You built something real. Scale with the tools of a public company.
Your company has real customers and revenue, and you want to build something much bigger. Becoming a public company gives you more access to capital, talent and partners, and makes buying competitors easier, while you stay in control.
The ceiling you've probably hit
You didn't get here by accident. But the tools that built your company aren't the tools that will build one several times its size. Most owners run into at least one of these:
Growth runs on cash flow
Every expansion waits for profits, or for a bank loan with your personal guarantee on it.
You can't land the people you need
The leaders who could take you to the next level want equity, and private equity is hard to value and harder to sell.
Someone else is buying your competitors
Consolidators backed by private equity are rolling up your industry, and they can outbid you for the owners you'd like to buy.
Bigger customers and partners want a bigger company
Size, audited numbers and status open doors that stay closed to smaller private firms.
None of that is a talent problem. It's a toolkit problem.
Use the private equity playbook, without selling to private equity
Private equity firms buy businesses like yours at a modest multiple of EBITDA, combine several of them, add stronger leaders and sell the larger group at a higher multiple. The playbook works. The question is who keeps the upside.
Becoming a public company gives you many of the same tools, so you can be the consolidator in your industry instead of one of its targets. Be the roll-up, not the rolled-up. If acquisitions are your main strategy, see the Building to Buy playbook.
Five tools a public company has that a private one doesn't
Raise capital when you want to
Fund a large acquisition or expansion on your terms, without giving a private equity firm a board seat or an exit date.
Recruit leaders with real equity
Offer stock with a market value, not a promise. The people who can run divisions, open markets and take over the day-to-day finally have a reason to say yes.
Credibility that opens doors
Audited financials and public reporting help with lenders, larger customers and strategic partners.
Advisers and partners with a stake in your success
Stock options can attract experienced board members, advisers and referral partners who'd never commit to a private company. In most industries your competitors are private, so you're the only one who can offer it.
Buy competitors more easily
Capital, a stronger team and credibility make you a buyer owners take seriously, and stock can be part of the price. Many owners nearing retirement would take shares in a growing company alongside a check, so each deal can add earnings without draining your cash or piling on debt.
A few years in, once the company has grown and its shares trade regularly, you'll have an option most private owners don't: selling some of your shares gradually without selling the company. It isn't the reason to do this, and it isn't available on day one. It means the value you build can eventually become wealth you can use.
It sounds like a crazy idea. Here's why it isn't.
Most owners assume going public means a Wall Street IPO, $100 million in revenue and a roadshow. For an established company, the usual route looks different:
No big IPO
Most companies list through a direct listing on the OTCQB, a U.S. market for smaller and growing public companies, and can move up to Nasdaq or the NYSE later.
A private placement sized to your plan
Before listing, you raise from your own network. It might fund a specific use of proceeds, give you enough shareholders to meet listing requirements, or bring partners and advisers in as shareholders. Some companies raise only a modest amount because what they need is shareholders, not money.
Under a year
Audit, filings and listing typically take under a year. The building happens in the years after.
You stay in charge
You usually keep majority ownership and keep running the company. You add outside shareholders, a board and reporting, and we'll explain what that means day to day.
Same playbook, much larger scale
Well-known companies have used public stock this way. Most went public through traditional IPOs and are far larger than a company starting out today, so treat them as illustrations of how the tools work, not as a forecast. We're doing what they did on national stock exchanges, for entrepreneurs with smaller businesses and big ambitions.
Perficient (technology services)
Went public in 1999 in a small IPO raising about $6 million, with revenue under $10 million. Within a year it used stock, along with cash, to buy two firms. In 2024 a private equity firm bought it at an enterprise value of about $3 billion.
NV5 (engineering and consulting)
Listed on Nasdaq in 2013 and kept buying firms in its field, reaching 27 acquisitions by late 2017. By 2025 it was guiding to roughly $1 billion in annual revenue, and that August it was acquired by Acuren at an enterprise value of about $1.7 billion.
Brown & Brown (insurance)
Hyatt Brown bought his family's small agency for $75,000 in 1961. Public stock later helped fund a steady stream of agency acquisitions, and the company joined the S&P 500 in 2021.
From a $3.5 million listing to a $240 million sale.
When this company went public, it had about $1.5 million in revenue and a starting valuation of $3.5 million. The founder raised about $100,000, mostly to build the shareholder base it needed to start trading. Over the next seven years he made three acquisitions as a public company. One added technology. One did not work, and he closed it. The third took hold. He sold the original business, put the proceeds behind the one that was working, moved the company up to Nasdaq, and sold it for $240 million in cash.
The business that sold was not the business that went public. The listing is what let him buy his way into it. It’s our best outcome, not a typical one: what happens after a listing depends on how the founder executes.
revenue when the company went public
starting valuation
growing as a public company
all-cash acquisition
What it could mean for your stake
Today
$1 million in EBITDA × 4 = $4 million
Five more years, growing privately
$1.5 million × 5 = $7.5 million
Five years building as a public company
$2 million × 10 = $20 million. Even if you own 70% after issuing stock for acquisitions, your stake is worth about $14 million.
At a more cautious 6 times EBITDA, and after about $200,000 a year in public-company costs, the company would be worth about $10.8 million and a 70% stake about $7.6 million: roughly what staying private produces, but with shares you can sell along the way. Smart structuring can keep you in the majority, and even a minority stake in a much larger public company can be worth many times what you own today. Multiples vary widely by industry, size, growth, trading liquidity and market conditions. We'll walk through realistic numbers for your business in the first conversations.
Is it worth it? How to decide
This path costs real money and real attention. Weigh it honestly before you commit to anything. That's what the first conversations are for.
