Navigating the IPO journey: Lessons from Figma, Chime, and Once upon a Farm

Key takeaways

Advice was consistent: start earlier than feels necessary.

The companies that handled the IPO process best had already invested in clean data, clear ownership, strong planning systems, and cross-functional alignment well before the final IPO sprint began.

• Invest in your data architecture and governance at least 12 to 18 months before your target IPO date
• Define your most important business metrics early, then align teams around them before building them into your systems
• Create a dedicated IPO team across Finance, Accounting, Investor Relations, Legal, Data Science, and other relevant functions
• Treat forecast accuracy as a future public-company requirement, not just an internal finance goal
• Make intentional architecture choices from the start, ensure you have a single source of truth for planning, and a watertight system of record underneath it all