Podcasts about equityzen

Retail investors are increasingly shaping the secondary market. In Q4 2024, platforms like EquityZen reported that 86% of total transaction volume came from retail participants—an eye-catching shift as tools like Forge and EquityZen promise broader access to private shares. But does more access mean more opportunity, or more risk? Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan is joined by Jared Carmel of Manhattan Venture Partners to dig into what he calls a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” in secondaries, and why he sees this market as a “pressure relief valve” that could keep startups private well past their startup years. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why a sluggish IPO market is pushing more action into secondaries How this creates a flywheel for venture capital And why Jared thinks robust secondary markets will delay (or eliminate) the need for IPOs altogether Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.  Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We'd also like to thank TechCrunch's audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you accepted the offer, maybe you imagined being in the group photo when your boss rang the bell at NASDAQ. But five years later, your company just raised its Series C, and an IPO isn't on the horizon. Meanwhile, you need liquidity — whether it's for a down payment on a house, starting a family, or another major life event. The stock options you've earned are fully vested, but they're just sitting there. So how do you turn them into cash? If your company allows it, you can sell your shares to an accredited investor, assuming you can find a buyer who'll meet your price. That's where the secondary market comes in. I spoke with Phil Haslett, founder and Chief Strategy Officer at EquityZen, a platform that helps startup employees sell a portion of their equity to investors looking to get in on high-growth companies before they go public. We took a deep dive into how the secondary market works, its risks and rewards, and how aspiring founders can even use it to bootstrap their own startups. Disclaimer: This interview is for informational purposes only. Nothing Phil says should be interpreted as financial advice. RUNTIME 41:54 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (0:00) I used Descript to create an elaborate cold open for this episode, please listen. (3:19) The specific pain point that led Phil and Atish to start EquityZen. (5:11) “ I've kind of gone through maybe two or three evolutions of the IPO markets since EquityZen started.” (7:57) All things being equal, early-stage tech workers take on more risk than founders or investors. (9:12) Few workers are well-informed about the secondary market, “but it's not their fault.” (11:38) “ At some point, employees start to decide that maybe where they want to work — or maybe where they want to keep working — might be informed a bit by what they can or can't do with their equity.” (13:06) Should we keep the traditional four-year vesting schedule, or scrap it for something new? (14:14) Typical reasons why sellers turn to the secondary market. (16:25) EquityZen's typical selling size and average investment size, as of November 2024. (18:52) ” You're probably not gonna get a billion-dollar valuation for your shares purely based on structure alone.” (20:45) Keep close track of your equity, especially if you think you're going to be laid off. (22:20) Consult a financial services professional before you start the process. (24:16) “ The first steps are kind of just also learning if you can sell your shares.” (27:04) “ The company that you held shares in, if it went to zero: would you regret that you didn't sell?” (30:10) A framework for figuring out whether the secondary market is worth the time and trouble. (33:25) Offer your employees liquidity without jeopardizing morale or financial stability. (36:27) Phil's founder pitch: “ We're gonna support you all along the way. We can help you with liquidity in the future.” (39:16) Tips for approaching your CEO to ask about liquidity options. LINKS Phil Haslett, co-founder/Chief Strategy Officer Atish Davda, co-founder/CEO EquityZen Descript stock library: Music: She Was In Hawaii (Lap Steel) SFX: Bar Background Ambience 01 SFX: Ocean Waves Crashing Ambience SUBSCRIBE

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's episode dives into an important and growing part of the private markets ecosystem: how investors can access and invest into alternatives through their retirement funds.We have Eric Satz, the Founder & CEO of Alto, a self-directed IRA custodian, with us today to discuss how he's on a mission to provide everyday Americans with the same investment opportunity long favored by institutional investors.Alto provides custody for a wide array of alternative assets, including private companies, real estate, crypto, loans, and securitized collectibles. Alto has streamlined the process for companies, funds, and SEC-registered investment platforms to include IRA investors in their offerings. They've partnered with firms across the alts space, including AngelList, Coinbase, EquityZen, Republic, Masterworks, and others, to enable investors to invest into private markets with their IRA.Eric is a serial entrepreneur and former investment banker. He worked at DLJ / Credit Suisse First Boston before co-founding Currenex (acquired by State Street for $564M), Plumgood Food, and Tennessee Community Ventures. His passion for entrepreneurship led him to serve on the Board of the Tennessee Valley Authority from 2015 to 2018 and he teaches an entrepreneurship class to high school students.On today's podcast, Eric teaches us all about the merits of a self-directed IRA. We had a fascinating discussion about why and how it makes sense to use an IRA to invest into private markets investments and how he's taking lessons learned from prior IRA businesses to build Alto.We discussed:Rethinking retirement investing.The evolution of the self-directed IRA market.Alto's vision: TurboTax for IRAs.Structural challenges with using IRAs for private markets investments.The role of technology with streamlining retirement investing.The evolution in investor awareness of retirement investing.The importance of duration matching.Thanks Eric for coming on the show to share your knowledge and passion for alternatives.Show Notes00:00 Introduction: Going Mainstream00:38 Welcome to Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast00:52 Introducing Eric Satz and Alto01:33 Eric's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey01:57 The Mission of Alto02:01 The TurboTax for IRAs02:05 The Importance of Retirement Accounts in Private Markets02:29 Welcoming Eric to the Podcast02:37 The Evolution of Private Markets and IRAs02:51 The Beginnings of Alto03:13 Challenges in Self-Directed IRAs03:54 The Vision for Self-Directed IRAs04:28 Changing Conventional Wisdom on Retirement Investing05:40 The Demographics of the IRA Industry06:21 The Growth of IRA Accounts06:38 The Allocation to Alternative Assets07:36 Barriers to Private Market Investments in IRAs07:50 Psychological Barriers to Alternative Investments08:35 Structural Challenges in Using IRAs for Private Investments08:53 The Role of Technology in Streamlining Investments09:02 The Launch of Alto with AngelList10:05 The User Journey in Private Market Investments10:43 The Role of Financial Advisors11:10 Educating Investors on Private Markets12:25 The Evolution of Investor Knowledge12:35 The Importance of Tax-Advantaged Investments13:11 The Financial Advisor's Perspective14:05 The Benefits of Illiquidity in Private Markets15:54 The Role of Large Asset Managers16:17 The Branding of Private Markets16:45 The Growth of Athene and Financial Advisors16:57 The Importance of Current Income in Retirement Accounts17:43 The Younger Generation's Investment Behavior18:05 The Impact of Evergreen Fund Structures19:04 The Role of Asset Management Firms20:02 The Future of Private Market Solutions20:15 The Role of Alto in Private Market Investments20:54 The Importance of Infrastructure in Private Markets21:44 The Evolution of Alto's Business Model21:50 The Growing Awareness of Private Markets23:57 The Role of the Alto Marketplace24:35 The Inclusion of Crypto in IRAs25:17 The Challenges of Transitioning Assets to IRAs25:50 The Impact of Friction on Investment Decisions27:46 The Success of Alto's Technology28:35 The Role of Funds in Promoting IRAs29:36 The Future of Private Markets and Wealth Channels31:11 The Role of Financial Advisors in Private Markets31:58 Educating Financial Advisors on IRAs32:13 The Importance of Conferences and Networking47:13 The Future of Private Markets and Retirement Accounts47:32 The Role of Regulations in Private Market Investments50:27 Conclusion: The Potential of Retirement Accounts in Private MarketsEditing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Join Nataraj on Startup Project as he talks to Aatish, CEO and founder of EquityZen, a secondary market for private equities. They discuss the evolution of secondary markets, EquityZen's business model, the value proposition of secondary equity platforms, investor strategies, and the nuances of investing in secondary shares. They'll also delve into various IPO types and their pros and cons for investors, providing a glimpse into the future of secondary markets and IPOs by 2025.About the Episode:This episode explores how EquityZen created a market for secondary shares, connecting founders, employees, and early investors with individuals seeking pre-IPO investment opportunities. Aatish shares his personal journey from quant hedge fund employee to entrepreneur, highlighting how EquityZen helps late-stage private companies provide liquidity to shareholders. The conversation also covers:- Evolution of secondary markets- EquityZen's business model and platform- Investing in secondary shares- Different investor strategies- IPO types and their impact on investors- The future of secondary markets and IPOs in 2025About the Guest and Host:Aatish: CEO and founder of EquityZen, former co-founder and CTO of Nullsoft, and VP of product at Ampush.  Connect with Aatish:→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atishdavda/→ Website: https://equityzen.com/Nataraj: Host of the Startup Project podcast, Senior PM at Azure & Investor. → LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam → Twitter: https://x.com/natarajsindam→ Email: ⁠https://startupproject.substack.com/⁠→ Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction01:10 - What is EquityZen and How Did It Start?04:19 - The Evolution of Secondary Markets09:00 - Standardization in Secondary Transactions14:44 - Portfolio vs. Individual Company Investments20:10 - EquityZen's Business Model: Fees & Carry22:21 - EquityZen's Stats and User Base24:34 - EquityZen's Relationship with Companies and Issuers27:17 - Rights of First Refusal and Blocking Rights30:36 - Navigating the Secondary Market: Legitimacy and Risk33:33 - How EquityZen Uses Data37:14 - Marketing EquityZen in a Regulated Industry40:19 - IPOs vs. Direct Listings: What's the Difference?44:04 - Outlook for IPOs and Secondary Markets in 2025Subscribe to Startup Project for more engaging conversations with leading entrepreneurs!→ Email updates: ⁠https://startupproject.substack.com/⁠#StartupProject #EquityZen #PrivateEquity #SecondaryMarket #PreIPO #Investing #IPO #VentureCapital #Stocks #Finance #Podcast #YouTube #Tech #Innovation #Entrepreneur"

