From Kitchen table to IPO – Pick up the New Skills

Last week I talked about the selecting your Advisors when going public that came out of the Churchill Club programme “from Kitchen table to IPO”. which we ran on the 17th April.   We were joined by Silvio Salom of Adacel Technologies Ltd , Leon Lau of Peoplebank Ltd and Michael Abela of Mobi Ltd .

This week I wanted to pass on the main points (as noted by me) that were made by our panel around the news skills required for a public company CEO that you better get on top of:

1.    First and foremost, check your expectation as at the door.  Remember that if you end up with less than 20-30% of your business, you may no longer actually be in control.

2.    Get good at managing your time and your life as the CEO of a Public Company job layers on top of your “managing the business” job.  As a corollary, get good at finding good people to delegate to and trust them to do their job.

3.    Understand that operational management is now very much focused on hitting your forecast numbers, not just simply doing your best.

4.    Good governance and good processes are now critically important.  As a public company you are now much, much, much more likely to be sued.

5.    Understand Australian accounting standards.  Disappointing I know, but just because you want to recognize a transaction as revenue, doesn’t mean you will be allowed to.

6.    If you’re going to grow overseas, get an understanding of relevant international laws, tax and accounting standards.  Its not just Australian companies that are going to sue you.

7.    Get some media training and get good at briefing your PR agents.  The market will be unforgiving if the right thing comes out the wrong way.  Also remember you will now have at least 400 shareholders that will be happy to ring and give you advice on “their” company.

8.    Its not just managing your chairman anymore, get used to managing the entire board.  Handled right, the board can be of enormous benefit.

9.    Accept the fact that you have lost your privacy.  Your staff and competitors now know where you live and how much you earn.

10.    Finally, understand and appreciate that you operate within a stock market.  If you don’t understand the ethical and legal issues around Directors taking out margin loans to invest in your stock in an environment of continuous disclosure, then you better get on top of it.

Apparently though, the perks outweigh the pressures.

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