Inexpensive Methods for Taking a Company Public

Perhaps the greatest barrier to making money is having money. Every person can become his/her own investor if they just keep their eyes open to opportunities. The struggle is that most folks, once an interesting investment crosses their path, would likely not have the finances to take advantage of a unique opportunity. This is just as true for taking your company public as it is for traditional investing.

There needs to be an affordable, simple and straight-forward method for going public that is available to more of the common business owners. Making public offerings affordable for nearly any business will continue to be a necessary tool for providing easier access to public capital and an alternative option for investor and entrepreneur exit.

Why Inexpensive Options for Going Public Are Absolutely Necessary

While it does cost money to perform a public offering, making it affordable for a larger swath of U.S. businesses matters for at least some of the following reasons:

1. Cheap access to capital for growth and working capital needs.
2. Wealth creation through investor exit.
3. Tax sheltering options through creative public company structuring.
4. Small business growth through mergers and acquisitions via public stock.

The gap between the rich and the poor is ever-widening. Bridging that gap will not occur without the buy-in and assistance from creative solutions across the economic value-chain. One such solution includes the ability for companies and entrepreneurs to go public more often and at a lower cost.

The problem for many companies is that they either don’t know where to go to become publicly-traded, won’t be able to afford most “go public” offering services, or are concerned about the skills required to ensure complete compliance once the company is public.

The On-Going Costs of Being a Public Company

While on the high-horse, trumpeting the need for affordable public offer solutions, it is almost just as or more important to discuss the on-going costs of being a public company. In the process of assessing private-to-public offerings we do a great deal of work with many private companies whose financials have been prepared by various CPAs and accounting firms.

A recent client struck me as odd as they were paying over $80,000 a year for outsourced accounting assistance. The accountants were not PCAOB compliant, the financial statements were not in complete accordance with GAAP, and the company did less than $1 million in EBITDA a year. Per our suggestion, the company quickly changed accounting firms and got this bill down to a more reasonable $12,000 a year cost.

Similar treatment more often occurs with public companies, but in a more extreme way. Because of the regular need for on-going quarterly and annual reporting to the SEC, many companies expect their outside accounting and securities compliance costs to be much higher than they actually should be. So, cost-consciousness in the process of going public and in the process of being public are perhaps the two most important consideration factors in ensuring smaller companies have access to the public markets in a cost-effective way.

Pathways to Going Public: Weighing Your Options

Smaller companies typically have three main routes to the public markets: a traditional S-1 registration, a Regulation A+ (Reg A+) offering, or a reverse merger with an existing public shell. Each path carries meaningfully different cost structures, timelines, and compliance burdens.

A traditional S-1 can cost several hundred thousand dollars in legal, accounting, and underwriting fees, making it out of reach for most companies under a certain revenue threshold. Reg A+ was introduced specifically to lower that barrier—it allows companies to raise up to a defined ceiling with somewhat lighter ongoing reporting requirements. A reverse merger can be faster and cheaper upfront, but introduces its own due diligence complexities around the shell company’s history. Reviewing a detailed comparison of Reg A+ versus S-1 versus reverse merger is a useful starting point for any management team evaluating these options.

Before committing to any path, it is worth stepping back and asking whether going public is the right move at all. Reasons not to take your company public are worth reading honestly—liquidity constraints, governance burdens, and the distraction of public reporting can outweigh the benefits for many businesses at their stage of development. On the other side of the ledger, understanding public company benefits for founding entrepreneurs helps clarify what upside is actually achievable.

If the decision is to move forward, preparation matters enormously. Reviewing common prep procedures before taking your company public can help management teams avoid the most predictable stumbling blocks. For companies that want to raise capital without necessarily going fully public, capital raise preparation workflows offer a structured approach to getting investor-ready and presenting the business clearly to potential backers.

Cost Discipline Before and After the Offering

The accounting example above illustrates a broader principle: cost discipline applied during the going-public process compounds over time. A company that enters the public markets with bloated professional fees and non-compliant financial statements will face painful restructuring costs at exactly the moment it needs to build credibility with investors.

Establishing clean, GAAP-compliant financials—ideally with PCAOB-audited statements—before initiating a public offering is the single best investment a management team can make in the process. It shortens review timelines, reduces the risk of SEC comment letters, and sends a clear signal to the market that management takes governance seriously.

Ready to think through your path to the public markets or an alternative capital raise? Start preparing your transaction with a structured framework from day one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum revenue or EBITDA a company needs before going public?

There is no strict regulatory minimum, but practical market dynamics generally require meaningful revenue traction for a traditional S-1. Reg A+ offerings can work for earlier-stage companies, as the capital raise ceiling is lower and investor expectations are calibrated accordingly. The key question is whether you can tell a credible growth story supported by audited financials.

How long does a Reg A+ or reverse merger typically take compared to a traditional IPO?

A Reg A+ process typically takes several months from initial filing to qualification, depending on SEC review cycles and how well-prepared the issuer’s documents are. A reverse merger can close faster—sometimes in a matter of weeks for the structural transaction—though integration and compliance cleanup can extend the effective timeline. A traditional S-1 IPO is usually the longest path, often running nine to eighteen months from kickoff to listing.

Can a small company realistically manage SEC reporting obligations on its own?

It is technically possible but rarely advisable. Public company reporting—quarterly 10-Qs, annual 10-Ks, 8-K current reports, and proxy statements—requires consistent, GAAP-compliant financial preparation and a working knowledge of SEC rules. Most small public companies retain outside securities counsel and an accounting firm that understands public company requirements, even if overall costs are kept lean through competitive bidding and careful scoping.