Atish Davda is the co-founder and CEO of EquityZen, a leading marketplace for private company stock. For a decade, he has been responsible for running the firm, designing the organization, managing the leadership team, and guiding product development. He has spent 15+ years in fintech and asset management as an engineer, quant, and investor. He is an established leader in identifying novel markets, capturing opportunity with inventive technology applications, and running highly capital efficient operations. He has been a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and contributor on Forbes, CNBC, and Bloomberg. Atish holds a Bachelors of Economics and Finance from The Wharton School and a Bachelors of Computer Science and Engineering from University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode of the AIA podcast, host Alex Perny welcomes Atish Davda of EquityZen, for a discussion on the dynamic nature of the private market. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and join our growing community for new videos every week. If you are interested in being a podcast guest speaker or have questions, contact us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast@AdvantaIRA.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The Alternative Investing Advantage is brought to you by Advanta IRA. Advanta IRA does not offer investment, tax, or legal advice nor do we endorse any products, investments, or companies that offer such advice and/or investments. This includes any investments promoted or discussed during the podcast as neither Advanta IRA nor its employees, have reviewed or vetted any investments, persons, or companies that may discuss their services during this podcast.  All parties are strongly encouraged to perform their own due diligence and consult with the appropriate professional(s) before entering into any type of investment. #financialplanning #financialplanner #selfdirectedira

Watch Tom and Paul LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Bloomberg Surveillance hosted by Tom Keene and Paul SweeneyMarch 21st, 2024Featuring: Seema Shah, Chief Global Strategist at  Principal Asset Management, previews the BOE decision and breaks down yesterday's Fed decision Sebastien Paige, Head of Global Multi-Asset and CIO at T. Rowe Price, on markets, the Fed meeting, and breaking down Jay Powell's presser Brianne Lynch, Head of Market Insight at EquityZen, on today's Reddit IPO Bloomberg's Lisa Mateo with her Newspaper Headlines Get the Bloomberg Surveillance newsletter, delivered every weekday. Sign up now: https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/surveillance See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carley Garner joins Chris Versace on the latest AAP Podcast and the conversation begins with a discussion of the equity markets. Both agree a pullback would be a positive for the market and investors, with Carley explaining why she watches the Nasdaq 100 futures and Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) levels. After a quick chat about Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL), Carley shares the Nasdaq 100 level she is watching closely and where we could see a healthy market correction put the S&P 500. The conversation shifts to key commodities including the trifecta that is ag commodities (corn, wheat, soybeans), cocoa, coffee, oil, and natural gas. In that discussion, Carley reminds us about the boom-and-bust cycle of commodities and shares an upbeat outlook for natural gas and oil but warns the euphoric prices for one of those commodities could be very different in the coming quarters. The podcast closes out with Carly sharing some of her favorite must-dos for folks visiting Las Vegas and shares a restaurant favored by locals that you probably won't hear about if you're only on the Vegas strip. More from Carley Garner can be found here, and be sure to follow her on X at @CarleyGarner   Other recent AAP Podcasts include Market Strength, Fed Predictions and the Savannah Bananas With Bob Lang Breaking Down the Pre-IPO and IPO Markets with EquityZen's Phil Haslett The Hubbub on AI With Zapata's Christopher Savoie

While the AAP Portfolio traffics in publicly traded companies, there is a market for shares in pre-IPO companies. On this episode of the AAP Podcast, Chris Versace chats with Phil Haslett, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of EquityZen, an online marketplace for trading pre-IPO employee shares from privately held companies. Phil provides an overview of the pre-IPO market and the conversation morphs to Chris and Phil discussing the current state of the IPO. Phil shares why he is cautiously optimistic about the IPO market but also shares why he thinks we could see a pickup in the M&A market as well. Greater activity in one would be positive for the shares of AAP Portfolio holdings Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC), but a pickup in both would that much better. The conversation then shifts to talking about AI companies and how that could impact not only the IPO market but the stock market as well. And you'll want to hear an interesting statistic Phil shares at the end of the conversation.

Atish Davda is CEO and Co-Founder of EquityZen, a company working on bringing private markets to the public. Atish talks about his journey to starting EquityZen and what this company means to the future of investing in innovation. The interview is dedicated to PennPAC. PennPAC works with nonprofit organizations to help solve their business challenges through the engagement of Penn alumni who serve as pro bono consultants for short-term projects. (https://pennpac.org/about/)

