Direct Public Offerings: The Definitive Guide: The New Method for Taking Your Company Public [Paperback]

Drew Field (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

THE NEW METHOD FOR TAKING YOUR COMPANY PUBLIC Direct Public Offerings thoroughly explains how small, mid-size and large companies can successfully sell stock directly to their customers and how investors can profit from this hot new trend in corporate growth. This book will introduce you to the revolutionary field of direct public offerings, explaining in user-friendly terms what it is, how and why it works and how to do it with your company. With increasing numbers of growing businesses participating in the past five years, direct public offerings have become a viable alternative for both companies and investors. In Direct Public Offerings, Drew Field, the pioneer in applying direct marketing technology to selling securities, thoroughly covers everything from government regulations to correct market timing and pricing your shares. Informative sections include:

--The step-by-step process to executing a direct public offering

--Why now is a great time to go public

--Legal and accounting issues in easy-to-understand terms

--How to determine if public ownership is right for your company

--How to make your company appealing to investors

--How to market shares on the Internet

--Case studies of successful offerings

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Drew Field and his great book were instrumental in our successful raising of $4.6 million in two direct public offerings.... We're now a healthy company with great financials and over 5,000 shareowners." -- John Schaeffer, President, Real Goods Trading Corporation

"It's the entrepreneur's guide to raising capital without losing control of the vision. It works." -- Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, Chuck E. Cheese and 17 other companies

"This book is an excellent primer for those looking to take their companies public, by one of the leading specialists in the field." -- Steven E. Levingston, Director of the Business & Economic Journalism

...can help you figure out how to raise the money you need to expand." -- Jane Applegate, Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Drew Field has provided direct share marketing advisory services since 1976, helping clients raise over $100 million in Direct Public Offerings of corporate shares to individual investors. As a securities lawyer and CPA, Field has not only advised companies on DPOs, but also provided consultation on private financings, acquisitions and restructurings. Field's expertise is widely syndicated, with columns appearing in Management Review, Business Horizons, San Francisco Business Times, as well as more than 10 banking journals nationwide. He has also appeared in many business publications and major newspapers, including Inc., U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Field has been a member of the California State Bar since 1960 and Certified Public Accountant in California since 1961.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570711461
• ISBN-13: 978-1570711466
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Raising Capital

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid Introductory Book, June 7, 1998

By 

Paul Hawkins, [e-mail] (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Direct Public Offerings: The Definitive Guide: The New Method for Taking Your Company Public (Paperback)

Considering how little has been written on the subject of Direct Public Offerings (DPOs), this book is a clear introductory text that is easy to read. As an entrepreneur considering a DPO, I am grateful for this book -- it convinced me that a DPO for our company will be successful! More than that, it convinced me there are a number of advantages to doing a DPO besides raising capital.

There are two caveats I would ask readers to keep in mind, however. 1) View this book as an introductory text. It does not contain sufficient detail to answer your every question, and no doubt, additional research will be required. 2) The author makes liberal use of trends and statistics, but many of the references are out of date: This seems to be typical of authors who rush to publish a subseqent edition of their earlier work, without going back and updating a lot of their detailed research.

Despite the draw-backs listed above, for anyone considering taking a company public, this book is a worthwhile investment at a modest price.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone considering a public offering., July 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Direct Public Offerings: The Definitive Guide: The New Method for Taking Your Company Public (Paperback)

Drew Field writes from experience gained through more than a dozen direct public offerings in which he has personally participated. The book lays out the required rules for a corporation to raise funds by selling its stock to the public. This is a complicated subject which Mr. Field simplifies to a workable set of do's and don't's. You'll understand the steps to follow to raise funds and which regulations must be adhered to for your selected type of offering. The most compelling portion of the book contains the case histories of actual offerings. Mr. Field will show you, through real world examples, what can work for you to acquire the funds you need for your business.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Effort!, April 23, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Direct Public Offerings: The Definitive Guide: The New Method for Taking Your Company Public (Paperback)

Drew Field wrote this book in 1997 to encourage entrepreneurs to bypass Wall Street and float their shares directly to individual investors. In hindsight, we can see that almost everything that Field predicted in the book was wrong, but it is precisely due to the enormity of his mistakes that this book is relevant in the year 2000. Field's premise was that brokers were ignoring equity issuance and individual investors in favor of big-ticket, M&A-style transactions and institutional deals like securitizations. This shift had created an imbalance in which struggling entrepreneurs were cut off from the capital that they needed to get their businesses off the ground. Of course, what happed in reality was exactly the opposite: A boom in venture capital and the stratospheric rise of the IPO market created an equity bubble of epic proportions, and many start-ups that should never have made it past the garage door raised hundreds of millions of dollars. All of this brings us to the present day, when an IPO backlash has dashed the funding hopes of many public wannabes. To the founders of these companies, we [...] ask: Direct Public Offering, anyone?