Employees who join private companies are driven to build something new and are often rewarded by an ownership stake through equity compensation. That’s partly why the initial public offering space can carry so much excitement — but that’s not the whole story. In fact, more and more startups and private companies are choosing to stay private longer, avoiding the public market.
This has not been lost on would-be employees. Job seekers and employees are becoming savvier when it comes to their equity, asking tech leaders how they will be able to sell their startup equity when the time is right. The challenge is that the timing of liquidity events is decided among founders and board members, and the details of the process may not always be top of mind.
