*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•by your best friend erin griffith•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•
Buddies!
One of the stranger realities of the S.E.C.’s many, many rules about what public company CEOs can and can’t say is that there aren’t really any consequences for breaking them. Just ask Business Hero™ Elon Musk! He tweeted the biggest, most stock-movingest kind of rumor one can spread about his company— a rumor that turned out to not even be true—and got away with it. He even openly mocked the SEC!! He’s still CEO of TWO different large companies! Rich & famous people can do whatever they want.
This is why, as a reporter covering IPOs, I’m always confused by the obsessive adherence to this thing called a “quiet period.” It states that the CEO of a company that’s about to go public is forbidden from talking in public about their company (aka making “forward-looking statements”).
Some CEOs treat it like they’ll be sent to the guillotine if they even sneeze in the general direction of the media. Their PR department’s outgoing voicemail message is set to a giant fart sound.
Others, like the Business Hero™ leading WeWork, for example, take an extremely generous interpretation of “quiet” with several… very cool magazine cover stories. (For the software IPO historians among you: Business Hero™ Marc Benioff also successfully deployed this strategy!)
Anyway, here’s my profile of the Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. It’s about how he buttoned up his mouthiness in preparation for becoming a public company CEO. Since he would not talk to me, I had to look at a bunch of his old tweets. This one did not make it into the story but I appreciate its earnestness:
Slack’s IPO happened last week and it was a big success. And with that, IPO season is goes on summer break.
Important Business Matters
Startup everyone’s into: VC as subprime mortgage lender.
Startup everyone’s over: RIP veggie burgers.
Reason to go on living: Gender reveal parties — which are getting out of hand (skydiving?!)—may finally be going away.
Reason to take up residence under your weighted blanket: “Woke-washing.”
Important clarification: Sir this attack squirrel is NOT on meth.
Latest crush: Sobriety influencers.
Latest heartbreak: Racism in America. Horror at the border. New rape allegations against our President. Shrugging off Khashoggi. Our police state.
Latest thing the kids are into: Hating to see it.
Latest thing the olds are into: Mourning the death of Jibo. And Coca-Cola salad!
Latest thing the CEOs are into: Eating expired food for a whole year to prove a point?
lol nothing matters
When should Business Heroes™ tweet?
current status, expressed by stock photography:
“put your shoes on, we are going out[1]”
*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•the end•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•
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[1] Certain information set forth in this presentation contains “forward-looking information”, including “future oriented financial information” and “financial outlook”, under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (i) projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of the shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the Company’s business, projects and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the Company’s vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the Company’s projects; (vi) completion of the Company’s projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the Company’s current customer, supplier and other material agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital, and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management’s beliefs and opinions in respect of the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.