By Riemer Smink, Founding Partner, FORWARD.one
Founders in Europe talk about IPOs the way people talk about dentists; necessary, but best postponed forever. The dominant myth is that going public adds bureaucracy, slows innovation, and pulls leaders into a quarterly circus. Another myth: “We’re not ready.” Almost nobody feels ready. And yet the companies that keep pushing the IPO horizon away often do so for the wrong reasons: fear of scrutiny, fear of missed targets, fear of losing control.
But here’s the truth founders don’t like to say out loud: an IPO isn’t a loss of control. It’s often the only way to stay independent and give early investors liquidity. Skip this route and you’ll likely end up selling the whole company to a strategic who will reorganise you anyway.
Public markets demand what private markets often tolerate: grown-up behaviour. They force you to step away from “vision decks and vibes”, but show actual commercial discipline: revenue quality, margin clarity, and a forecasting muscle that hits reality instead of wishful thinking.
Predictability is everything. Public investors will not punish you for being ambitious; they punish surprises. Leadership teams that operate transparently make better decisions because there’s no room to hide weak thinking. That transparency forces alignment, speed, and accountability. It matures companies faster than any advisory board ever will.
And let’s be honest; this is one of the reasons the US outperforms Europe. They raise enormous rounds through the public markets. Even when their technology is weaker, a big balance sheet closes the gap quickly. If you lack a capability, you buy it. If a European competitor is out-innovating you, you acquire them. The saying “Money solves a lot of problems” isn’t crude. It’s true.
Preparing for an IPO is like switching the company from amateur athletics to Olympic training. Reporting tightens. Governance becomes a performance engine. The irony: even if you never list, this discipline pays off. Companies that reach IPO-readiness outperform because they operate with clarity. They know their unit economics by the hour. They track sales cycles and churn with precision. They execute. IPO discipline makes you stronger long before you ring a bell.
My experience with the successful IPOs I’ve seen and/or assisted:
What breaks companies is the opposite: teams that hide behind narrative, founders who revise forecasts every quarter, businesses that scale headcount faster than revenue discipline. The public markets are not the ones killing those companies, their own weak internal habits are.
If you think an IPO is a distant, unnecessary milestone, you’re missing its real value. Going public is the most efficient way to retain independence and deliver liquidity to early investors. It’s also how you raise the kind of capital that lets you acquire competitors, fix capability gaps, and win globally, the way the US does it.
As someone who has led multiple IPOs, My message to founders is simple: public markets reward commercial discipline. You need a roadmap you can actually deliver. Miss it, and the market moves on fast.
