Imagine for a minute that you were Mark Zuckerberg starting Facebook in your dorm room or Sam Walton starting Walmart in a one-person hardware store. You may go to the local bank and ask for a loan, but they will turn you down if you ask for too much without collateral to back it up. Yet, you cannot launch your idea across the nation or world unless you have more operating money, so you offer shares to the public through a process called an initial public offering. Once listed on a stock exchange, they become available to people, including those learning how to start stocks.