In defense of the IPO, and how to improve it
This makes sense from an investor’s perspective. My objection to IPOs is not so much financial, but more about what it does to a company’s internal culture. Having been at a company that went through an IPO, I saw how that culture shifted - almost overnight. You had employees that once cared about doing their best at their jobs to ones that focused only on how their contributions would affect the public stock performance (which can overlap, but often doesn’t). Every time the stock price took a (short-term) hit, employee morale suffered. It was as if a large LED stock ticker were installed on every desk, constantly reminding employees that <i>this</i> is the new key indicator that matters above all. It was obvious even among upper management; discussion went from big picture, somewhat ambitious ideas to short-term thinking, centered on how to show good numbers in the next quarter with obvious, incremental adjustments (like pushing more ads rather than developing more interesting products and features).<p>The funny thing is, the company didn’t actually <i>need</i> the funds raised in the IPO. They had an almost endless supply of interested private investors pouring in money regularly, and the company’s CEO (in private) admitted that they never wanted to do an IPO. It was only necessary in order to appease the expectations of early employees who had been promised a big payday for the shares they were offered instead of competitive salaries. I understand why that was done in the company’s early days, but there ought to be a better way to reward&#x2F;incentivize early employees that doesn’t rely on the fickle and myopic nature of publicly-traded stock.