Is the Battle for Talent Delaying Unicorn IPOs?

Attorney Mary Russell counsels individuals on startup equity, including:

You are welcome to contact her at (650) 326-3412 or at info@stockoptioncounsel.com.

Frederic Kerrest, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Okta lists recruitment as one of a few factors that influenced their choice to delay their IPO. 

There’s a few reasons specifically that we thought about when we went through the calculation [of taking another private financing rather than having an IPO]. Five or ten years ago, companies like us would have gone public at this point instead of doing this financing round, because it’s about the same amount of money you would raise in a typical IPO.

First of all, it’s interesting for potential employees who want to come join the company. The opportunity to join a pre-IPO company is something that’s interesting to them, even if it’s just 6 or 9 months before.
— Frederic Kerrest, Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Okta
Do you think it’s harder to hire certain folks if you were public as opposed to being pre-public?
— Dan Primack, Fortune
I think it’s a slightly different kind of person who wants to join a pre-public versus a ... public company. They have different profiles, they’re looking for different things. They’re looking for different things in terms of the company, in terms of the job, in terms of other things.
— Frederic Kerrest, Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Okta

Attorney Mary Russell counsels individuals on startup equity, including:

You are welcome to contact her at (650) 326-3412 or at info@stockoptioncounsel.com.

Mary Russell

Mary Russell is an attorney and writer who writes about stock options and other compensation for startup employees, executives and founders. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg Business, Reuters, myStockOptions.com and other outlets.

She counsels individuals on startup equity, including:

Compensation Counsel - Job Offers
Legal Counsel - Job Offers

Legal Counsel - Equity Choices

You are welcome to contact her at (650) 326-3412 or at info@stockoptioncounsel.com.

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