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Effectively infinite. Databricks is a good example. They're still private after 13 years and closed a Series L round last year. Stripe is similar. Having been
by tomwheeler 4mo ago
Effectively infinite. Databricks is a good example. They're still private after 13 years and closed a Series L round last year. Stripe is similar.
Having been through an IPO before, it was good for employee liquidity, but bad for the culture and long-term success of the company.
- charlie0 4mo agoDead capital. There's no need for public funding until they are reasy to cash out at the top, if ever.
- solenoid0937 4mo agoHow do investors cash out? Do they sell to new round investors?
- bix6 4mo agoCorrect. There is also a secondary market.
- barbarr 4mo agoGoing off the other reply, I wonder if a highly-active secondary market means that companies can raise series [A-Z]+ rounds effectively forever, where each "round" just refers to a giant purchase of shares under strict company supervision. Is this the new game for startups?
- DenisM 4mo agoIf investor pool becomes too loose the company becomes de facto public, subject to all SEC-enforced regulations. The judgment is subjective though, so pushing the boundaries could be a calculated risk.
- epolanski 4mo ago> There's no need for public funding You're assuming private liquidity to be infinite and private credit (that fuels VCs) to always have favorable rates.
- charlie0 4mo agoWhen you have companies like SpaceX and Anthropic raising billions, it is hard to believe that private credit isn't virtually infinite.
- misiti3780 4mo agoso how do stripe employees get liquidity? can anyone sell their secondary shares?
- clint 4mo agoStripe might buy back the shares at a good price. They might be able to sell on secondary markets.
- toomuchtodo 4mo agoTender offers. https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/tender-offer https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-ba... https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/tender_offer https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/tender_offer https://carta.com/learn/equity/liquidity-events/tender-offer/ https://carta.com/learn/equity/liquidity-events/tender-offer... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=stripe%20tender%20offer&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... (secondary markets are sometimes an option, depending on stock transfer restrictions)
- tomwheeler 4mo agoI can't speak for the specific case of Stripe, but it's fairly common for private companies to have a "tender offer" in which employees have the opportunity to sell some portion of their equity. This is often done in conjunction with a new investment round.
- Marsymars 4mo agoOutside of big tech, it's also fairly common for private companies to simply not offer equity to employees.
- newaccountman2 4mo agoPrivate/secondary markets.
- Scoundreller 4mo agoBankruptcy court? FTX bought 8% of Anthropic for $500m in 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/josipamajic/2026/03/18/ftx-owned-anthropic-solana-and-spacex-then-had-to-sell-too-soon/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/josipamajic/2026/03/18/ftx-owne...