正文：
纳斯达克IR情报团队负责人克里斯托弗·安塞尔莫（Christopher Anselmo）说，在创纪录的IPO年（2021）之后，2022年迄今的情况“明显”放缓，原因是通胀担忧和全球地缘政治环境具有挑战性。尽管他指出，考虑到私人市场的资本规模，“不急着上市”，但仍有“健康”的公司准备上市。
今年的另一个不同之处是，安塞尔莫预计交易窗口会更频繁地打开和关闭，这使得那些想上市的公司做好充分准备变得更加重要。他表示：“一旦市场状况改善，市场的不确定性消除，机构投资者的情绪改善，我们往往会看到更多的公司进入市场。”。
越来越多的上市准备工作包括在公司上市前让一名IR人员加入公司，Anselmo将IR人才描述为“需求旺盛且不断发展”
他建议道：“由于需求量大，尽早锁定IR人才有利于与投资者建立一致的信息和节奏。”他补充道，在公司准备首次公开募股时，让IR加入董事会也能腾出管理时间。
由于公司和行业的熟悉程度，我们仍然看到大部分IRO来自内部。但越来越多的外部候选人从卖方和买方公司以及众多其他背景带来了独特的财务经验。
找到合适的人可能会很费时，这也是许多公司愿意聘请一家机构来帮助完成这一过程的首要原因。这两条路都可能成功，因此公司需要确定预期的结果，并选择最合适的。
当涉及到上市前的投资者沟通时，安塞尔莫提倡一种先发制人的方法——尤其是考虑到市场持续面临的挑战。
他表示：“增长率和利润率一直是投资者关注的焦点：对衰退和通胀的担忧抑制了投资者的吸引力，因此，公司必须解释其对这些宏观担忧的抵御能力。”。
外联的频率和信息传递都很重要。当投资者开始从场外掏钱时，公司向投资者讲述自己的故事，以获取自己的资产份额，这一点很重要。在充满挑战的市场环境中，我们还看到，越来越多地使用情景规划和沟通，让投资者更加清晰。
通过纳斯达克的IR Insight服务，公司可以依靠的众多服务包括行业和市值基准、CRM软件、目标技术和会议日历——所有这些工具都有助于为您的信息传递带来更深入的见解，并帮助公司使其信息传递更加高效。
更广泛地说，在IPO准备方面，纳斯达克为公司提供了一份清单，以帮助确保他们准备好在机会窗口出现时进入市场。
Anselmo解释道：“最重要的步骤之一是确定律师和审计师，并确定与IPO相关的完整事项清单的角色和责任，如IPO结构、注册声明、发行和公司治理框架概述。”。
正如我们的清单所证明的，IPO有很多方面，但一些公司陷入的一个陷阱是过于关注IPO，而没有足够关注上市公司的生活。IPO只是上市公司漫长而成功的人生中的第一步。
一旦上市完成，上市公司的生命开始了，公司将面临一系列至关重要的从第一次电话财报会议到第一次投资者路演。公司还将有大量的流动性或融资事件，这些事件也会影响股票的走势。
纳斯达克的IR Insight和其他咨询团队不仅在IPO过程中与公司合作，而且还在公司在公开市场上的生活中保持合作伙伴关系，提供一个专门构建的IR平台，以简化工作流程、访问优质内容、吸引*并衡量您的投资回报率，允许公司根据公司可以利用的成绩单和深入分析对自己进行监控和基准测试。
安塞尔莫贯穿始终的关键信息是，无论是上市前的准备工作还是上市公司的生活，都需要做好准备，并表现出强大的实力，尤其是在当今充满挑战的环境中。显而易见的是，尽管上市是一个密集的过程，但它是一个旅程的开始，其中包括从路演到监管、企业准入到扩大销售覆盖范围的一切。正确关注投资者关系是关键。
英文：
After the record-breaking IPO year that was 2021, things have been “markedly” slower so far in 2022 ‘amid inflationary concerns and a challenging global geopolitical environment,’ says Christopher Anselmo, principal on Nasdaq’s IR Intelligence team. Although he notes that there is “no rush to go public” given the amount of capital in the private markets, there remains a “healthy” pipeline of companies ready to list.
What is also different this year is that Anselmo expects the window for deals to open and close more frequently – making it all the more important for companies that want to list to be well prepared. “Once market conditions improve, uncertainty is removed from the market and sentiment from institutional investors improves, we tend to see more companies come to market,” he says.
Part of being ready to list increasingly involves having an IR person on board before the firm goes public, and Anselmo describes IR talent as being “in demand and evolving.”
“Due to the high demand, it is beneficial to lock up IR talent early to build consistent messaging and cadence with investors,” he advises, adding that bringing IR on board also frees up management time as a company readies for its IPO.
We still see most of the IROs coming from internal sources due to the familiarity of the company and sector. But there is a growing pool of external candidates who bring unique financial experience from sell-side and buy-side firms as well as a multitude of other backgrounds.”
“Finding the right person can be time-consuming, and that is the number one reason why many companies prefer to hire an agency to help with the process. Both paths can be successful, so companies need to identify desired outcomes and choose which is the best fit.”
When it comes to investor communication ahead of going public, Anselmo advocates an up-front approach – particularly given the continuing challenges in the market.
“Growth rates and margins have been a focus for investors: recession and inflation concerns have curbed investor appeal, so it is important for companies to explain their resilience to those macro concerns,” he says.
“Frequency of outreach matters, as well as messaging. It is important for companies to tell their story to investors to capture their share of assets when investors start pulling money off the sidelines. In challenging market conditions, we’ve also seen an increased use of scenario planning and communications to give investors greater clarity.”
Among the many offerings that companies can lean on through Nasdaq’s IR Insight service is benchmarking by sector and market cap, CRM software, targeting technology and a conference calendar – all tools that help bring deeper insights to your messaging as well as help companies make their messaging work harder.
More broadly, when it comes to IPO prep, Nasdaq provides companies with a checklist to help ensure they are prepared to access the market when the window of opportunity presents itself.
“One of the most important steps is to identify counsel and auditors and determine roles and responsibilities for the complete list of matters pertaining to an IPO, such as the structure of the IPO, registration statement, offering and overview of the company’s governance framework,” explains Anselmo.
“There is a lot that goes into an IPO, as our checklist will attest, but one of the pitfalls some companies fall into is focusing too much on the IPO and not enough on life as a public company. The IPO is only the first step in a long, successful life as a public company.”
And once the listing is complete and that life begins as a public company, firms are faced with a slew of crucially important firsts – from their first earnings call to their first investor roadshow. Companies will also have large liquidity or funding events that can also influence the trajectory of the stock.
Nasdaq’s IR Insight and other advisory teams not only work with firms through the IPO process but also remain partners in a company’s life on the public markets, offering a purpose-built IR platform to streamline workflows, access premium content, engage shareholders and measure your ROI, allowing companies to monitor and benchmark themselves against as well as transcripts and deep-dive analysis a company can leverage.
Anselmo’s key message throughout is that when it comes to both pre-IPO prep and life as a listed company, it is all about preparation and coming out strong – particularly in today’s challenging environment. What is clear is that as intensive as going public is, it is the beginning of a journey that includes everything from roadshows to regulation, corporate access to growing your sell-side coverage.
Having the right investor relations focus is a key to success across all areas of public company life, and the data that Nasdaq’s IR Insight provides is the foundation and the fuel for an IR program that works for your company.
