Road to IPO: Essential CFO Strategies for Going Public Successfully

From 2022 to 2024, the proceeds from initial public offerings (IPOs) have grown from $7.8 billion to $29.6 billion in the USA. As per Deloitte’s estimates, this momentum is expected to continue, with IPO proceeds reaching $45-$50 billion in 2025.

To capitalize on this trend, you must effectively guide your organization through accounting and compliance challenges in a manner that is accurate and consistent with general IPO best practices. Not only that, you must also optimize your company’s financial structure, boost its performance, and enhance its appeal to prospective investors.

To assist you through these complex challenges, we have compiled 6 essential strategies to set your company on the path to a successful IPO. Later in the article, we will also explore a real-world case study about a CFO who led his company back to public listing.

Essential strategies for going public successfully

Some of the strategies a CFO can apply to successfully go public are as follows:

Align your goals with the market’s needs

The primary motivations for a private company to go public are facilitating investor exits and raising funds. Participating in an IPO positions investors to capture all of the growth a company can achieve in its stint in the stock market. So, IPOs are likely to attract growth investors.

By offering a discount, companies can ensure that value investors also participate.The timing is also important. Even if a company holds immense growth potential and its shares are being offered at a discount, it might make a poor debut on the stock market if the market itself is experiencing a bear run.

Build a resilient team

As your company prepares for an IPO, you must bring about various changes from operational, governance, and reporting perspectives. You will need to update your accounting practices, prepare financial statements in prescribed formats, get various stakeholders on board, draft and file various forms, and prepare a prospectus.

To effectively tackle all these objectives, you will need experts from the fields of accounting, law, compliance, investor relations, human resources, IT, and project management.For such a diverse team to achieve its goals, it must be unified under a clear vision, and each member must be highly motivated.

Push for higher corporate governance standards

When a company goes public, the role of its board of directors becomes even more important. They would be answerable to a higher number of investors. Additionally, unlike a private company, a public company’s valuation can change significantly in minutes or even seconds. Hence, public entities must adhere to higher governance standards. 

So, in your IPO preparations, in addition to making the necessary structural changes, you must also formalize and implement better risk management frameworks, code of ethics, executive compensation governance policies, and other corporate policies.

Build a compelling narrative

According to a McKinsey survey, 73% of institutional investors feel that having an unattractive story can be highly risky for a company’s IPO. The remaining 27% feel that it carries a medium level of risk. Hence, you must invest your time in building a compelling and attractive story.

Specifically, you must communicate your company’s competitive position, how it reached where it currently stands, its competitive advantages, its innovative qualities, future goals, and long-term strategies. Your pitch should convey why investing in your company’s IPO at the present stage is an exciting opportunity, unlike any other in the market.

You must also know your audience. Since stock market investors are used to an abundance of numbers, it is important to present a narrative that can be backed by data. 

Optimize debt and cash flows

Poor debt management and lengthy cash conversion cycles are some major red flags that must be addressed before an IPO. These are factors that can severely undermine the value and  addressing them will boost your company’s free cash flows to equity (FCFE) and, in turn, its valuation.

Stock market investors may not expect you to completely overhaul your debt or remove all cash conversion roadblocks in the year or two you spend preparing for the IPO. However, they would expect you to move towards a healthier financial position. Even if your company is hindered by certain financial red flags, if it shows a consistent track record of improvement, the market may still place confidence in its potential.

Conduct readiness assessment

As your IPO preparations reach completion, you should conduct a comprehensive readiness assessment. In addition to the accounting and regulatory factors, you must also search for potential shortcomings in governance standards. 

Furthermore, you should assess whether your team needs new additions to keep up with expectations post-IPO. Similarly, an assessment of IT systems and other key resources might also be warranted. This will enable you to develop a realistic IPO timeline, uncover potential gaps, prioritize critical tasks, and allocate resources effectively.

How did SailPoint re-emerge as a public company?

SailPoint, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, had originally gone public in 2017 when it got listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). However, five years later, it went private as a private equity firm by the name of Thoma Bravo acquired it. Now, in 2025, the company has found its way back to the US stock market; this time on Nasdaq.

Four months after the completion of its acquisition, SailPoint appointed Brian Carolan as their Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Prior to this, Carolan had served as the CFO of Commvault Systems, a publicly-listed cybersecurity company.

Reflecting on the company’s journey back to the stock market, Carolan has stated that he felt the company was already performing well when he arrived in terms of clientele and technology. However, he also noted that the following steps were needed for SailPoint to re-emerge as a listed company:

Business model transformation

SailPoint took advantage of its time as a private company by promoting its SaaS offerings, which had better scalability than its on-premise offerings. This proved to be a fruitful transition for the company. The SaaS segment now accounts for more than 60% of the annual recurring revenue (ARR) and, in Q4 2025, it powered a 29% year-on-year growth in ARR.

Moving the fiscal year end to 31^st January

Carolan noted that a high volume of business activity was being generated during the last couple of weeks of a calendar year. To fully capture this year-end volume without any distractions, Carolan moved the fiscal year end to 31^st January.

ERP transformation

Not only did SailPoint upgrade its Salesforce instance and migrate to NetSuite, but it also went through process, culture, and mindset changes.

Preparing to get listed

Recognizing the higher level of scrutiny that comes with going public, Carolan pushed for investor education and better audit preparedness. The company also started drafting its Form S1 early to ensure a smooth IPO.

Carolan notes that SailPoint used to be a high-growth company, but it had to transform into a profitable high-growth company to re-enter the stock market. In his opinion, at present, the market wants to see both qualities in the companies going public.

Eqvista- Simplifying compliance, demystifying value!

Two major roadblocks to an IPO are a convoluted equity structure and an unconvincing proposed valuation. These issues also represent two key concerns for potential investors: Who has the most influence over the company? Is the IPO price justified?

Eqvista can help you address both these concerns. Our seasoned valuation analysts can provide an unbiased, third-party opinion to help you assess your IPO pricing strategy. On the other hand, through our cap table management software, you can effectively simplify ownership as you prepare for your IPO. Contact us to learn more about our services!