Knowledge Center

Here we’ll break down the basics of incentive compensation at startups and identify key considerations to keep in mind during compensation negotiations

Startups rely heavily on equity compensation for their employees for two reasons: (1) startups typically are not cash rich, and (2) incentive alignment: equity compensation ties the fortunes of the employee to the fortunes of the company, aligning interests towards company success.

After an uncertain and slow start to the year for IPOs, the back half of 2020 made up for lost time. As of December 3, 2020, 415 IPOs raised a record $146B. The global pandemic has changed the way people live and work, driving mass adoption of new technologies. After reviewing 150 U.S.-headquartered unicorns, EquityZen believes the 2021 IPO market will likely follow the strength seen in 2020 with many Unicorns going public and raising significant funding.

2019 was a mixed bag for tech IPOs. While results of some offerings showed the pent-up demand for the SaaS and IaaS industries, others demonstrated the skepticism towards money losing business models. Beyond Meat, 10x Genomics and Zoom were among the success stories, while SmileDirectClub, Uber and WeWork faltered. The latter paused the IPO market in the second half of 2019, and despite see-sawing marketing conditions, companies are eyeing the public waters, learning from 2019 missteps. Key market risks still lurk though, as fears of a global recession and the U.S. presidential election cycle weigh on companies’ willingness to go public. In this article, we’ve outlined company-specific factors we believe will affect IPOs and direct listings and the candidates seeking to go public in the near term.

ForeScout filed an S-1 earlier this week, marking its first step towards completing an IPO. ForeScout expects to list on the NASDAQ under the ticker “FSCT”. The S-1 was (long) expected as the company had reportedly filed confidentially early this year.

With 160 IPOs in 2017, it is rare for a company's initial public offering to get as much coverage as Spotify's already has this past year. In many ways, however, Spotify deserves the attention. For starters, Spotify is a widely used consumer product that continues to exhibit impressive growth against deep-pocketed and experienced competitors (*cough* Apple *cough*). Many Spotify fans and cynics alike will be eyeing their listing and continued results as a public company. Secondly, Spotify's decision not to raise any capital and forgo a traditional Initial Public Offering in lieu of an Initial Public Listing has already made them stand out in the tech world. While Spotify's trailblazing attitude allows them to eschew Wall Street banks and save unnecessary dilution from a traditional IPO, it comes with its own bevy of risks, such as price discovery and liquidity once the shares are publicly traded.

Written by Secondary Fund Saints Capital: Alternative Paths to Liquidity in Private Companies

Are you new to secondary investing in private companies? It can be a daunting but ultimately rewarding asset class to invest in. Here are some topics to consider when investing.

We’re excited to announce the release of our new iOS mobile app. Browse listings and manage investments on the go (or on the couch). Get real time launch notifications and deal updates directly to your phone via push notifications. Click the button below to download the app from the Apple App Store.

After a decadelong bull-run, coronavirus has ushered in a new economic reality. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) recently announced that the U.S. economy entered a recession . NBER recorded a peak in economic activity in February 2020 and a sharp contraction in March that led to significant increases in unemployment. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics disclosed that the unemployment rate reached 14.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has ushered in a time of uncertainty. The novel virus has upended many people’s lives, as the world stays home to slow its spread. COVID-19 has caused workers to lose their jobs, small and large businesses to close their doors, and a capital flight to safe havens. The economic fallout increases as the world reckons with the severity of the virus.

With the flip of a switch, the stock market swiftly reacted to the worsening coronavirus situation. Most notably, the U.S. stock market entered bear territory – defined as a 20% or more fall in prices from the investment’s 52-week high – on March 12, 2020, ending a decade-long bull run. The market has since drastically fluctuated, almost daily, as the world reacts to new information on the spread of coronavirus. The clearest indication of this unrest can be seen in the VIX, a measure of the market’s expectation of volatility on the S&P 500, which has increased to the same levels as the 2008 Great Recession, shown below.

Sometimes, it’s not how much you invest, or even what you invest in, but rather when you buy and sell that matters most of all. That’s why one of the most important aspects of investing is determining an accurate time or investment horizon for every asset you acquire. It’s simple: An investment horizon is the length of time an investor plans to hold an asset. It starts with the date they buy it and extends to whenever they’re planning to sell it off to capitalize on their investment.

The liquidity premium (also known as the “illiquidity premium”) is a term used to describe the enhanced return that is expected for investing in illiquid assets. Put simply, if you invest in something that isn’t easy to get your money out of, you can expect a greater return on that investment due to the inconvenience. Assets are considered to be “illiquid” if they cannot readily be sold for cash without a significant loss in value. Examples include hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, and real estate.

The EquityZen IPO Center has analysis and reporting on tech IPOs. Read about S-1 reviews, IPO pricing and relevant dates. Learn more about companies who have gone public or are pursuing an IPO all in one place.

Check out our Path To IPO graphics to see how a private startup goes from start to exit and the returns early investors experience during an exit event!

Find out whether private market participants' sentiment towards the market is currently bullish or bearish using our Market Sentiment Index.