The bottom row in Exhibit 14.1 shows this ulti¬mate progression from R&D stage to IPO, where the capital markets are typically willing to pay $12 to $18 per share for new issues of small companies. Obvi¬ously, these prices are lower when the so-called IPO window is tight or closed, as in 2001. Prices for the few offerings that do not exist (1 to 3 per week versus more than 50 per week in June 1996) are $5 to $9 per
share. In hot IPO periods, 1999 for instance, offering prices reached as high as $20 per share and more.
One of the toughest decisions for the founders is whether to give up equitv, and implicitly control, to have a run at creating very significant value. The row, "% company owned at IPO," shows that by the time a company goes public, the founders may have sold 70 percent to (SO percent or more of their equity. As » long as the market capitalization of the company is at least $100 million or more, the founders have cre¬ated significant value for investors and themselves. During the peak of the dot.com mania in the late 1990s, companies went public with market capital¬izations of $1 to $2 billion and more. Founders' shares on paper were at least initially worth $200 to $400 million and more. These were truly staggering, unprecendented valuations, which were not sustain¬able. Take Sycamore Networks for example. From startup to IPO in less than 24 months, founders Desh Deshpanda and Don Smith achieved paper