Obviously this is not our standard review style post, we believe that in order to keep ahead of the crowdfunding trend we must devote a section of our site to Direct Public Offerings (DPOs). Going forward we will be researching and reaching out to firms that provide services allowing small companies to raise capital form the public without the expense of a Wall St. investment bank.
Over the last 25 years Direct Public Offerings have ebbed and flowed in both quantity of offerings and success with which those offerings have been received. Our belief is that with the growth of social media, crowdfunding coming mainstream and the passing of the JOBs Act, Direct Public Offerings will finally get the recognition they deserve as a cost effective and democratic means of raising capital for small business.
Over the next few weeks we will be providing reviews of various DPO service providers. The combination of Direct Public Offerings and crowdfunding will in our opinion eventually be the “winner” from the JOBs Act by combining the established secondary markets with the cost effective benefits of an equity crowdfunding style platform hosted directly on the issuing companies website.

Wikipedia: Direct Public Offering
A DPO is similar to an initial public offering (IPO) in that stock is sold to investors, but unlike an IPO, a company uses a DPO to raise capital directly and without the assistance of an investment banking firm or broker-dealer. Following registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission and subject to compliance with state blue sky laws, a company can sell its shares directly to anyone, including customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, family, friends and others.[1]

Not all DPOs require registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some offerings will qualify for an exemption from the federal registration requirements. The most commonly used exemptions are for intrastate offerings and offerings under $1 million (the Rule 504 exemption). In such cases, state level registration is generally required. State level registration is usually less onerous and time consuming than federal registration.

There are law firms and other service providers which offer to manage a DPO for well under $100,000 and in less than a year.[2] The process and time required to become public is very similar to the process utilized by large companies to complete an initial public offering, except that many DPOs are marketed via internet advertising and ads direct to consumers.[3] Some, like Manhattan microbrewery Spring Street Brewery, advertise the sale on the products they sell (Spring Street printed a notice on the back of every bottle of beer.)[4]

Offerings that do not require federal registration can be done more cheaply and quickly – costs can range from $25,000-$50,000 and it can take as little as one month to complete the process.

Direct public offerings are primarily utilized by small to medium size companies who are unable to attract the interest of an investment banking firm to represent them in a traditional initial public offering. Investment bankers represent companies which can attract and support large financing from which they can earn a commission.

Direct public offerings are now being issued on crowdfunding platform sites. This style of DPO combines the success of WIT capital and platforms like Kickstarter. An example of this type of platform would be IPO Village [5]

Please Check back for additional information on the DPO process. We will be adding directly to this post as we research deeper in to the opportunities the Direct Public Offerings will provide as a capital raising mechanism for small businesses.