IPO Talk – athenahealth’s Carl Byers

Since it’s IPO in September, athenahealth’s (Nasdaq: ATHN) shares are up a hefty 140%.  The company operates a sophisticated on-demand network that helps improve the reimbursements for physician practices.  It’s a huge market opportunity ($18 billion or so) and the company is growing at a sizzling rate.

Last week, I talked to the company’s CFO, Carl Byers.  In fact, he joined the company at its founding in 1997 (before this, he was a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton).

While an IPO can be a traumatic experience for an organization, that really hasn’t been the case for athenahealth.  “Because we must meet tough regulatory requirements, the IPO process has not been a big change for the company,” said Byers.

Something else: athenahealth classified all its employees as corporate insiders. 

According to Byers:  “We want to make sure that employees have access to the information they need.  This has been a key part of our cultural DNA and success.”

Also, visit DealProfiles.com for more information on the IPO.