150 Days Behind the Wheel of a Public Company
For many, today is just another uneventful and normal Wednesday. For IntraLinks, however, it marks the company’s 150th day as a public company. It seems fitting to take a moment and reflect on my own personal journey with IntraLinks — a voyage that started out feeling a little like touring with an older boy band, but with a lot more performances.
You see, my second day on the job was the start of a two and a half week long IPO road show organized by our investment banks. The IntraLinks team participated in 88 meetings, met with more than 200 institutional investors, and traveled to 16 U.S. and three international cities. Sometimes we had meetings in two cities in one day. It wasn’t uncommon to be having dinner at 9:30 P.M. and then be up at 5 A.M. to prepare for another meeting or get on a plane. While the road show was grueling, it was also exciting.
I’ve spent my career working for public companies — 24 years in investor relations — but this was the first time I was able to join a company prior to its IPO. Representing a growing, profitable company with a great story behind it is a great position to be in when meeting with potential investors. It doesn’t make it any easier, but it does make it a lot more fun to do.
Now 150 days later the company is settling into its “public company” status and we’ve already gone through a positive secondary public offering. Firms moving from private ownership to public company status have to make numerous adaptations, many of which don’t happen overnight, so it’s been a busy five months.
As the person in charge of investor relations, I am IntraLinks’ conduit to the investment community. I field questions from investors and analysts on a daily basis and disseminate public information to investors. Whenever an investor or analyst wants to ask IntraLinks CEO Andrew Damico or IntraLinks CFO Tony Plesner a question, I am there to hear the response. That way, the next time that same question is asked — with different executives or just me — the company’s response to that question will be consistent. There is little that investors value more than consistency. I am fortunate that I have such a great story to share about IntraLinks — a company with tremendous growth and profitability opportunities, and the technology, support and people to make the most of those opportunities.