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Entrepreneurship & Startups vocabulary · Pivots, Failure & Exits

IPO

Meaning in entrepreneurship & startups, with examples

/ˌaɪ piː ˈoʊ/abbreviationCommon term

In entrepreneurship & startups, IPO means: Initial public offering: the first time a private company sells its shares to the public and lists them on a stock exchange.

In Turkish: halka arz, ilk halka arz

How it is used

A major exit route for large startups. Companies go public, file for an IPO, price their shares and list on an exchange such as Nasdaq or Borsa Istanbul. Preparing for an IPO takes a long time and needs audited accounts and strong governance.

Example sentences

  1. The company is preparing for an IPO in New York next year.

  2. Early employees could finally sell some of their shares after the IPO.

Common collocations

  • go public
  • file for an IPO
  • IPO price
  • plan an IPO
  • post-IPO
  • exitThe way founders and investors turn their shares into cash, usually when the company is sold to another company or lists its shares on a stock exchange.
  • acquisitionThe purchase of one company by another, through buying most or all of its shares or its business. It is the most common exit for startups.
  • unicornA privately owned startup valued at one billion US dollars or more, a level that was very rare when the term became popular in 2013.
  • valuationThe estimated value of a company, agreed between founders and investors in a funding round, which decides how much ownership investors get for their money.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Pivots, Failure & Exits

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