IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) can be an attractive investment option for clients who want early access to a fast-growing company. The timing, pricing, and allocation rules, however, can make it challenging to fit into portfolios.

As an advisor, clients look to you for guidance when deciding whether an IPO belongs in their portfolio and how to approach it. This article walks through what an IPO is, how the process works, and the main trade-offs to keep in mind before you talk about allocations.

What is an IPO?

An IPO is the process where a private company sells its shares to the public for the first time. In practice, the company issues new stock through the primary market at an offering price that is set with help from a lead underwriter. When that stock begins to trade on an exchange, ownership has shifted from a small private group to a broad set of public investors.

An IPO provides an opportunity for your clients to buy equity in a company that was previously available only to founders, employees, and private backers. For RIAs, IPOs serve as another potential source of return and risk to weigh against each client’s goals and overall plan.

Why do companies go public?

Companies go public for long-term business goals, not just a one-day share price jump. Understanding those motives helps you explain to clients what they are buying when they ask about a new deal. Here are some of the main reasons why companies go public:

• raising capital: companies sell shares through an IPO to bring in new cash that they can use to fund expansion, invest in products, or reduce debt balances
• providing liquidity for early investors: founders, employees with stock options, and venture or private equity backers can start turning paper gains into cash by selling some of their shares after the IPO or lockup
• increasing visibility: listing on a major exchange raises a company’s profile, which can support brand image and may help attract customers, partners, lenders, and experienced executives
• attracting and retaining talent: public companies can offer stock and options with a clear market price, which makes equity packages more tangible for employees and can tie rewards to long‐term performance
• access to future capital: once public, a company can return to markets with follow‐on offerings and often negotiate better terms on loans because of increased disclosure and trading history

These basics give you a clean way to frame what an IPO represents before you discuss allocations or strategies. If you want to see how industry leaders position public‐market opportunities with clients, check out our special report on the top financial professionals in the US.

How does an IPO work?

An IPO is a staged process where a private company prepares its books, hires advisors, registers with regulators, and sells new shares on an exchange. The company works with investment banks – also called underwriters – to handle due diligence, filings, marketing, and the actual issuance of stock to investors.

For advisors and RIAs, it helps to see IPOs as a pipeline consisting of:

• internal decision and preparation
• regulatory and disclosure work
• investor marketing
• pricing and SEC approval
• trading
• lockups

This framework lets you talk clients through what is happening behind the scenes when they see an IPO headline or allocation notice. Let’s break down the process.

IPO process step by step

Here’s an overview of how the initial public offering process works for a typical US issuer.

Step 1: Decision and preparation

The company decides to go public to raise capital, increase visibility, and provide liquidity for early investors. Management then starts pre‐IPO planning, including building an internal IPO team, strengthening financial reporting, and mapping out timelines.

Step 2: Choose underwriters

The company selects one or more investment banks to act as underwriters and lead the deal. These banks advise on structure, help value the business, and prepare formal proposals that cover security type, share count, price range, and timing.

Step 3: Submit filings

Lawyers, accountants, and SEC specialists work with the company and underwriters to compile the S‐1 registration statement. The S‐1 includes the prospectus, financial statements, risk factors, and other disclosures regulators and investors will review. This document is revised several times before the deal launches.

Step 4: Roadshows

Underwriters and senior executives meet institutional investors in a series of presentations often called roadshows. These meetings help gauge demand, refine the investment story, and support “book building,” where large investors signal how many shares they might buy and at what price.

Step 5: Pricing

Based on investor feedback and market conditions, the underwriters recommend a final offering price and share count to the company. The goal is to raise the desired capital while setting a price that institutional and retail buyers are willing to pay on the IPO date.

Step 6: Obtain SEC approval

The SEC reviews the registration statement to check whether required disclosures are clear and complete. Once the SEC declares the filing effective, the company can proceed with the offering and list its shares on an exchange that has approved the listing.

Step 7: IPO share issuance

On the IPO date, the company issues new shares, receives the primary proceeds as cash, and records that cash as stockholders’ equity on its balance sheet. The stock then begins trading in the secondary market, where prices move with supply, demand, and news.

