What Actually Breaks During IPO Prep (Hint: It’s Not the Numbers)

Let’s get one thing straight: it’s not the financials that break under IPO pressure.

It’s the people. The systems. The small, stupid admin tasks that no one noticed until they cost you three weeks of progress and a dozen grey hairs.

Neil Tween has the scars. During an IPO run-up, version control on a critical document fell apart just six days before a press release. Multiple edits. Missing comments. No one knew what was final. Sound familiar?

Paul Haworth’s war story? Trying to verify a core stat for an IPO prospectus, and realising the underlying data hadn’t been pulled in over 24 months.

When the heat is on, these aren’t one-off blips. They’re the canaries in the coal mine.

So how do you stop the collapse?

1. Implement proper document control, now. If your investor comms are still living in email chains and desktop folders, you’re already in trouble.
2. Centralise everything. Audits, approvals, sign-offs. One platform, one place, versioned and visible. No more “final_v3_FINAL.docx”.
3. Start early on tech upgrades. Don’t wait until IPO crunch time. A new ERP system can take 9–18 months to embed properly. (Yes, that long.)
4. Optimise for scale. Your finance function shouldn’t collapse the moment your headcount doubles. Standardise processes. Automate where possible.
5. Give your team breathing room. Mistakes happen when people are stretched thin and racing deadlines. If your timelines don’t have slack, you don’t have a plan.
6. Build for audit readiness. Your numbers aren’t enough. Can you prove them? Can you link them back to source? That’s what diligence looks for.
7. Start behaving like a public company now. Waiting until the IPO to act like one is like cramming for a marathon the night before. Spoiler: it ends badly.

🎯 Tip: Assign roles for everything. Prospectus content. Investor comms. Audit pack ownership. If everyone owns it, no one owns it.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about readiness. Readiness to prove your numbers, prove your governance, and prove you can scale without combusting.

Watch the full webinar: IPO Readiness Toolkit: Lessons from the Trenches to hear how Paul and Neil tackled the chaos head-on and what systems helped them keep control when it mattered most.