Dearest Fellow Primates -- some interesting changes have recently come to light on different ways small businesses can now raise funding...
Reg A+ or Mini IPO....summary below from IPOhub.com
More info: https://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/secg/regulation…
So I've always avoided the idea of rasing capital (and we've been approached by many VCs/angels, etc) because I've always run WSO lean in order to keep it profitable and not overextend ourselves (thanks to my time in restrucuturing seeing messes) and I've always seen much more upside than downside in what we've built over the last 14 years -- when looking at our financial profile, there is a lot more value to the brand and reputation vs top line + profit.
That being said, the idea of a Reg A+ or Reg CF offering seems particularly built for a community like WSO since the users are what drive a lot of the value in the ecosystem (and could help us tremendously in our next stage of growth). What better way to continue our rapid growth with community members owning a small stake in WSO?
So some questions:
1. Would you be interested in becoming a shareholder in WSO? (for real $, not bananas ;)
2. Do you know any good trustworthy lawyers that specialize in Reg A+?
[the following quesions probably best answered by such lawyer, but if you know]....
3. Concerns as a Sub-chapter S doing Reg A+? Tier 1 or Tier 2 better?
4. I've seen some Reg A+ actually trade on Nasdaq/NYSE...sounds fun but likely not worth the headache/cost (but additional liquidity might be nice for the monkeys)
5. What else should I be asking?
Anyways, it's a fun thought experiment and I welcome all the wisdom here in the community and other things I should be asking.
Thanks,
Patrick
just wait until WSB finds out about this.
Kind of interesting. If a lot of users owned a stake, I could see it encouraging higher and more frequent quality content. Though I’m not sure where all the value really is in the business (the forum or the various courses and programs - would assume the latter). Guess we’ll need to see the financials!
Use the capital to make another revenue stream. It is needed for the wannabe banker market(mainly for non-targets I was in this market).
You guys already sponsor college clubs. Now create a DCF, LBO competition and make participants put in $50 ($100 per team of 3? or a total club fee of $600, I'm just saying #'s but you get the point). Now once a team registers:
I like this because as a non-target kid I had NOTHING like this at my school but my friends from a target school had these types of competitions 3x a year. By the end of their freshman year, they have competed in at least 1 now that looks good on a resume. Now non-targets can say "Hey, I got 1st place in WSO DCF competition". that can be on a ton of resumes. Everyone will hear your name. Especially in the nontarget world where they go to this site for answers rather than others at their school.
This model is also cheap a lot of build upfront but then almost nothing changes except for a company name and some #'s. Make there a deal if you buy our guides you get one free entry to the yearly competition. If it gets too competitive make it regional, super flexible. Gives you one more thing to trap students into the WSO guides over other guides. There aren't any national competitions for the students except for the CFA one.
I think the hardest part would be finding interested schools but you already have a massive list of partnerships with school clubs. Team up with companies to sponsor prizes and you keep the entry fee... Just a thought.....
Probably not the best place to put this thought but if you "IPO" now you have additional capital to market yourself while also making some $$
please excuse any typos I wrote this on a phone and just sent it. sorry!