Nothing in investment banking is as exciting as an IPO. It is more than just another work project. It is a hero’s journey in which a company and its bankers venture forth into the capital markets, face daunting and unexpected challenges, and (hopefully) emerge victorious with a stock market listing, blue-chip shareholder register and good aftermarket trading.
An IPO starts with a “kick-off” meeting, a vice-free Woodstock-like gathering where a dazzling kaleidoscope of bankers, lawyers and company personnel comes together from all over the world to drink unadulterated Kool-aid, only for a Big 4 auditor to kill the buzz by saying why the offering timetable is impossible to meet.
You have the pageantry of the investor roadshow, where management imagines having time to shop in Paris but ends up pleading for directions to the nearest toilet in a day filled with back-to-back presentations. (Zoom roadshows may spare more than a few blushes in future.)