Any likely consequences for Stripe’s customers if they become public?
Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
121–130 of 147 posts
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What are the catalysts for a private company switching from options to RSUs (double trigger). For employees at very early companies that are going the venture route, ISOs are a no-brainer. The company is small enough that the strike price isn't too onerous, the company is too small to hit up against the IRS limits, and they provide pretty good tax treatment under the assumption that the company will grow massively…
There's also usually a switch from ISO to NSO somewhere down the line, often fairly early. NSOs aren't capped at a 90 day post-termination exercise window. Some companies have extended the window to as much as 7 years - Pinterest comes to mind. There is a cap, but it's closer to the RSU cap than the ISO cap. The progression is usually: - Founders get shares with a re-purchase option for vesting. The company exercises…
>Some companies have extended the window to as much as 7 years
Niantic did 10 years as far back as 2015.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because the earliest RSUs they issued are expiring this year: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/stripes-early-stock-...
Wouldn't it be good for the company to let these RSUs expire? How does it benefit the company to make sure these exercise?
It would be terrible for the company.
Every single competent person would leave immediately and no employee would ever trust them again.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Considering so many public, profitable tech companies saw their valuations go down by 50-70% in that same period, that still seems too little of a cut.
Public companies have more external influences on their valuation. It's not like they literally lost 50-70% of their intrinsic value, only what the market with the associated psychology says they are worth. Private companies can stick closer to that intrinsic value.
Stock has very little to do with “intrinsic value”. The share price is what an investor is willing to bet on the future of the company improving.
This is why companies with lousy future outlooks will sell for a lower price than their assets - debts.
There is no intrinsic value that private companies can stick to. They just have the power of controlling sales so they take sellers out of the market until they get the price they want at a volume they are comfortable with.
Stripe isn’t “intrinsically” worth anything that anyone will agree on. To one person it would be the cash in the bank minus liabilities. To someone else it would be a hefty multiple on that because they believe in the business.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#125Maybe they should have IPO'd or directly listed in 2019 at the very peak when everyone else was rushing to the exit as I said before [0]. Of course this is also not in hindsight either. [1] Seems like they now don't want to wait anymore and just unload their shares into the market and especially onto retail investors. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32567217 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20993919
Not really when the terms of private financing during the bull run were very generous for valuations and terms. There are big downsides to being public, including all the regulatory requirements and pandering to institutional investors. Now the bull market is over and private money is tighter, they don't really have a choice but to raise money publicly.
Good for billionaire lords not employees.
Coinbase on the other hand is very employee friendly in terms of liquidation. Their employees are rich as fuck with direct listing (no lockup) at the height of the market.
Just think about it.
Coinbase, who is ridiculed for being apolitical, treats employees better than Stripe.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
> EquityZen had an offer to buy last week at a $75B valuation / $32 per share That's wildly off market, like 30%+. That's high, even for a retail platform.
What do you mean by off market? Are you saying the value should be 30%+ higher or lower, and how did you get that? Obviously the usual kind of market isn't applicable here, so I'm curious what you mean.
I think they mean it's 30% higher than 'market'. I've seen article stating that Stripe's current internal valuation is like 60B or so. That valuation might be what they're referring to.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
for confidence games, an IPO is much better.
> for confidence games, an IPO is much better. Better for whom? And how? It's not clear to me that it makes a difference for employees either way. It's not like the stock price on Day 90-180 are still thinking about what mechanism the company used to go public 3-6 months ago. At that point the stock price is mostly based on the two new 10-Qs that have been filed since then, plus additional current information like ma…
Better for the company, better for the employees, better for external speculators.
A stabilizing bid by the underwriter is effective market manipulation that pretends there is more demand than there really is. It can be retracted at any time as well. Outside of an IPO this is illegal.
They can keep the confidence game going for 90-180 days, and the other aspects of an IPO are better for the company since there would be no reason to sell even more shares since they sold a piece of the company at a highest valuation to the banks in the IPO.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not necessarily if they do a direct listing.
A direct listing would be very unfair to the banks that have patiently waited years to take a multi-billion-dollar chunk of Stripe’s upside in exchange for setting the IPO price (integer between 20 and 50).
Those 3rd homes in Miami aren’t going to buy themselves.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#129Going public isn't a badge of honor: it's a last-ditch method to find external financing where private investors wouldn't bite.
Re: Stripe sets one-year timetable to decide on going public
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
And by using Bitcoin to automate all these transactions you get a bunch of very cool features such as constantly being at risk of losing your life savings due to phishing, scamming, hacking, etc., etc., etc. unless you store a hard wallet in your intestines and memorize the recovery words (better hope you don't forget any or your life savings is gone!). The cool thing about all of this is that it's a feature of Bitco…
> And by using Bitcoin to automate all these transactions you get a bunch of very cool features such as constantly being at risk of losing your life savings due to phishing, scamming, hacking, etc., etc. All lies. > unless you store a hard wallet in your intestines and memorize the recovery words (better hope you don't forget any or your life savings is gone!) Lies. Just write them down and store them securely. You c…
> It will be the greatest wealth transfer humanity has ever seen and it won't require any violence or coercion.
Of course, wealth transfer from the poor rubes to the rich fools.