If you run a growing, dynamic company you may be considering an initial public offering (more commonly known as an “IPO” or a “listing”) for your company i.e. floating your company on the stock market.

This is the first of a three part series about IPOs. The first summarises the advantages and disadvantages of doing an IPO. The second outlines which of the several UK markets you could consider. The third is perhaps the most important as it gives some guidance about what you should be aware of before you start.

“Lawyers will tell you it’s about incentivisation, accountants will tell you it’s about making sure people stay as long as possible, but for me it’s actually about giving back to the team who are giving us precious years of their lives.”

A shareholder register is a common requirement for private companies in numerous countries, including but not limited to the UK, the US, and Denmark. Countries such as Sweden, Australia, and Finland keep an equivalent share register. The register consisting of a list of the company's shareholders, which was historically kept in a loose-leaf or bound book. Even today though, newly formed companies continue to use and manually update a hard-copy, despite the electronic version often being easier to maintain and just as acceptable from a legal perspective.

Allotting new shares is a common way for a company to increase its share capital, providing funds for expansions or advancements of the business.

Capdesk now supports investments via investment vehicles, such as certain forms of fund, trust or nominee setups.

Once you’ve found your investors, you think all the hard work is done and the money will be in the bank within hours. It ought to be like that, but reality is, however, that the fundraising process is often surprisingly lengthy and costly. The primary reason for this is that there is no standardised process for completing a funding round. Most funding rounds are done manually - with each lawyer or fundraising platform doing it differently. On Capdesk you won’t get any help finding the right investors for your round. But we strive to streamline all the boring paperwork, which really shouldn’t be costly.

When setting up employee incentive schemes, such as a series of share option grants to key employees, vesting conditions are an important component. Vesting schedules basically express how the employee can earn more or more equity as employment continues and, in some cases, performance milestones are met.

Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on the quality and motivation of their employees. Employee share plans are an excellent tool to ensure motivation.

6th of July is almost upon us...