#25 | Nicole Chambers: Texas Is Building a New Stock Exchange

There are 4,400 public companies in the US. Nicole Chambers says about 1,700 of them would not qualify to list on the Texas Stock Exchange.More on Nicole Chambers and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/nicole-chambersThe point, she argues, is not exclusivity. It is cleaning up a market that shrank from more than 9,000 public companies in the 1990s to 4,400 today while exchanges elsewhere in the world grew. She explains what a duopoly does to pricing and responsiveness when both incumbents win half the time by default, and what listing standards are actually for.Chambers is global managing director of the Texas Stock Exchange, which has Form 1 approval from the SEC and is targeting a 2026 launch, backed by BlackRock, Citadel and Charles Schwab. She spent nearly 17 years in capital markets, most recently as senior managing director of listings at Nasdaq.Also covered: Delaware against Texas corporate law and why companies are reconsidering where they incorporate, the talent migration out of New York, what it takes technically to build a trading engine and market center from scratch with about 100 people, and why she reads Y'all Street as Wall Street made accessible rather than a joke about Texas.Nicole Chambers is the Global Managing Director of the Texas Stock Exchange, a new national securities exchange backed by BlackRock, Citadel and Charles Schwab. She spent nearly 17 years in capital markets, most recently as senior managing director of listings at Nasdaq, and is an SMU graduate.KEY MOMENTS00:00 The public company problem05:32 9,000 public companies then, 4,400 now07:42 What a duopoly does to issuers08:19 Why TXSE exists16:38 Delaware alternatives for companies27:18 BlackRock, Citadel, and Schwab32:29 About 100 people building an exchange43:35 Why 1,700 companies would not qualify50:03 The DFW Airport comparison01:00:18 The launch timelineNewsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectTexas Stock Exchange: txse.comLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWFollow The Deal Table: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, XThe Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.Sponsored by Capital Southwest and Vela Wood.