1-Page : Venture Backed, Now Public on ASX
I just read the intriguing story of Joanna Weidenmiller, the Founder of 1-Page on FastCo. After taking in more than $3 million in Silicon Valley VC money, the company has recently reverse merged in an alternative public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange. The current market cap is somewhere around $160 million.
Weidenmiller’s is an interesting entrepreneurial journey. A born entrepreneur, the 1-Page founder took the concept of the 1-page proposal/intro– originally made popular by a book written by her father which she later published–into a data-driven recruiting engine for bringing job-seekers and companies together. The concept behind the company is that job-seekers wow potential employers with a simple one-page proposal, rather than a resume. It’s a way for companies to showcase what they’ll be bringing to the company rather than a historical diatribe of what they’ve done in the past. It’s an interesting concept that is resonating with both employers and their potential employees, which is likely only one of the reasons for the company’s strong growth path.
With the current market-cap and prospects for acquisition and partnership, the company’s future path looks bright. It’s not the first example of a U.S. based company doing an alternative offering on the ASX, but I believe it’s the first venture-backed deal to have opted for the ASX. From the FastCompany article:
As for further expansion, Weidemiller says the move to list on the ASX should also facilitate that. “Huge global enterprises are nervous about young, private tech companies,” she contends, because of their failure rate. The IPO allowed 1-Page to play on a more level field despite its relative newness.
There are great companies out there– such as 1-Page– whose listing on a public exchange will actually provide greater value to shareholders and greater exposure to the company. The ASX certainly some differing dynamics when compared to the OTC, NASDAQ and NYSE, but the concept of going public via cheaper, alternative means either by reverse merger or direct public offering remain compelling for the right private company candidates.
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