Randy Schwimmer, co-head of Senior Lending at Churchill Asset Management, on the private credit boom this year and whether it's a bubble. Brianne Lynch, Head of Market Insight at EquityZen, joins to discuss potential 2024 IPOs, including Reddit, Shein, and SKIMS. Neil Hennessy, Hennessy Advisors Chief Strategist, joins to discuss markets, mid-caps, and gives his stock picks and eco outlook. Jen Flitton, Head of US Government Affairs at Invesco, joins to discuss Washington's response to Israel, foreign aid, and another shutdown showdown, as well as other DC issues. Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Jess Menton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keith Naughton, Reporter with Bloomberg News, discusses the Big Take story on the UAW strike and where things currently stand with the strike. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth speaks with Alix Steel and Guy Johnson on BTV. Mercedes CEO Ola Kallenius speaks with Guy Johnson and Matt Miller. Nathan Dean, Senior US Policy Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, discusses higher capital requirements for banks and a potential government shutdown. Akshata Bailkeri, Head of Research at EquityZen, joins to discuss the IPO market after Arm's massive start and if it can lead to a string of other companies going public. Davide Grasso, CEO at Maserati, joins to discuss his company and the industry. Kevin Tynan: Senior Analyst: Autos with Bloomberg Intelligence, joins to talk about the UAW strike. Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Matt Miller.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike McGlone, Senior Macro Strategist with Bloomberg Intelligence, joins to discuss commodities, gold, and outlook for the economy. Brianne Lynch, Head of Market Insight at EquityZen, joins the program to discuss the Instacart IPO, the general IPO space, and outlook for IPOs in 2023. Brooke Sutherland, industrials columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, joins to discuss the latest legal troubles for 3M. Matt Winkler, editor-in-chief emeritus with Bloomberg News, joins to discuss his column on LA big business thriving. Sri Natarajan, Senior Reporter with Bloomberg News, joins to talk about Goldman Sachs offloading an investment advisory business aimed at the mass-affluent market. Jaimin Patel, Senior Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins us to discuss the credit outlook for Hawaiian Electric. Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Simone Foxman.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's episode dives into an important and growing part of the alts ecosystem: how investors can access and invest into alternatives through their retirement funds.We have Eric Satz, the CEO of Alto, a self-directed IRA custodian, with us today to discuss how he's on a mission to provide everyday Americans with the same investment opportunity long favored by institutional investors.Alto provides custody for a wide array of alternative assets, including private companies, real estate, crypto, loans, and securitized collectibles. Alto has streamlined the process for companies, funds, and SEC registered investment platforms to include IRA investors in their offerings. They've partnered with firms across the alts space, including AngelList, Coinbase, EquityZen, Republic, Masterworks, and others, to enable investors to invest into private markets with their IRA.Eric is a serial entrepreneur and former investment banker. He worked at DLJ / Credit Suisse First Boston before co-founding Currenex (acquired by State Street for $564M), Plumgood Food, and Tennessee Community Ventures. His passion for entrepreneurship led him to serve on the Board of the Tennessee Valley Authority from 2015 to 2018 and he teaches an entrepreneurship class to high school students.On today's podcast, Eric teaches us all about the merits of a self-directed IRA. He shares why and how it makes sense to use an IRA to invest into private markets investments and how he's taking lessons learned from prior IRA businesses to build Alto.Thanks Eric for coming on the show to share your knowledge and passion for alternatives.

Nick Akerman, former assistant Special Watergate prosecutor, discusses Hunter Biden and Donald Trump. Sam Fazeli, Head of Euro Research/Pharma Analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, joins the program to discuss Eli Lilly acquiring immune drug developer Dice. Matt Roe, Chief Revenue Officer at the auto lending enablement firm Open Lending, joins to discuss the auto market, car loans, and the credit crunch. Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and Chief Strategist at QI Research, joins to discuss the Fed and its rate hike path. George Ferguson, Senior Aerospace and Defense Analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, joins us to discuss the latest from the Paris Air Show. Brianne Lynch, Head of Market Insight at EquityZen, joins the program to discuss the Cava IPO and IPO market in 2023. Mick Mulroy, co-founder of the Lobo Institute and former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East at the Department of Defense, joins to discuss the meeting between Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and what it means for national security. He also discusses the war in Ukraine and the Titanic tour search. Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Jess Menton.See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.

Former prosecutors Nick Akerman and Michael Zeldin join to break down the Donald Trump and George Santos legal woes. Anneka Treon, Chief Economist International at Van Lanschot Kempen, joins the program to talk about the outlook inflation and global impact of a US debt ceiling default. Brandon Rakszawski, Director of Product Management and the VanEck Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF (PFXF), joins to discuss outlook for ETFs and ETF. Angela Stent, Senior Fellow at the Brookings institute, joins us to discuss the war in Ukraine, outlook for the upcoming counteroffensive, and any hope of negotiations with Vladimir Putin. Brianne Lynch, Head of Market Insight at EquityZen, joins the program to discuss how the recent bank turmoil could affect the IPO market. Mike McGlone, Senior Macro Strategist with Bloomberg Intelligence, and Fernando Valle, Senior Analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, join for an in studio roundtable on the outlook for energy and commodities. Patrick Pacious, CEO at Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH), joins to discuss his company's earnings, outlook for travel after CPI revealed an uptick in airfare prices, and consumer resiliency. Hosted by Paul Sweeney, Kriti Gupta, and Madison Mills.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Connie & Alex talk tech,  and then Connie interviews two newsmakers: Phil Haslett, founder and Chief Strategy Officer of EquityZen, a secondary marketplace; and Dina Radenkovic, Co-Founder & CEO of Gameto, a startup dedicating to changing the way women think about their reproductive health. Music: 1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2. "Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance)3. "Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4650-dream-catcher)4. "Pamgaea" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4193-pamgaea)5. "EDM Detection Mode" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3687-edm-detection-mode)License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Anita asked:When is a company taking internal valuation cut a good thing?Normally, when we hear about valuations going down, that's a red flag that things aren't going well at a given company or in the market at large. We wrote about Stripe's 28% internal valuation cut earlier this month and as we listened to different reactions to the news, we noticed some people had an unexpected take -- that this downward revision was actually a positive for the company's employees.That's because the cut came from an internal 409A valuation appraisal, which is totally different from the investor-led valuations we normally hear reported on in the news. So we brought on two experts -- Phil Haslett of EquityZen and Sumukh Sridhara of AngelList -- to help us unpack what this valuation cut actually means for startup employees and what else they need to know about their equity compensation heading into a market downturn. For more information, you can also check out our TechCrunch+ piece about the matter, "Stripe's new and lower internal valuation, explained."Let us know if you want more Chain Reaction x Equity crossover episodes by tweeting at either of us or just sharing this episode with a friend. Numbers speak for themselves :)Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

Jeremy Neilson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Assure. Assure is a fintech fund administration company that provides the most complete back-office services in the market for fund managers, equity crowdfunding platforms, angel groups and other private-transaction investors. Jeremy has provided support and leadership for some of the most innovative and dynamic industry initiatives in the U.S.--including launching and managing the State of Utah's $300 million Fund of Funds program, providing due diligence and advisory services for the U.S. Small Business Administration's $1-billion early-stage venture capital initiative, and created the LLC syndicate (SPV) administration service used by AngelList, SeedInvest, EquityZen and more.

