placement Memo, Offering Memorandum or PPM. After simply having a professional business plan authored and geared toward raising capital with a PPM, the next step is to see a professional about the Regulation D facilitation. You can pay $20k to an attorney or you can spend around $5k to use a consultant, most companies choose the later. After you've had the PPM docs customized, you're ready to go! Most Private Placement Memorandums only take 2 weeks to put together and file (form d) with the SEC office and then you're off to the races!

PPM's are becoming more and more popular as informed entrepreneurs are seeking capital but want to hold on to a majority share of their company. If you are trying to raise capital for your small or medium size business or wish to increase your company value exponentially in an expedient manner, start looking into having a Private Placement Memorandum authored for your company. It is absolutely the fastest and easiest way to raise capital for your business without all the expense and red tape of other public fund raising processes.

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