[ArtWomb]

My understanding is the underwriters during the IPO process ensure a certain threshold of sales by shopping around to their institutional clients. For which services they charge a handsome fee.

Therefore being a household name in consumer internet or media space will help enormously if one chooses a direct listing. Uber or Pinterest would expect quite a pop day one. Whereas more bleeding edge names such as Docker or Ginko Bioworks may be required to do a PR push to educate the retail investor.

Best of luck ;)