The Promise of Angel-Scale Biotech: Learn More SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) are democratizing startup investing. In this interview with Jeremy Neilson, founder of Assure.co, we discussed how founders and angels can benefit from these increasingly economical platforms and what they mean for the future. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces Jeremy Neilson Co-Founder of Assure.co Sal and Jeremy Met at an Event Held by Jason Calacanis in 2019 “...the engine of a large number of groups that do angel investing.” Use Cases for SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) It Used to Be Very Pricey to Set Up and SPV – No Longer A Way for Angels to Increase the Diversity of their Portfolio co Is helping Democratize Investing in Private Assets co Focuses on Accredited Investors – Does Not Do Equity Crowdfunding The Founding Story of Assure.co “...AngelList called my co-founder, Katie, and I and said, "Can you guys figure out how to do funds in bulk?"” Sal Daher Advises People Not to Make the Mistake He Made in Creating His Own SPVs – A Lot of Work! “He's the pope of angel investing podcasts. I'm just a cardinal, or perhaps a bishop.” Biotech Too Is Being Democratized “...we're seeing in the ecosystem is a very large shift away from thinking strictly financial.” “No longer is it a very small niche of uberwealthy or venture funds, now it's the entire ecosystem of accredited investors now have the opportunity to participate.” io and Curesology “We have seen clients come and say, "I want to donate my carry to a good cause."” “Carta, AngelList, Assure.co were those three that got started all together back about eight, nine years ago.” Cheaper SPVs Are Helping to Give Access to More Diverse Founders by Broadening the Reach of Investors Sal Compares Two Robotic Glove Startups Three Decades Apart to Demonstrate How Much the Startup Ecosystem Has Developed “Her life is going to be so much easier in starting that company than it was for Chrissy Glover's starting Imago Rehab [today] and way, way easier than Beth Marcus' starting EXOS back in the early '90s.” “Assure.co is helping to lower the dead weight of a startup rocket that's trying to reach escape velocity.” Wisdom from Waseem Daher of Pilot.com on Angels & Cap Tables SPV Pricing at Assure.co co Powers Jason's Syndicates, EquityZen and Forge Among Many Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, fin tech, angel investing strategies

The average time for a startup to go public has increased from 7 to 12 years in the past two decades. More and more early employees are left equity rich and cash poor. An ecosystem has emerged to help. Four different secondary markets work with employees and the startups themselves to help employees, investors, and founders sell their startup equity for cash. It's not all smooth sailing. The challenges of an illiquid startup equity market, complex regulations, and burdensome taxes are real. How to navigate is critical for any potential seller to understand. Shoutouts to CartaX, EquityZen, Forge, and NASDAQ Private Market helping startups, their employees, and their investors! Check out this week's letter for the full story. Follow @FatTailThoughts on Twitter and your co-hosts @KleeBeard and @StevenDickens3 for more content.

Every Monday, Alpesh will be sharing experiments he did with his investments since 2009. In today's episode, Alpesh will be reviewing the Safely Generate 3.5% Interest and Beat Inflation. Alpesh Parmar is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, business owner, author, mentor, and podcast host who is passionate about wealth, life, and health. Alpesh is the host of the real asset investing Podcast – “Wealth Matters”. Alpesh is also co-author of Amazon # 1 Bestselling book – Resilience: Turning Your Setback into a Comeback. He has invested in the USA, Belize, Panama, Paraguay, and India. He owns and manages a portfolio of duplexes and small to medium-sized apartment buildings in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Dallas markets. In this podcast, he will discuss and share his review of Safely Generate 3.5% Interest and Beat Inflation. (0:02 - 1:21) Opening Segment - Introduction (1:21 - 11:11) Safely Generate 3.5% Interest and Beat Inflation - Alpesh gives a disclaimer that he is not an investment advisor - Talks about investing and supporting vegan business - His investment experience - His Core investment philosophy - Alpesh shares his screen and show's Review of StartEngine, Wefunder, Republic and EquityZen (11:11 - 11:32) Closing Segment -If you want to learn more about the discussion, you can watch the podcast on Wealth Matter's YouTube channel and you can reach out to Alpesh using this link Facebook: @wealthmatrs IG: @wealthmatrs.ig Tiktok: @wealthmatrs

Every Monday, Alpesh will be sharing experiments he did with his investments since 2009. In today's episode, Alpesh will be reviewing the StartEngine, Wefunder, Republic, and EquityZen. Alpesh Parmar is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, business owner, author, mentor, and podcast host who is passionate about wealth, life, and health. Alpesh is the host of the real asset investing Podcast – “Wealth Matters”. Alpesh is also co-author of Amazon # 1 Bestselling book – Resilience: Turning Your Setback into a Comeback. He has invested in the USA, Belize, Panama, Paraguay, and India. He owns and manages a portfolio of duplexes and small to medium-sized apartment buildings in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Dallas markets. In this podcast, he will discuss and share his review of StartEngine, Wefunder, Republic, and EquityZen. (0:02 - 1:03) Opening Segment - Introduction (1:03 - 11:30) Review of StartEngine, Wefunder, Republic, and EquityZen - Alpesh gives a disclaimer that he is not an investment advisor - Talks about investing and supporting vegan business - His investment experience - His Core investment philosophy - Alpesh shares his screen and show's Review of StartEngine, Wefunder, Republic and EquityZen (11:30 - 11:56) Closing Segment -If you want to learn more about the discussion, you can watch the podcast on Wealth Matter's YouTube channel and you can reach out to Alpesh using this link Facebook: @wealthmatrs IG: @wealthmatrs.ig Tiktok: @wealthmatrs

In this episode, Hall welcomes James W. Day, Senior Corporate Counsel at EquityZen. EquityZen is a FinTech platform and online marketplace for investors and shareholders in alternative assets. If you are an accredited investor, EquityZen helps you access ordinarily hard-to-find alternative investments (such as secondary sales of pre-IPO equity). If you are an employee or shareholder of a privately held, venture-backed company, EquityZen helps you sell your shares and unlock some of the value created by your efforts.  By developing technologies that help to streamline and systematize deals implicated by the complex regulatory framework undergirding the private capital markets in the United States, EquityZen has closed over 20,000 investments serving over 250 companies with a combined market capitalization of over $900 billion. Shares of companies such as Coinbase, Lemonade, and Spotify all traded on EquityZen's platform prior to their public debuts. EquityZen was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the most promising technology pioneers of 2020 and as the recipient of the Innovation in Wealth, Asset and Investment Management award at the FinTech Innovation awards in 2016. Before joining EquityZen, Jim worked as a corporate attorney in several major law firms and multinational corporations. In those roles his experiences include representing early-stage investors and their portfolio companies from initial funding rounds through the corporate lifecycle. He represented the court-appointed trustee under the Securities Investor Protection Act for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and coordinated hundreds of legal proceedings and avoidance actions in multiple foreign jurisdictions. He also represented debtors, creditors, and acquirers in dozens of complex bankruptcies and restructurings and their related asset sales. Prior to his business and legal career, Jim served as a Naval Officer and military intelligence analyst. He deployed to the Middle East in support of UN trade sanctions and to South America as the Anti-Terrorism and Gunnery Officer onboard a guided missile frigate that performed one of the U.S. Navy's most successful counter-narcotics operations. He taught graduate students as a Visiting Professor in one of Mozambique's first MBA programs (teaching Finance, Entrepreneurship and Business Planning). He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy (where he was the captain of the golf team) and holds a law degree and an MBA from Georgetown University, where he studied while working as an analyst at the Office of Naval Intelligence and interning at the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also volunteered as an instructor at The First Tee and the Bridge Golf Learning Center of Harlem; these organizations seek to use golf to teach important life lessons to youth in underserved communities.  Jim shares his thoughts on how he sees the secondary industry evolving and what criteria qualifies somebody to go for a good secondary. You can visit EquityZen at , via LinkedIn at , and via Twitter at .   Jim can be contacted via email at , via LinkedIn at , and via Twitter at .   Music courtesy of .

このエピソードではカリフォルニアのワクチン展開プラン、Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check、Futureproof（Kevin Roose）、新しいSECのクラウドファンディングに関するレギュレーション、Podcast All-InのEP26、Equityzen、Angellist、GPUの不足、a16zのOpenSeaに対する投資、Outside Lands 2021について話をしました。 In this episode, we talked about CA's vaccine rollout plan, Global Entry and TSA Pre-check, Futureproof by Kevin Roose, a new SEC regulation on crowdfunding, All-In's EP26, Equityzen, Angellist, GPU's global shortage, a16z's investment into OpenSea, and Outside Lands 2021.

