Wednesday, December 19, 2007

So, you're in the trading room...

Let's say you're the "Oompa Loompa Duffo Inc. SL" CEO. Your virtual company has recently gone public and you had your IPO on a Second Life stock exchange.

You did your homework and you followed the guidelines to the point; your IPO has been an outstanding success or, even if you failed to achieve that, you raised a nice amount of money and now your company has a solid foundation to build up from.

This blog post isn't about what you're gonna do with your money, anyway. This post is about you should deal with investors, present and future.

Working for a virtual stock exchange as I do can be pretty interesting. I see everything the general public can see and a lot of the things "behind the curtains" and in my 4 months (more or less) service for the VSTEX I observed some common trends.

Most CEOs will be very proactive about their IPO, but usually their excitement will tone down once they are in the trading room. It's been a month or more (in the worst cases several months) since the IPO and the company prospectus hasn't changed a word, except for the financial data (eventually). The business plan is still a few lines long and there isn't an in depth risk analysis.

Your last news item on the stock exchange website dates to a month ago, or to several months ago; and let's be honest: your last news weren't that great, short and with abundant exclamation marks.

I believe that one of the issues behind stock prices dropping to ridiculous levels (0.1x L$ per share) is lack of proper and regular communication with the investors and the traders.

You may argue that nor you as a CEO, nor your company, earns anything from people buying and selling your company shares. While that's quite true, that's only the minor part of the picture.

First, would you like the CEO of a "0.1x company?". I certainly would not, as I wouldn't be happy to be the CEO of a company who had a successful IPO and in just a month is trading at values 5, 6 times lower than the original IPO price (can you say "unhappy investors"?).

Second, your share value is part of your company (and sometimes personal) reputation. An healthy share price is perceived as the result of an healthy, well run company. It makes people want to buy your shares and your investors are maybe the first in line to buy your products or services.

Third, being perceived as a "valued company" helps you stand out from the crowd. Gets your name in the news, people look at you. And it's free advertising.

I could go on for miles on this subject, but I think I told you the most important things. When writing, you don't have to be telegraphic (unless you're writing a newsflash or a telegram), but you don't have to flood your readers with words too (unless you're writing a novel or a poem).


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