THE IPO MARKETS Looking To Go Public? Rethink Your Goals.(THE NEW AMERICA)

Byline: VANCE CARIAGA

It almost sounds quaint, the way David Menlow explains it.

Companies looking to price initial public offerings in this market will have to rearrange their way of thinking, he says, and forget about all that cash investors were throwing around a couple of years ago.

They'll have to settle for smaller IPOs. Then they'll have to go out and prove they can earn a decent living before investors push their values any higher.

"There are companies saying, "We're not really going to focus on what we think the company is worth,' " said Menlow, president of IPOfinancial.com "We're going to offer a small amount of shares, and if we execute our business plan correctly and prove we can reach our financial goals, then investors will realize our value and our stock will go up.' "

If that sounds familiar -- like the way things worked back in the old days -- it's only because investors are long on fundamentals in today's downtrodden market .

Menlow's company has been tracking and analyzing IPOs for a dozen years. He's never seen a market like this one, he says.