Design is about much more than just making things look good. Design is valuable because it translates the complexities of technology to us mere mortals. It serves as a way to educate the market and make tech easy for everyday people to use. But what is the design process that gets us to that end? Daniel Scrivner is the CEO & Chief Design Officer at Flow, the project management software used by teams at Apple, Shopify and TED. A leader in the fields of design and investing, he has been invited to speak at some of the world's most innovative organizations, including Andreesen Horowitz and Designer Fund. Daniel has 15 years of design experience, serving as Head of Design at both Digit and Square and working on teams at Apple, Nike and Disney. On this episode of Boost VC, Daniel joins us to share his take on what makes design valuable, explaining how the design process gets you to an end product the average person can use. He offers insight on what makes most crypto design hostile to everyday people, discussing what we can do to improve the user experience and give crypto mass appeal. Listen in to understand Daniel's agnostic approach to investing and find out how he applies concepts learned in one discipline to other areas in his skill stack. Topics Covered What Daniel has built that he's most proud ofRedesign of Flow over last two yearsGrowing investment portfolio Daniel's agnostic approach to investingQualitative vs. quantitative (early-stage companies)Broad interest in investing in entrepreneurs at all stages What inspired Daniel to start his own podcastConversations with people in top 1% across industriesDecode what they've mastered, what propelled to top How Daniel thinks about optimizing his learningLearn things and apply in other areasLean into growth curve in all areas Daniel's take on what makes design valuableInterface between complexity of tech and humansFastest way to educate given market Daniel's insight around the design of cryptoHostile to average peopleIncompatible with being ‘future of money' How to improve the crypto user experienceSimple explanation of termsGet input from everyday people What inspired Daniel to invest in BitcoinBet on things probable to play outInvest in multiple ways to win What's behind the rise of the operator-investorHerding creaturesLowering barriers to entry in all areas Daniel's definition of successWork in service of othersGrow into best version of self Connect with Daniel Flow https://www.getflow.com/Flow on Twitter https://twitter.com/flowappFlow on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/FlowAppDaniel on Twitter https://twitter.com/danielscrivner  Outliers with Daniel Scrivner https://link.chtbl.com/_Ygn_FIY Resources Good Egg https://www.goodegg.io/Stripe https://stripe.com/Gusto https://gusto.com/Superhuman https://superhuman.com/Notion https://www.notion.so/Bison Trails https://bisontrails.co/Filecoin https://filecoin.io/Verlyn Klinkenborg on Outliers https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/verlyn-klinkenborg-outliers-show-notesSeveral Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn KlinkenborgScott Adams https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSaysScott Adams on Talent Stacking https://www.scottadamssays.com/2016/12/27/the-kristina-talent-stack/Listen Notes https://www.listennotes.com/Kevin Kelly https://kk.org/Kevin Kelly on Outliers https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/kevin-kelly-outliers-transcriptCasa https://keys.casa/Coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/CoinList https://coinlist.co/TrustToken https://www.trusttoken.com/TruFi https://truefi.io/Robinhood https://robinhood.com/us/en/Oculus https://www.oculus.com/AngelList https://angellist.com/EquityZen https://equityzen.com/Fortnite https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/homeRoblox https://www.roblox.com/Unreal Tournament https://www.epicgames.com/unrealtournament/en-US/Endel https://endel.io/Tony Anderson https://www.tonyandersonmusic.com/Focus on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/genre/focus-pageRichard Feynman http://www.feynman.com/Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by It's Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard P. Feynman https://www.amazon.com/Six-Easy-Pieces-Essentials-Explained/dp/0465025277Henry Ford's Rouge https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford-rouge-factory-tour/history-and-timeline/fords-rouge/Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr-ebook/dp/B000XUDGHG Connect with Boost VC Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVCBoost VC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boost_vc/

Brianne Lynch, Head of Business Development & Partnerships at EquityZen, on the Airbnb and Doordash IPOs, and trading pre-IPO shares before they go public. Jim Vogel, Interest Rate Strategist for FHN Financial, on which part of the yield curve holds the most value. John Lynch, Chief Investment Officer at Comerica Asset Management, on their 2021 market outlook. Lee Klaskow, Senior Transport, Logistics and Shipping Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, on why he's bullish on FedEx and UPS. Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Vonnie Quinn. 

KubeCon+CloudNativeCon sponsored this podcast as part of a series of interviews with Kubernetes end users. Listen to the previous stories about the ups and downs of Box's Kubernetes journey and what Wikipedia's infrastructure is like behind the firewall. It started simply enough but soon the site needed more than a server to keep things managed. Today, EquityZen runs on Kubernetes and is considering its next moves, in particular exploring how container as a service may serve them. In this edition of The New Stack Analysts podcast, Andy Snowden, engineering manager, DevOps, for EquityZen, discusses how he helped the company begin its cloud native journey and the challenges associated with the move. Alex Williams, founder and publisher of The New Stack; Cheryl Hung, vice president of ecosystem at Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Ken Owens, vice president, cloud native engineering, Mastercard hosted the podcast. When Snowden joined EquityZen, he immediately began to apply his background managing Kubernetes environments to help solve a chief concern the company had: The reliability of its infrastructure. “During our initial conversations, they explained to me that ‘hey, we are having these issues and we are having these big site hits where the site will go down' and that is really bad for our customers. They also asked ‘what have you done in your past that has worked well for you?,'” said Snowden. “And knowing Kubernetes as I knew it, I said this sounds like a really good use case for it and I explained that these are the sort of things I might consider doing.” Once convinced that a Kubernetes environment would both boost reliability and help the company to better scale its operations, making the shift was, of course, a major undertaking.

KubeCon+CloudNativeCon sponsored this podcast as part of a series of interviews with Kubernetes end users. Listen to the previous stories about the ups and downs of Box's Kubernetes journey and what Wikipedia's infrastructure is like behind the firewall. It started simply enough but soon the site needed more than a server to keep things managed. Today, EquityZen runs on Kubernetes and is considering its next moves, in particular exploring how container as a service may serve them. In this edition of The New Stack Analysts podcast, Andy Snowden, engineering manager, DevOps, for EquityZen, discusses how he helped the company begin its cloud native journey and the challenges associated with the move. Alex Williams, founder and publisher of The New Stack; Cheryl Hung, vice president of ecosystem at Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Ken Owens, vice president, cloud native engineering, Mastercard hosted the podcast. When Snowden joined EquityZen, he immediately began to apply his background managing Kubernetes environments to help solve a chief concern the company had: The reliability of its infrastructure. “During our initial conversations, they explained to me that ‘hey, we are having these issues and we are having these big site hits where the site will go down' and that is really bad for our customers. They also asked ‘what have you done in your past that has worked well for you?,'” said Snowden. “And knowing Kubernetes as I knew it, I said this sounds like a really good use case for it and I explained that these are the sort of things I might consider doing.” Once convinced that a Kubernetes environment would both boost reliability and help the company to better scale its operations, making the shift was, of course, a major undertaking.

