Gregg Jaclin and the IPO Readiness Gap Investment Banks Leave Behind
Most small companies that decide to go public quickly discover that choosing to list and being ready to list are two very different things. Gregg Jaclin built his firm around that difference, according to a recent BBN Times profile of his work in the micro-cap market.
Jaclin founded Exchange Listing LLC to help smaller businesses prepare for public status, a task he says often falls between the professionals already at the table. “The attorneys are focused on the legal work. The bankers are focused on raising the capital,” Jaclin said. “I’m spending a lot of time just educating the companies on getting ready for being public.”
The firm guides companies through IPOs, uplistings, SPAC mergers, and direct listings on NASDAQ and NYSE. Its advisory work covers governance matters such as independent board composition, employment agreements, and stock option plans, along with structuring decisions like valuation and how much capital to raise. It also helps companies shape the story they tell investors.
At the large-cap level, major firms maintain dedicated teams for this kind of preparation. In the micro-cap sector, where companies are typically valued under $150 million and raise between $20 million and $30 million, those resources generally do not exist. Capital markets firm ICR has noted that a typical IPO preparation process takes six to eight months and calls for seasoned advisors and sector experts.
Because micro-cap bankers are compensated when a deal closes, preparation work does not fit neatly into their model, and it often gets squeezed into the final weeks before a filing. “There really was a void in the marketplace where the bankers weren’t really doing this, the attorneys weren’t doing it, they were just focused on what they need to do,” Jaclin said.
That void became the foundation of his business. During his career in OTC and pink sheet markets, Jaclin watched companies struggle to reach senior exchanges because of inadequate board profiles and uncertain reverse split strategies. Exchange Listing was designed to address those problems well before a company files, rather than in a last-minute rush. It is also why Gregg Jaclin describes much of his role as preparing companies for public life, not simply executing listings.
Most small companies that decide to go public quickly discover that choosing to list and being ready to list are two very different things. Gregg Jaclin built his firm around that difference, according to a recent BBN Times profile of his work in the micro-cap market. Jaclin founded Exchange Listing LLC to help smaller businesses…