A private fundraising last year valued Square, a firm that handles credit-card payments for small merchants, at roughly $6 billion, yet the initial public offering (IPO) priced it at $2.9 billion. While many remain optimistic that Square's losses are simply investments in growth, Karim Ahmad, a partner in Bain & Company's Atlanta office, notes that it takes a long time to recoup the marketing costs involved, given such firms' low turnover and high chance of going out of business.