Rusty Vanneman, chiefinvestment officer at Orion Advisor Technology, says that if your asset allocation and investment plan were appropriate prior to the global pandemic, they remain appropriate and proper today, meaning that most investors should not be changing their holdings much in the middle of current troubles, even as they look for opportunities going forward. Vanneman believes that there will be superior economic growth when the viral economy ends, which should lead to value stocks and small-cap stocks -- two areas that were lagging the market pre-crisis -- becoming leaders. Also on the show, Ken Simonson discusses results from the latest National Association of Business Economics survey, where wide-ranging results show how hard the current situation is to analyze, Phil Haslett of EquityZen discusses the initial-public offering and pre-IPO markets, and David Trainer of New Constructs says that certain research efforts are undermined by the economic shut-down, creating problem areas for investors who rely on those numbers.

Tej Singh and Daniel Bessenov interview Atish Davda, the Co-founder and CEO of EquityZen, a marketplace that connects shareholders of private companies (e.g. investors, employees, etc.) with accredited investors seeking to invest in those pre-IPO companies, like Airbnb, Postmates, Reddit, Airtable, Barstool Sports, Grab, Nextdoor, UiPath, Instacart, Flexport, and others.

Introduction Welcome to Distilling Venture Capital.  I am your host, Bill Griesinger Distilling VC is a visionary podcast that provides an insightful and informed view of the key trends affecting the VC and tech startup world.  My mission is to cut through and go beyond the hype and Silicon Valley pop-jargon that tends to dominate the tech landscape.  I seek to provide transparency and    Opening Observations: Given that this is my inaugural episode under the Distilling VC label, I thought it would be appropriate and useful to provide you with some brief background regarding the podcast and the type of content you can expect in the future and a little about me… First, the podcast;   The vast majority of episodes I will bring will take you inside the insights, challenges, successes and the journeys revealed and shared directly through the words and experiences of tech company entrepreneurs, sometimes from the VCs who back them and others in the tech and VC community…So, I’ll usually have very interesting guests.   Some brief background on me, your host:  I have spent a large part of my professional life (last 20 years) working in the Venture Finance business assisting VC-backed tech companies in procuring the capital they need to grow Over the years, I have had the opportunity and good fortune to meet and work with incredible, visionary management teams, many savvy investors and have had the privilege of underwriting and financing ground-breaking technology companies, many of which continue to have an impact on the technology landscape today (like Google; a $10M deal in 2001, for example).    With that as backdrop, today I want to focus on a topic that I believe signals something has gone awry in tech startup and VC land over the last 4-5 years.  And it concerns me greatly.   Have you noticed, Everyone seems to be fascinated with “unicorns?”  Venture capitalists, tech company founders and management teams, the tech press and the financial press and many others,   So, today’s episode will delve into and distill down, “Unicorn-mania” so we can make sense of what’s really going on. Let me state for the record, It Is a big distraction from what’s really important in evaluating and valuing venture-backed tech companies.  Furthermore, it really touches upon the issues of transparency and accuracy, and ultimately the credibility of the industry itself, in my view  The longer this mania continues, I believe it presents dangerous consequences for multiple players inside and outside the VC industry.     So, what am I talking about?   Let’s unpack this…  First, some definitional context:  What is a Unicorn company that we hear so much hype about today?  In tech and VC parlance, it is a private startup tech company that is valued at $1B or more, in theory, referred to as its “Post-money Valuation.”   Great, what does that mean?  Not what you may think it does, as I will explain… And for historical context, The term unicorn, in VC, originated…in late 2013 when Cowboy Ventures Partner, Aileen Lee, coined the term for what she described as a tech company with a $1B valuation – and noted it was a pretty rare thing, as she pointed out then – which was correct.  There were 39 companies identified then in the ‘Unicorn Club.’  27 of those were in the Bay Area!   So, it really was just a Silicon Valley phenomenon in the beginning…   Lee admitted the term probably wasn’t the best or most well-thought-out description but went with it nonetheless.   “Yes we know the term “unicorn” is not perfect – unicorns apparently don’t exist, and these companies do – but we like the term because to us, it means something extremely rare, and magical” Aileen Lee, Cowboy Ventures, Nov. 2013   The term was reinforced further in a 2015 interview with Crunchbase, and it has unfortunately, been with us ever since, to the detriment of the industry, in my view.   The Cowboy Ventures’ website, even contains, to this day, a link to what it calls its “Unicorn Handling Guide” or protocol insisting that anyone using the term give proper attribution to the firm.  No one actually adheres to this “guideline” today, of course – but there it is.        This is not to malign or denigrate Cowboy Ventures as a reputable VC firm in any way.  It is, by most measures, a successful venture firm boasting a number of impressive investments and it has had a substantial number of notable exits, which you can find on their website.  So, I’m sure their LPs and their portfolio companies alike are pleased… The real issue is not about Cowboy Ventures at all…but rather a group-think mentality that has gripped and permeated venture capital…with no discernable benefit…   How Many Unicorns Are There?  It depends on who you ask & upon whose data you rely: (Q2 2019), there were around 450 companies globally designated as ‘Unicorns’ Fast fwd to Feb. 2020 and it’s alleged to be 580! Valued at ~ $2T (From Recent Crunchbase Unicorn Leaderboard) Q4 2019 CB Insights states there are about 390  (CB Insights) Roughly 48% to 50% are in the US About 24%-25% are in China UK and India come in 3rd and 4th with roughly 5% each   Here’s the central problem – The $1B+ valuations ascribed to so-called unicorn companies are not true market valuations at all.  They all utilize a metric called “post-money valuation” that inflates their value.  In fact, based on a Stanford Univ. Study, which I will dig into in a moment, 100% of all unicorns are actually over-valued to some degree when applying proper market valuation metrics based upon the terms and conditions found in the Preferred Stock rounds.   There is both Good News and Bad News to report with respect to this phenomenon:   The Good News:  There is a solution, a remedy, if you will, for this self-inflicted malady of unicorn-mania.  It is The Stanford Graduate School of Business Study - And it has been readily available for several years.  Stanford GSB  (By Prof. Ilya Strebulaev and his colleague, Will Gornall) – which I’ll dig into in a moment Now, The Bad News:  Few are paying attention, and some are deliberately ignoring the solution that’s been made available.  Why?   The Study:  Squaring Venture Capital Valuations with Reality Downloadable pdf found here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2955455   So, let’s dig into the study.  The results are astounding and vitally important to EVERYONE connected to Venture Capital, tech startups, capital markets and even consumers – I’ll explain.    Released in April 2017 by the Stanford Univ. Graduate School of Business  The Authors:  Prof. Ilya Strebulaev, Prof. of Private Equity & Prof. of Finance, Graduate School of Bus., Stanford University Will Gornall, Sauder School of Bus., University of British Columbia, (Gornall earned his PhD from the Stanford Graduate School of Bus.)   Summary of Findings – From the Study Abstract: We develop a valuation model for venture capital--backed companies and apply it to 135 US unicorns, that is, private companies with reported valuations above $1 billion. We value unicorns using financial terms from legal filings and find that reported unicorn post--money valuations average 48% above fair value, with 14 being more than 100% above.  Reported valuations assume that all shares are as valuable as the most recently issued preferred shares.  We calculate values for each share class, which yields lower valuations because most unicorns gave recent investors major protections such as initial public offering (IPO) return guarantees (15%), vetoes over down-IPOs (24%), or seniority to all other investors (30%).  Common shares lack all such protections and are 56% overvalued. After adjusting for these valuation-inflating terms, almost one-half (65 out of 135) of unicorns lose their unicorn status.   Important takeaway regarding the findings of the Stanford Study:  The results and findings are not predicated upon some intricate mathematical or econometric model requiring reliance on multiple assumptions and conditions to arrive at its conclusions.  On the contrary, the Stanford Study valuations are derived directly from the legal, contractual terms and conditions negotiated between the venture investors and the companies.  Therefore, the study utilizes the actual economic terms of each Preferred round as it was negotiated – No assumptions or conjecture about the values in the Study are necessary.  This is a critical point.   It’s a Consumer Protection Issue: A number of the largest US mutual fund companies (Fidelity, JH, T. Rowe Price and Vanguard) have invested directly in private co. unicorns In 2015, Fidelity > $1.3B into unicorns!  That’s more than any US-based VC fund invested that year.  Including $235M in WeWork, $129M in Zenefits – A company that hired too many people, grew too fast, and the company culture spiraled out of control, and $118M in Blue Apron, the food delivery startup that IPOd in June 2017 and is now looking for a buyer… What is the common thread on all these investments by major mutual fund companies?  They all used the meaningless post-money valuation to value these private tech company assets in their portfolios.  Let that sink in for a moment.  It’s Mind-boggling Incredibly, they have accepted and used these meaningless valuations to mark their holdings of these private tech companies w/o further analysis – a completely irresponsible methodology.  It surely doesn’t inspire confidence in their ability to perform proper valuation analytics  Where’s the adherence to the fiduciary responsibility of these investment firms to their clients?  There are real financial implications for any retail investor in a mutual fund (401k or directly) related to this high-risk category.  How about institutions?  Univ. endowments, public pension funds, etc.? Are mutual fund companies fully disclosing real risk of this asset class to their retail investors?  Accurately?  How so, if at all?  (e.g. – Fidelity had to recently write down its WeWork holdings to reflect the difficulties the company has “reported” after the cancelation of its IPO.)   In addition, 3rd party equity market platforms, such as EquityZen, are providing average retail investors exposure to this class of priv. company unicorns…never before available.      Where are the Real Journalists? On the Media side - There exists an almost a schizophrenic-like behavior exhibited by the technology press in its years-long coverage of unicorns; To be sure, at the beginning there were some real attempts by a handful of outlets to highlight the findings of the Stanford Study, which were astounding; On the one hand, tech & financial media and the data analytics groups (CB Insights, Pitchbook) seem to recognize the lack of rigor and reality associated with over-valued unicorn companies.  They openly refer to it at times in their reporting e.g.  - CB Insights CEO, Anand Sanwal, recently opined in an August 2019 piece that it (unicorn status) is often used as a scheme to attract top talent in a very tight hiring market for key tech talent… At the same time, however, they ALL seem to vacillate between this recognition that something isn’t quite right about the valuations, yet still breathlessly, gleefully and even feeling duty-bound to report on the next stable, class, pack, leaderboard or club of unicorn companies, which have allegedly “achieved” unicorn status as a result of their last preferred stock financing round;   Some of which are even “born,” as has been reported!  Who knew?  Just a matter of being born into the unicorn aristocracy, I guess.   From my experience, a $1B tech company isn’t ‘born.’  They are built, nurtured and grown with talent, hard work and execution with a value proposition geared to solving real, identifiable needs and wants of customers.   Did you ever notice that the PE industry doesn’t have an equivalent designation (Unicorns) for its $1B+ value companies, even those that are in the tech category?     Let’s Summarize Where We Are:   So, The widely touted tech unicorn is a myth…So, why are so many tech and business news outlets breathlessly reporting about it as if there is some meaningful significance behind these widely hyped values?   We surely know that unicorns are mythical and not real – just like the post-money valuations touted and hyped by Silicon Valley and many others… How do we know that?  The Stanford Study proves it!  Again, we’ve had the empirical evidence showing exactly that since the Study was first published in 2017.    Keep in mind, that I don’t care or decry that Pref. equity investors desire, negotiate and receive such terms.  It’s a matter of proper disclosure…not economics.  The market will make its own determination of value associated with such economics. However, the economics must be disclosed…before an IPO or other exit.   Every claim that a tech firm has allegedly achieved what is fondly referred to in the Silicon Valley bubble of “Unicorn” status, a valuation of $1B+, should be required to apply an asterisk * next to that proclamation.   A footnote detailing and clearly explaining that “post-money valuation” is not market value nor market capitalization and explain how it’s derived.   However, there is no such reporting requirement for these private companies.  Should there be?  You know, in the interest of transparency and accuracy;  In other words, some real “truth-in-advertising” I believe it says a lot about the state of reality in tech-land today;  A loss of focus on business fundamentals, a willingness to kid ourselves, our LPs and the public about true value… In the long run, history will reflect upon this episode in tech history, as nothing more than a silly aberration…and hopefully a forgotten footnote    Conclusion:  It’s been fun and, and I will admit, even entertaining at times, but we need to put a stop to this game before it all gets out of hand…and someone gets hurt. The WeWork debacle, among other examples, indicates some have already been harmed…And major mutual funds are in on the game and failing to uphold their fiduciary responsibility to retail investors.     Caveat:  While unicorns are definitely mythical characters, there is an identifiable, measurable valuation of priv. tech companies – it just isn’t what has been used to arrive at the purported $1B+ valuations promulgated today that are masquerading as unicorns… What I am really hoping we can do is just move on, refocus on the important and relevant metrics in building and growing successful companies, and dismiss the unicorn-mania phase as nothing more than an idyllic aberration and distraction, to be forgotten, for good…because it has served no useful purpose in understanding VC and technology.  NONE!   [Also See:  Silicon Valley has a Media Problem and it’s Getting Worse – Yahoo Finance]  [Note:  It’s not a media problem. It is a credibility and transparency problem, which is creating negative coverage, that SV finds uncomfortable.]

