There are several modes to go public in the US. There are actually three major grades of listing:

Here are the levels of quotation listing.

OTC PINK SHEETS:

The oldest quotation service for over the counter stocks usually termed "the pinks". There are technically no prerequisites for reports or audited financials on the pinks, however, the pinks have put into operation their own voluntary reporting system and enforce it by publishing symbols to represent the level of disclosure each company is subscribing to. To publish voluntary details requires fees of about $5000 a year.

THE OTC BB: The OTC Bulletin Board is managed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and requires that all companies whose equity is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board keep their current reporting status with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which needs current audited financial statements. There are no cost paid to FINRA for this quotation, but maintaining a public company current with its SEC reports can easily cost $25,000 - $50,000 a year.

EXCHANGES:

The OTC PINK SHEETS and the OTC Bulletin Board are viable stock markets specifically for emerging and new companies, but clients with well established businesses will want to be on one of the mature and higher stock markets - Nasdaq Small-Cap, Nasdaq NMS or NYSE. Each of these stock exchanges has its own qualifications that a company must meet to be listed on the exchange. Generally the types of qualification factors they look for include asset levels, number of investors, required Board level committees, revenues, and market capitalization. In addition all exchanges mandate the company to have a current reporting status in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Listing on the exchanges usually involves expenses of about hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For a US company a listing on the US stock markets strengthen points. For Example, a quotation is a means to:

1) Grow your company easier and make it more strong by increasing your ability to attract "mergers", "acquisitions" and also "strategic partners;

2) Expand your company faster and make it more powerful by developing its ability to compete for large corporate opportunities;

3) Maximize your personal return on investment as an owner by decreasing the amount of time it takes to make money on your investment, along with increasing the valuation of your company, as well as, changing the liquidity of your asset to a more liquid form than that of a private firm;

4)Raise money more quickly and cheaper by improving the "liquidity" factor for your investors

Now most of these factors are for companies going public from scratch. For those of you wanting to invest in a shell corporation (public shell), to go for mergers, then you might want to look at changing a quotation as above. For more details on this subject try googling phrases like "mergers companies" or "reverse mergers".

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