Let’s imagine that you think Reallie Steilish Inc. has the potential to be really good, but you need more money to take it to the next level. One way to get money is to sell your shares in a “store” where basically anybody can buy them. First, what you need to do is hire some really nerdy people take a super close look at every aspect of your corporation and business so that they can do some math and decide how much money your corporation is worth, and by extension how much money you should get for each share you sell. If your company is worth $100 and you want to sell 1000 shares that represent half of your company ($50), then you will get five cents for every share you sell. Even THAT was pretty complicated, so you can imagine how crazy these things can get. Afterward, you put up your shares for sale in the “store” and people can buy and sell them to each other all they want. And the better your corporation is, the more money they can get when they sell shares. After you sell your shares through the “store” your company is “listed” or “publicly-traded” because the general public can trade your shares with each other.