On today's Talk Your Book we sat down with Phil Haslett from EquityZen to discuss investing in private growth companies. Find complete shownotes on our blogs... Ben Carlson’s A Wealth of Common Sense Michael Batnick’s The Irrelevant Investor Like us on Facebook And feel free to shoot us an email at animalspiritspod@gmail.com with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

In episode 149 we welcome back our guest from Episode 122, Phil Haslett. Meb and Phil begin the episode with a chat of the IPO environment so far in 2019, and the recent Lyft IPO. Phil then gets into the cyclicality of IPOs in general, and that IPOs tend to be most successful when the market is not so volatile. Meb asks Phil about the IPO process. Phil starts with banking and how the banking relationship works, and what some companies have done to avoid the high costs of going through the IPO process. Google was the first to give an alternative approach to the IPO process a shot, and Spotify found huge success through a direct listing. Next, Phil gets into the changing characteristics of what firms look like in today’s IPO cycle, vs. the past. He discusses that the value of which companies go public is far higher than it used to be, and they are going public much later. This stems from companies raising large amounts of capital as private companies. Eventually, though, they’ll need to go public for a couple of reasons. 1) venture capital investors that invested early, may run out of patience waiting for an exit, 2) the need to address liquidity for other shareholders 3) recognition, and 4) be able to issue stock and raise capital for potential future M&A. The conversation then shifts back to Lyft, and their S-1 filing. Phil mentions some interesting points he and his team found in the S-1. He discusses Lyft’s $300 million R&D spend, signaling the likelihood it is making major investments, possibly in autonomous driving. They also found that the company has presented itself as a transportation as a service (TaaS) company. Meb brings up the topic of dilution, and why it is so important in understanding venture capital investing, and Phil walks through the fundamentals of capital raising, and shareholder dilution, and what it really means to early investors. Next, employee wealth, and how to think about managing it is addressed. Phil shares some advice of being diversified to offset the concentration that comes with both owning shares and earning a paycheck from the same company. As the conversation begins to wind down, Phil covers his take on the future of the private investment space. Hear all this and more in episode 149, including the future of EquityZen, and Phil’s predictions for the 2019 IPO market.

