I recently celebrated my 16-year anniversary at Gateway Group and wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on the hundreds of small and micro-cap public companies I’ve worked with over the years.

Being a publicly traded company means navigating a complex landscape ripe with endless challenges. At this point, I feel I can say that I’ve just about seen it all. So, in no particular order, here are the five things I would want every CEO and CFO to know before wading into public waters.

1. Share liquidity matters.

I have worked with so many great businesses over the years, but many small businesses never get the valuations they deserve until they can have enough freely tradeable shares for the large institutional shareholders to buy.

How much? Well, some of these institutions are going to want you to trade at least $5 million per day to spark interest. This doesn’t mean that being below this threshold negates the benefits of going public.

Over time, as companies mature and execute business strategies effectively, they can offer more shares to the market at higher prices. In fact, guiding these companies from their nascent stages to become larger entities and watching the stakeholder base grow is the most satisfying part of my job, and it is why Gateway exists.

Many companies are so far below this figure that it wipes out most of the public investor population, defeating the purpose of being public. So, how do you prevent this from happening? This leads me to my next point.

2. Don’t stand out from the pack.

I don’t mean your products or services—hopefully, they stand out. What I mean is how you become public, your corporate governance, the makeup of your capital base, your accounting procedures, etc.

Investors want you to look like all the other companies they own. Standing out in one of these areas will surely be a yellow flag in the diligence process and could lead to investors looking elsewhere. After all, your company is just one of over 5,000 companies listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq.

Returning to the point above—becoming public in a non-traditional way, such as a reverse merger or taking over a shell company, can often leave companies with very little liquidity right out of the gates if not orchestrated properly. It’s hard enough to be public; don’t add this burden.

3. Stocks are valued on the future, not the past.

Many companies will report strong quarterly growth with a weak (or even modestly positive) outlook but scratch their head as to why the market is punishing the stock. Investors buy what’s in front of companies, not the past. Nobody can predict the future, but understanding this point can help you answer your board when they ask about trading patterns and align everyone on how investors perceive the company’s strategic direction.

4. Hit your numbers! No, really.

Similar to point three, there is nothing more deflating to a company’s share price momentum than missing company guidance or analyst estimates. Stock prices go higher when companies do better than they say they’re going to do.

Stringing together a few strong quarters can really increase the momentum of trade (Nvidia, anyone?). Clearly, nobody can predict the future, and “stuff” happens, but issuing credible, achievable guidance and doing a little better every quarter is the recipe for shareholder value creation.

5. Wall Street is your friend.

Companies should not only view Wall Street as a marketplace but also as a strategic game. If you beat your estimates and analyst expectations, investors will likely bid up your shares and the engine is purring. But to have the engine running well, having Wall Street analyst sponsorship is worth a few cylinders.

Not only do you have a consensus figure that is less susceptible to a rogue analyst moving your range, but you also plug into those investment banks’ corporate access departments. Their investor conferences and road shows could be worth hundreds of new investor touchpoints every year.

If you’re a small company and you don’t have the scale to garner a lot of investment banking coverage out of the gate, you need to be very strategic about adding coverage along your journey. Finding ways to bring in the right bank on a capital markets transaction, or even marketing with an analyst and showing up to their conference can go a long way to building the relationship and getting the coverage down the road.

Understanding and navigating the intricacies of Wall Street is akin to mastering a strategic game where making informed, calculated moves is crucial.

Before deciding to play this game, ensure that your company is not only prepared to compete but is also equipped to be a valuable player in the investor’s portfolio. This holistic approach to handling public markets is essential for fostering long-term growth and achieving sustainable success.

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This post originally appeared in Forbes Business Council here.