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Step 1
Start planning two to three years in advance.
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Step 2
Ensure your product is beyond the prototype phase before you proceed.
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Step 3
Network. Get to know other entrepreneurs in your community and your industry who know the lawyers, accountants and investment bankers you should and shouldn't meet.
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Step 4
Develop a solid business plan.
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Step 5
Clean up your books and your team. If you have financial problems, solve them. If some of the company founders and other execs are no longer working out, buy them out.
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Step 6
Form a corporation.
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Step 7
Hire a public relations adviser. Start getting the word out about your company so that when the IPO hits, investors know who you are.
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Step 8
Start preparing financial statements on par with those you will have to file after the IPO. This will help you start thinking and acting like a public company.
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Step 9
Raise private funds. If a respected venture-capital firm invests in your company, the endorsement might help in the subsequent IPO. The VC firm also will help you with management problems and help you stage the IPO.
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Step 10
Pick the team that will get you through the IPO: accountant, lawyer and investment banker.
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Step 11
Prepare a registration statement. First, you'll have to conduct an audit, hire a printer, and ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the statement.
