Tag: marc de garidel

But how does a company actually go public—and what does a CEO need to do to adapt their leadership style in the aftermath?

To learn more, Inc. spoke with Marc de Garidel, CEO of the publicly-traded biotech company Abivax, which focuses on developing treatments for patients with chronic inflammatory diseases. Abivax went public in 2015 on Europe’s Euronext exchange, then did so again in 2023—after de Garidel came aboard—with an American IPO on the Nasdaq, where its shares have since risen by more than 700 percent despite launching in the midst of a geopolitical crisis. Here’s what de Garidel had to say about his journey.

You became CEO in May of 2023, and the U.S. IPO came in October. How did that play out?

When I came in, the board told me, ‘You need to do an IPO as soon as possible, because we don’t have enough money to finish our phase three trials.’ So we built a business plan on how to build a premier company around inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, and how to disrupt the landscape. So there was much more ambition, more long-term thinking, and the intent to raise a large amount of capital in order to execute that strategy. We did basically two months of work, and we laid it out to the board. The board accepted it, and we started the traditional IPO process. We picked a number of banks who could be part of the bank syndicate. We picked the appropriate lawyers; we worked with Cooley to support the legal work. And off we went.

If you remember, in 2023 the market was starting to really be shaky. Before us, there were only 10 IPOs. We were going to be the 11th. We had meetings with maybe 50 or 60 investors at that time. We were pretty optimistic. Then, in the summer, the index started to further decline, and in October, as we were getting to go out for the IPO, the Gaza invasion occurred. Everything broke loose. Stocks went down. That week, there were three IPOs that were supposed to go, and in the end we were the only one that made it happen. But I can tell you, as the week progressed, we started to see the number of potential orders shrinking.

What was your approach with your employees and with shareholders during the IPO?

It’s a process that needs to be taken with a lot of care. Externally, you need three things. One, you need very good lawyers who are very accustomed to the process and have a good relationship with the SEC, because obviously you file your S-1 and need to make sure that the story you tell on the S-1 is okay from a legal standpoint, but also acceptable by the SEC. Two, you need to have a bank syndicate which will try to sell the story to investors, to their network, where you create a lot of demand so that when you do the IPO, you have an excess of demand for buying the shares. And the third piece is your investor base. This is why doing a prior crossover round was essential, because it anchored a set of top-notch U.S. investors who—even if the IPO environment was going to be bad—were ready to cover the financing needs of the company. This gave a lot of confidence to new investors, because one of the first questions they ask as part of the IPO process is how much of the IPO money the current investors would cover. If it’s only 10 or 20 percent, then they say, ‘Oh, it means that all these guys want to get out, and they don’t believe in the future of the company.’ In our case, we knew it would be nearly 100 percent; so there was a very, very strong syndicate through the crossover, ensuring that almost whatever happened, we could do this IPO.

How did you change your leadership style after you went public? Is it different running a public company versus a private one?

It requires more rigor. You have this cadence of reporting to investors. There are things you can say; things you cannot say. You need to be very careful about how you convey the information. You have to portray confidence, but what you don’t want is to over-promise and go into a situation where ultimately you don’t deliver what you said—and then you’re dead. What I say often is: “I do what I say, I say what I do.” I tend to not over-promise and not be too rosy, but try to be confident. You don’t want to be too aggressive with investors, but at the same time, you need to show that you still believe in your project and your venture. So it’s a dance.

The IPO market seems like it’s slowly opening back up, at least in the U.S. What advice would you give entrepreneurs and business leaders who are curious about going public and capitalizing on that opportunity?

It’s an exaggeration, but in this market, you have only one chance to go. Investors are very, very picky and very tough, because they are very uncertain. They are not doing too well. So if you go, be very, very prepared. Don’t go if you’re not prepared; you need to answer to many people, and you need to have milestones in the short term. If you have to wait two and a half years before you can demonstrate value, don’t go, because you’ll get creamed. In this current environment, you really need to set clear milestones which are tangible elements of value appreciation for the shareholder and for the investors. Otherwise, you’re cooked, and it’s better to continue the private path.