What it asks of you
- Money: a monthly advisory fee, plus audit, legal, accounting and exchange costs to list and to stay public.
- Time: under a year to list, with you and your finance lead closely involved. Most companies need a CFO if they don't already have one.
- Attention: quarterly reporting, a board, shareholders and the discipline that comes with them.
- Risk: trading in smaller public companies can be thin, share prices can fall, stock used for acquisitions dilutes your ownership, and competitors will see your numbers.
It's more likely worth it if you
- Can name the people you'd hire, the companies you'd buy or the partners you'd win if you had public stock to offer
- Work in a fragmented industry with owners ready to sell
- Have 5 to 10 more years of drive and want the company to be much bigger
- Run clean books, or could get them audit-ready within a few months
It's probably not worth it if you
- Want to sell the company within the next few years ( see Building to Sell)
- Don't want outside shareholders, a board or public reporting
- Need quick cash or a guaranteed outcome
How it works
Four steps, in order. Every step is optional and agreed in writing before it starts. You can stop after any step and owe nothing further.
Plan: The Four Levers Program
Every engagement starts here. Four one-to-one working sessions and a written playbook built around your company: a straight verdict on whether going public belongs in your plan now, later or never; which route and which market; your first raise, outlined; and a 90-day action list. About 30 days. $10,000, fixed, and nothing owed after. Read about the program.
Raise
If the plan calls for a raise, we prepare the company and coach you through it: corporate structure, cap table, financial records, governance, the offering, investor materials, data room, compliance and an outreach plan. Then you run a private placement from your own network, sized to your next milestone at a valuation you can support. $15,000, fixed, with 90 days of support, and only if we both think you're ready.
List
With the capital and shareholders in place, we manage the process of becoming a public company by whichever route fits, most often a direct listing on the OTC market. We bring in and coordinate the auditors, securities lawyers and other specialists, and keep the whole sequence moving. A monthly fee plus equity, agreed in writing, so we do well only if you do.
Build
Once you're public, ongoing strategic advice whenever we're needed: acquisitions, hiring with stock, partnerships, capital strategy, investor communication, and moving up to a larger exchange when it makes sense. A monthly fee plus options. This is where most of the value gets created.
What it costs
What it costs. Every engagement starts with The Four Levers Program: four one-to-one working sessions and a written playbook, about 30 days, $10,000 fixed, with nothing owed after. If the plan calls for a raise, Raise-Ready is $15,000, fixed, with 90 days of support. Listing, and the advisory work after it, are on a monthly fee plus equity, agreed in writing before each step starts. You can stop after any step and owe nothing further.
Third-party costs are additional and paid directly to those providers: accounting, audit, legal, stock exchange, transfer agent and filing fees. We'll estimate them once we've seen your financials. As a guide, they typically run:
- Direct listing:$300,000 to $500,000
- Reverse merger:$400,000 to $600,000
- IPO:$600,000 or more, before underwriting commissions
You don't need this money sitting in the bank. In almost every case, the private placement is structured so you and your team can raise capital from your personal and professional networks to cover these costs, often with growth capital on top, and sometimes capital for acquisitions too. Your own outlay is the plan and the preparation. The people who already know you pay for the rest. For comparison, taking a private equity investment usually means giving up a large stake, board seats and a say over when you sell.
If your raise falls short, you can stop there. You owe nothing further, and no equity has been issued to us.
You won't be doing this alone
I'm Joel Arberman. I started as an equity analyst at asset management firms in New York, and at 22 became a partner at a 700-person investment bank. I've spent more than 30 years across Wall Street, Bay Street and my own companies, and taken 17 companies public, several of them my own.
My first public company used its stock to pay for software development and public relations, to bring a well-known venture capitalist onto its board, and to buy another company outright. That's the playbook I now help established owners run, with someone in their corner who has done it before, at every step.
Questions owners ask
I'm not looking to sell. Why would I go public?
Because being public is a growth tool, not an exit. It gives you stock to recruit and acquire with, and access to capital on your terms. You can stay public and keep building for as long as you like.
Is this an IPO?
Usually not. There's no big Wall Street underwriting or roadshow. Most companies list through a direct listing on the OTCQB, which is simpler and less costly, and can move up to Nasdaq or the NYSE later.
Do we need to raise money?
You'll do a private placement before listing, but its size depends on your plan. Some companies raise for a specific use. Others raise a modest amount mainly to have enough shareholders to list, or to bring partners and advisers in as shareholders.
How much of my time will it take?
The most during the months it takes to list, when you and your finance lead work closely with auditors and lawyers. After that, reporting becomes a quarterly routine carried mostly by your CFO and outside accountants.
Do I lose control of my company?
No. You stay in charge and usually keep majority ownership. You'll have outside shareholders, a board and reporting duties, and we'll explain exactly what that means day to day.
Will there be buyers for my shares?
Honestly, trading in smaller public companies can be thin, especially at first, and no one can promise a share price or trading volume. Building real investor interest takes time and results.
Are you a broker-dealer or investment bank?
No. Meraki Partners, LLC is an advisory firm. We don't sell securities or introduce you to investors. Where you need an auditor or securities attorney, you hire them directly, and we help you choose and manage them.
How does going public help a company scale?
It strengthens four levers: capital, talent, opportunities and acquisitions. You get easier access to capital, stock with real value for hiring, the credibility of audited public numbers, and a currency for buying competitors. See the advantages of public companies.
How much revenue do you need to go public?
There is no minimum. More than a dozen of the 17 companies we have taken public had no revenue when they listed.
How much does it cost?
Third-party costs for a direct listing typically run $300,000 to $500,000 and can be paid from the pre-listing raise. Staying public costs about $300,000 to $500,000 a year for an early-stage OTC company.
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