There are signs all over San Francisco of employees itching for their start-ups to go public. Quite literally in some cases: weary commuters gather beneath train station billboards promoting secondary markets that buy shares in private start-ups so they do not have to wait for initial public offerings. At the Caltrain station, where trains leave for Silicon Valley, a huge red banner ad for one marketplace, Equidate, hangs from the ceiling: “The Biggest Start-Up secret is you can sell your shares pre-IPO”.
Often, start-up employees have to choose between staying with their company until an “exit” — which could also be a sale to another company — or taking out large loans to buy their options before they leave. It can be a tough decision, though not as arduous as a previous ad for Equidate suggested: “Start-ups and prisons are similar. Free food. Free showers. Free gym. Uncertain exit date.” The company later apologised and took that one down.
For many of these workers, 2019 may well become the long-awaited year of the technology IPO. The biggest unicorns in the stable are saddling up to ride the public markets for the first time. The ride-sharing duo Uber and Lyft are both jockeying for position, recently filing papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, while messaging app Slack has hired bankers to help it go public.