Peter Robison, Bloomberg investigations reporter, and George Ferguson, Senior Aerospace and Airline Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, on how Boeing had too much sway in vetting its own jets. Atish Davda, CEO of EquityZen, on Lyft aiming for a valuation near $20 billion in its upcoming IPO. Alan Baum, auto analyst and Principal at Baum and Associates, on Trump calling for GM and the UAW to reopen an Ohio factory. Elisa Martinuzzi, Bloomberg Opinion finance columnist, on how Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank's tie up could spur more of the wrong kind of consolidation in Europe. Hosted by Abramowicz and Paul Sweeney (Vincent Cignarella filling in for Paul Sweeney.)

Burt Flickinger, Managing Director for Strategic Resource Group, on Target and Kohl's, and the retail landscape.  Atish Davda, CEO of EquityZen, on the Lyft roadshow and upcoming IPOs. Shawn Matthews, CEO of Hondius Capital Management, on why it's a good time to sell into any good China trade deal news. Brendan Ahern, CIO of KraneShares, on why the rumors of the death of the Chinese consumer is exaggerated.

Stephen Guilfoyle, Founder and President of Sarge986 LLC, on what’s driving stock market fluctuations, and why he's buying energy. Atish Davda, CEO of EquityZen, discusses his 2019 IPO outlook, including the companies most likely to go public. Ellen Wald, President of Transversal Consulting and Bloomberg Opinion columnist, on the Saudi cabinet shake-up, and geopolitics in the middle east. Craig Johnson, President of Customer Growth Partners, on holiday retail, and impacts of gasoline price declines/hikes on consumer and retail spending. (Romaine Bostick filling in for Lisa Abramowicz.)

Every week the show host John Siracusa talks with amazing fintech leaders and entrepreneurs, through conversation uncovers the amazing stories behind them, their creations and the most important topics in fintech. You can subscribe to this podcast and stay up to date on all the stories here on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio In this episode the host John Siracusa chats with Atish Davda,  Co-Founder and CEO of EquityZen.  EquityZen is a marketplace for investing in private tech companies backed by top-tier venture capital firms. Shareholders in private companies now have a way to get cash in exchange for their illiquid equity. To date, EquityZen has completed 4800+ transactions in over 100 pre-IPO companies.  EquityZen has investors such as Draper Associates, ZenStone Venture Capital, WorldQuant Ventures, Vaidya Capital Partners and raised over $11 Million to date.     Tune in and Listen.   Subscribe now to hear next Tuesdays interview with Jared Hecht from Fundera.   About the host:   John is the host of the 2x weekly "Bank On It” podcast recorded onsite at the Carpenter Group offices, which is a strategic branding and positioning firm in the financial services industry. He's a highly sought after fintech, VC and financial services industry enthusiast and connector. He's in the center of the fintech ecosystem keeping current with the ever - innovating industry.   Follow John on LinkedIn, Twitter or Medium  

Every week the show host John Siracusa talks with amazing fintech leaders and entrepreneurs, through conversation uncovers the amazing stories behind them, their creations and the most important topics in fintech. You can subscribe to this podcast and stay up to date on all the stories here on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and iHeartRadio In this episode the host John Siracusa chats with Luvleen Sidhu,  Co-Founder and President of BankMobile.  She started her banking career at Lehman Brothers and on her first day after 6 weeks of training was the beginning of it's collapse.  Now she's a co-founder at BankMobile, a company that provides a mobile first banking experience which has 1.6 million accounts and is the offspring of Customers Bank in Pennsylvania.     Tune in and Listen.   Subscribe now to hear next Tuesday's interview with Atish Davda from EquityZen.   About the host:   John is the host of the 2x weekly "Bank On It” podcast recorded onsite at the Carpenter Group offices, which is a strategic branding and positioning firm in the financial services industry. He's a highly sought after fintech, VC and financial services industry enthusiast and connector. He's in the center of the fintech ecosystem keeping current with the ever - innovating industry.   Follow John on LinkedIn, Twitter or Medium

One of the reasons I don’t like investing in the New York Stock Exchange is that by the time a stock become publicly traded, most of the upside is already gone. Let’s take Square, Inc. for example. This is the mobile payments firm with that software that allows pretty much anyone to take credit card […] The post 101: Invest like the rich with equityzen appeared first on Wealth Formula.

This episode, the first of 2018, saw our own Katie Roof and your humble servant (Alex) joined by Atish Davda, CEO, and founder of EquityZen. Matthew Lynley is off this week. (Davda's firm put together a landing page for Equity, which we thought was neat.) This week saw the culmination of a huge number of stories that we have discussed in 2017. Namely that Spotify has finally filed for its direct listing, and the Uber-Softbank deal is done. Regarding Spotify, we got into why it would pursue a direct listing instead of a traditional IPO. And, of course, we are curious as to when the popular music streaming company actually does get out the door. With a private filing in December, the answer is essentially whenever, from our outside perspective. And now, in the wake of the SoftBank-Uber deal finally getting itself done, what is Uber worth? There are a few numbers you can use. There's one around $50 billion and one around $70 billion. We pick over both to figure out which one we think is fair. All that and we riff about the rapid rise of the public markets in the last few years. Hit play, and we'll be right back in a week's time.

This episode, the first of 2018, saw our own Katie Roof and your humble servant (Alex) joined by Atish Davda, CEO, and founder of EquityZen. Matthew Lynley is off this week. (Davda's firm put together a landing page for Equity, which we thought was neat.) This week saw the culmination of a huge number of stories that we have discussed in 2017. Namely that Spotify has finally filed for its direct listing, and the Uber-Softbank deal is done. Regarding Spotify, we got into why it would pursue a direct listing instead of a traditional IPO. And, of course, we are curious as to when the popular music streaming company actually does get out the door. With a private filing in December, the answer is essentially whenever, from our outside perspective. And now, in the wake of the SoftBank-Uber deal finally getting itself done, what is Uber worth? There are a few numbers you can use. There's one around $50 billion and one around $70 billion. We pick over both to figure out which one we think is fair. All that and we riff about the rapid rise of the public markets in the last few years. Hit play, and we'll be right back in a week's time.

Part two of our conversation where We discuss how EquityZen automated the very manual process of secondary trading in private placements and how it shows some of the larger themes in FinTech.

We discuss how EquityZen automated the very manual process of secondary trading in private placements and how it shows some of the larger themes in FinTech.

Katie Koh chats with Atish Davda, CEO and Co-Founder of EquityZen. Atish received an undergraduate degree in Economics from Wharton. EquityZen is an online marketplace for trading pre-IPO employee shares from privately held companies. The platform often links employees from private companies with investors who would not otherwise be able to invest in the company prior to an IPO. https://twitter.com/adavda https://twitter.com/EquityZen https://equityzen.com/

Shriram Bhashyam is co-founder of EquityZen, a marketplace for investing in private tech companies backed by premier VCs. Shrirham and I talk about what are the changes that the RAISE Act brings, what does the Act itself for investors, and how you can invest in big startup names. Receive future Big Question conversations right in your inbox: https://capitalistexploits.at/signup/