IPOs are expensive and cumbersome – Try a direct listing, like we did at Spotify
I posted this article because we’re planning to do the same and wanted to gather thoughts from the tech community (the financial community has commented on this sufficiently to help inform our process).<p>I thought it might help to share our motivations for eventually listing our company vs taking more VC:<p>a. The public markets force transparency. This aligns with our values.<p>b. Governance enforced by VCs (especially in the UK) is largely founder-unfriendly. There are no prefs, investor majority consents or other unfair terms in company governance when you’re public.<p>c. Secondaries - shares sold by employees or early investors - can be sold at any time, at fair market value.<p>d. Capital raising - debt or equity - as a public company comes with fewer strings.<p>e. Friends and family and supporters can participate - especially from their retirement accounts. This is really important - the wealth creation being broad has a real good-news feel. Sharing the wealth.<p>f. Trust is built with the public - I feel - more when you’re publicly listed and ‘established’.<p>The ‘downsides’ of quarterly market updates I’m sure are more intense than it feels from the outside, but I’d like to think our growth story happening in a public sphere will help build trust so when we do need more capital a broader base of investors feel confident engaging with us.<p>Thoughts welcomed.