Step 8: Post-IPO

After the IPO, the company must file quarterly and annual reports, maintain governance and disclosure processes, and keep communicating with investors. Underwriters may also have short‐term options to buy more shares. Insiders are often subject to lock‐up periods before they can sell in the open market.

If you want to learn more about where IPOs sit alongside other non‐traditional holdings, you can visit and bookmark our Alternative Investments News section.

How to invest in an IPO

For most clients, investing in an IPO simply means buying shares in a company that has just gone public. They can either try to participate in the offering or wait and buy once the stock trades on an exchange. Your role is to help clients understand which route fits their risk profile and overall plan.

Buying shares in the primary market (during the IPO process)

Clients may be able to buy at the IPO offering price if they are clients of an underwriter or a dealer. Most IPO shares are allocated to institutional and high‐net‐worth accounts, so direct access for typical retail investors is uncommon.

Buying shares in the secondary market (after the stock is listed)

The more common route for individual investors is to buy once the shares begin trading in the public market after the IPO. At that point, clients place orders through a standard brokerage account, and you can treat position sizing and timing like any other listed stock trade.

If you have clients looking for more information on how to buy stocks, this guide can help.

Pros and cons of investing in an IPO

IPOs offer clients a mix of return potential and meaningful structural risk. Your job is to separate the appeal of “getting in early” from the actual risk-return trade-off in each deal.

Advantages of investing in an IPO

• opportunity for high returns: some IPOs have produced strong early gains and long-term upside when the underlying business keeps growing and the listing price was reasonable
• early access: IPOs give public investors their first chance to own a company that was previously limited to founders, employees, and private backers
• potential for “listing gains”: offering prices can be set below where active demand later pushes the stock, which may create a first‐day “pop” for initial buyers
• transparency: the IPO process forces detailed disclosures in the prospectus, including business model, risk factors, and audited financials, giving you a standardized base for analysis
• portfolio diversification: new listings can open exposure to different sectors or business models, which you can use to fine‐tune a client’s equity mix when it fits their plan

Disadvantages of investing in an IPO

• high volatility and risk: prices around the IPO can swing sharply, especially once underwriter support ends; many deals also trade below the offering price soon after listing
• limited historical data: newly public companies often have short public track records, so you rely mainly on prospectus disclosures rather than years of comparable filings and earnings history
• potential for overvaluation: hype and scarce float can push prices well above fundamentals in the early sessions, leaving late buyers exposed to sharp corrections
• no guarantee of share allocation: underwriters usually allocate most IPO shares to institutional and high‐net‐worth clients, so typical retail investors may get few or no shares at the offering price
• lock-up periods: insiders and early investors are often restricted from selling for about 180 days or even longer, and when those lock-ups expire, a surge of supply can pressure the stock price
• market pressure: once public, companies must meet ongoing reporting rules and face constant scrutiny, which can pull management toward near-term earnings targets rather than long-term goals

Weighing these pros and cons helps you decide when IPO exposure belongs in a client’s portfolio. It also gives you context for how new listings can reshape ownership and deal activity. If you want more insight on how IPO activity links to mergers and acquisitions, visit and bookmark our Mergers & Acquisitions News section.

IPO investing best practices

IPOs should support an existing plan, not replace it. As an advisor, your process matters more than the headline name. Here are some best practices when investing in an IPO:

• study the prospectus and S‐1: read the company’s registration statement and prospectus to understand its business, risks, and use of proceeds before considering any allocation
• check the available information: recognize that private companies often have limited analyst coverage, so gaps in public data make it harder to judge value and execution risk
• treat broker enthusiasm carefully: be cautious if a broker is aggressively pitching an IPO and compare that message with your own analysis of filings and client suitability
• consider waiting through the lock-up: some advisors prefer to wait until after the insider lock-up expires, when pent‐up selling and early support trades have worked through the price
• size positions modestly within the equity sleeve: treat IPOs as satellite holdings around a client’s core diversified exposure, given their higher volatility and uncertainty as new listings

IPOs can add targeted exposure without disrupting the process you already use to build client portfolios. The key is to keep the focus on process, documentation, and fit with each client’s overall strategy.

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