Summer was not kind to Facebook. It was harsher still to Groupon and Zynga. All three companies are new to the public markets. If you were to look to their debuts only, you’d be forgiven for concluding that going public is a raw deal. Each of their stocks, to put it nicely, got hammered between Memorial Day and Labor Day–the US holidays that bookend summer. The Dow, during the same period? It rose 5%.

Going public is as much art as science. And as with any art, discipline and finesse make all the difference between masterpiece and flop. So for every Facebook, Groupon or Zynga, there is a LinkedIn, Zillow or Michael Kors. Each entered the market last year. Today, all three have stocks that are up more than 100% from their offerings, more than 90% this year–levels of outperformance that every founder, CEO, management team, Board, underwriting group and investor hopes for from an IPO–keeping the romance of the stock market alive.

Diverse in size, stage of development, offering, share and governance structures, these six companies’ deals yield a handful of do’s and don’ts that can help others navigate entry to the public market–artfully. More>>