A founder describes IPO day as an emotional whirlwind of crying, laughing, and celebration after years of stress. Going public gives shareholders daily access to liquid stock instead of rare windows. Most founders find selling painful, though a few call it the greatest experience of their lives.
You will cry, you will laugh, you will hug. You work so hard.
I think you're right that it's a healthy trend to realize that you can go public. You get this liquid stock. It's not as terrifying as you think. And you have liquidity every day, not just once a year by appointment only. I'm a big IPO should happen person.
And I think that here's what. Here's what's underrated about the IPO is it's very stressful, you're exhausted. But the day you go public is going to be one of the top two or three days of your life. It is an amazing day. You'll go back to your company and two days later, you'll have a party with your company. You will cry, you will laugh, you will hug. You work so hard. There's something about that that is really, really special that people.
Having said all that, I've only lived through it on the employee side. The day after that was weird. Going back to your desk because the world's changed, the next day is really weird. But if I could IPO at 30 billion, or sell my company 30 billion cash, I'd much rather run the company, don't get me wrong, rather than sell, right? But if it were just a financial decision, I'd rather have the 30 billion on one day than wait a decade for it to drip and drive all out, right? So there is a conflict. There is a founder like, yes, you know, selling is tough for 98% of founders. I'm sure it's a coy. If you ask the only 2% of founders say, that was the greatest experience of my life, selling my company. But man, getting it all at once, if it's the same, even with a net present value, like, it's just a weird trade off between the two. The journey and the economics, it's complicated.
