The Five Roads to Public Company Status

Inside Securities Law with Frederick M. Lehrer · Sep 16, 2026 · 3m

There is no single way to become a public company. There are five, and choosing the wrong one costs a company a year and a great deal of money.

The first is the traditional IPO on Form S-1. You register an offering with the SEC, an underwriter markets it, and shares are sold to the public. It is the slowest road and the most expensive, and for most companies it requires an underwriter willing to take the deal.

The second is Form 10. Form 10 registers a class of securities, not an offering. You are not raising money. You are electing to become a reporting company, and sixty days after you…