ObDisclaimer: I'm one of the authors of the OpenIPO patent and the principal designer and developer of much of the software used over the years to take companies public using the OpenIPO process. I was fortunate enough to work with Bill Hambrecht on his idea to at least attempt to 'level the playing field' -- and it certainly did that in at least one (but probably many others) way: if you wanted in on the deal, there was a simple and attainable way to do so. Whether that was ultimately a good idea of not, I'm sure there's plenty of debate. But the 'closed back room' of IPO share allocation was opened wide in a systematic way by OpenIPO.
However: there's a lot of history to take in before deciphering the meaning of the quoted claim above. Several MBA classes have been developed around the idea of using auctions for securities, and the particular instance of OpenIPO presents lots of pros-n-cons over the traditional procedure. It's useful to note that auctions have been used in a variety of situations to try to avoid the obvious corrupt practices of sweetheart deals. At the heart of an IPO (or any capital formation activity) is an inherently risky proposition: take a piece of the future of an enterprise without a corresponding amount of power. Stockholders are second-class citizens in (at least) the US stock market.
That being said, I recall that of the first few deals we did, those who bought at the IPO/auction-clearing price -- and held the stock -- ultimately made money: most of the first few companies that used the process were later purchased by other companies for a handsome profit. Salon.com is a glaring counter-example. Statisticians take note: there is not nearly enough experience with using these kinds of auctions for capital formation to say anything useful at this time about how it will work out in the long run.
I can say this: the OpenIPO process, and the deals that have used it, have changed the landscape of capital formation in ways we're all still just beginning to understand. And that has to be a positive change, on some level.
/jordan