It’s possible that you have run into the difficulty of finding a market maker for your 15c211 in the process of going public or you have come up against an invisible wall in the commenting phase which is comment after comment.
Here is my advice to you, work with a Lawyer who has worked with your market makers before. I recently had an email from a gentleman who was complaining profusely about his inability to find a market maker in the over 5 market makers he spoke to. The reality is, that the person was calling himself and or had a broker on consultancy trying to make the calls for him. This will not work.
Many companies who claim to have the ability to take a company public including a symbol with FINRA never tell you the smoking gun secret as to how they do it. Having been through the process with several companies, I can tell you the answer, “It’s the quality of the Lawyer.”
The Lawyer who prepares your documents, writes the S1, communicates with the Auditor, finalizes the commenting, communicates with the Broker Dealer and files the 15c211 is the person you want working for you. The lawyer doesn’t only make a difference to your getting a symbol, the lawyer is the person you want to keep with your company after going public and rely upon for sound advice and review of your every move, ensuring you have followed proper procedures under the Securities Act.
If you find yourself in a position where you need to finish an S1 that just seems to be taking forever, you need someone after the S1 to help with preparing the 15c211 and dealing with the commenting rounds that are yet to follow, contact me and I will introduce you to a couple of ace’s that you can interview who will not cost you more than $5 – $10k all in.
Brokers tend to file 15c211’s with Lawyers they trust. This is a rule of thumb, because the good work of the Lawyer and integrity to his or her profession defines the outcome and product the market maker eventually endorses.
If you are charged any more than this by a lawyer, than simply ask for a breakdown, as there are billing standards in the legal profession. If someone gives you a $20k bill, get it broken down by the hour, per item, and know what you are paying for.
In some cases the more unscrupulous go public outfits will try to garnish from the fees they say go to Lawyers and accountants to pay themselves. In actual fact, unless the person is a Lawyer and a partner for that matter of the firm who is doing the work, they are in a grey area and so is the law firm performing the work.
The going public process should be very simple and the legal fee should be defined and clear, the legal fee is $5k, the auditor is $2,500, the consulting for the S1 by the going public people is $5,000, if there are additional fees for the 15c211, so be it but it needs to be specific and match hourly rates. If it is any more complicated, don’t deposit the funds… In actual fact, I have seen a company go public for $18,000 of which some funds were refunded from escrow for the deposits made. How does this happen? Everything was done right and on time. Need I say more. The secret sauce is with the Lawyer.
Contact me if you have any questions, Mark Bragg, info@otclistings.com