Thinking of taking your company public? Get our essential guide to a successful IPO. Download Now

Westicke Partners

Close

Posts by Mark Klausner

Mark Klausner

Mark co-founded Westwicke in 2006. Since then, Mark has managed the firm’s strategic direction and led Westwicke's medical technology and diagnostics practice. He has worked with a broad spectrum of companies in the healthcare sector. He has a BA in economics and computer science from Colgate University and an MBA from the Darden School.

The Biggest Mistakes Our Experts See Companies Make Before Going Public

Posted on April 24th, 2019. Posted by

The Biggest Mistakes Before Seeking IPO

Scan the pages of the news and you’ll likely see stories of failed IPOs. Despite fast growth, some companies that go public are plagued by poor preparation and questionable business models. But completing an initial public offering (IPO) is a significant decision for your healthcare company and will transform the way you do business. As the largest healthcare-focused investor & public relations firm in the U.S., our team has handled countless healthcare IPOs. As a result, we’ve witnessed wins and successes as well as IPO mistakes companies make in their quest to go public. If you’re running a company that’s growing fast, avoid these big mistakes as you look to go public.

Continue Reading

Tips for Building a Better Investor Relations Plan

Posted on December 20th, 2016. Posted by

Tips for Building a Better Investor Relations Plan

Failing to plan, the old saying goes, is planning to fail. This is certainly true when it comes to your investor relations strategy. Yet even though strategic planning is every bit as important to your IR success as it is for every other part of your business, we find that many companies fail to plan correctly, if they plan at all.

IR planning is about delivering the right story to a well-defined audience, and about refreshing your message in a way that will continue to resonate with investors. Every good annual plan starts with the same question: What do you want to be different at the end of the year? So it’s vital to articulate your goals before formulating a strategy.

Continue Reading

How to Answer the Buy Side’s Trickiest Questions

Posted on October 12th, 2016. Posted by

How to Answer the Buy-Side’s Trickiest Questions

“The analysts are projecting your revenue for next year” — a year in which you have not provided guidance — “at $50 million. Are you comfortable with this projection?”

Most CEOs and CFOs of public companies have heard a question like that — a “trick” question for which it seems any answer you give can potentially cause you problems. If you say you’re not “comfortable” with that revenue number, for example, do you risk projecting weakness to the investor community? On the other hand, do you want to effectively provide guidance before you formally release it?

Continue Reading

Eight New Ideas for Broadening Your Investor Base

Posted on June 1st, 2016. Posted by

Maintaining a vibrant and compelling shareholder base is one of your management team’s most important responsibilities. Your current major investors need to feel that you know them and are available to them when necessary. Yet you must also be thinking constantly about attracting new investors to your company.

Companies ask us frequently for ideas on how they can broaden their investor base, so I polled our team for some of their best responses.

Continue Reading

What Public Companies Should Do in a Volatile Market

Posted on March 9th, 2016. Posted by

Let’s be honest: Market conditions have been hostile to most industries this year, and the healthcare sectors have been victimized along with all the rest. These are not easy days to be the chief executive or chief financial officer of a public company, and you may be feeling pressure to take action to drive your share price up despite the headwinds.

It’s been several years since Wall Street last saw a period of sustained bearishness — long enough that some of today’s public companies have actually never been through such a difficult time. A lot of companies are hitting the panic button. We recommend the opposite.

Continue Reading

Tips for Planning Your 2016 Investor Relations Strategy

Posted on December 9th, 2015. Posted by

It’s time for management teams to start thinking comprehensively about their 2016 investor relations strategies. What did you learn in 2015, and how will you put that knowledge into action next year? Should you shift your IR focus, or stay the course?

Here, our team of IR experts at Westwicke answers these and other questions, and shares advice to help you create a top-notch investor relations plan that aligns with your company’s goals and priorities.

Continue Reading

Tips For Planning Your 2015 Investor Relations Strategy

Posted on November 19th, 2014. Posted by

2015 Investor Relations Strategy

It’s that time of year again, when management teams start looking ahead to figure out and plan strategically for a successful next year. What will drive your investor relations (IR) strategy in 2015? What can you learn from your efforts this past year? How do you decide where to focus your investor interactions, and what strategies can help you balance the push and pull on your time?

Here, our team of IR experts at Westwicke answers these and other questions, and shares advice to help you create a top-notch investor relations plan that aligns with your company’s goals and priorities.

Continue Reading

The Biggest Mistakes Leading Up to an IPO

Posted on September 10th, 2014. Posted by

The road to an initial public offering (IPO) can be long and arduous, and when not well planned and executed, subject to many missteps. Consider what happened recently to the Israeli biotech company, Vascular Biogenics (VBL Therapeutics). The company went public with an offering of 5.4 million shares. Less than a week later, the underwriters, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, terminated the offering when an existing shareholder did not fund payment for shares it previously agreed to purchase in the offering, according to a VBL Therapeutics press release.

While VBL’s pullback is clearly a draconian scenario, other mistakes abound as companies move toward an IPO. What are the most common mistakes on the path to an IPO? How can your company prevent them, and what can you do if you’re already in the thick of them? Our team of experts at Westwicke tackled these questions recently in a round-table discussion. Here are excerpts of the conversation.

Continue Reading

Tags:

The Eight Biggest IR Mistakes

Posted on July 16th, 2014. Posted by

Whether your company is on the road to an initial public offering (IPO) or currently operating as a publicly traded company, cultivating and then maintaining a strong relationship with Wall Street requires strategic planning and thoughtful execution. Interacting with the buy-side and sell-side is not a simple process, and we often observe companies making mistakes in their investor relations (IR) programs that can damage management’s credibility with the Street.

What are some common IR mistakes healthcare companies make, and how can you avoid them? To answer, I turned recently to the Westwicke team — and its more than 200 years of combined Wall Street experience. Here’s what they told me.

Continue Reading

How to Create a Solid Investor Relations Plan in 2014

Posted on January 15th, 2014. Posted by

How can you align your investor relations (IR) efforts with your overall corporate strategy and messaging? How do you balance IR activities with other demands on your time as a management team? Here are several tips from the Westwicke team to help ensure that the strategic investor relations plan you create at the beginning of the year delivers the desired results.

Continue Reading

Have News to Release?

Find out whether you should file a Form 8-K, issue a press release, or do both by using our easy-to-reference chart, “Form 8K vs. Press Release: What’s the Difference?

Our Locations