Lack of IPOs

Colin has been in full toddler mode this week. We were warned of this phase but now that it’s hitting, it’s been interesting to say the least. One morning he can wake up and be the sweetest funniest boy. The next morning he wakes up and will be cranky nearly all morning. His preferences for things and demands for his choices now is something that we’re also dealing with head on. It’s a bit exhausting, but I suppose every stage has it’s pros and cons.

On the work front, I’ve been wondering what will need to change for companies to actually willingly go public.

With billions of dollars looking to get access to the private markets and the regulatory strain of being a public company, many founders and executives are just very content staying private. And I can’t blame them.

The stress of quarterly reporting and the public scrutiny behind being a public company is very real. The President has proposed moving to bi-annual reporting which could help the case going forward and easing the requirements to go public.

But perhaps equally as important is the fact that there is just a ton of money in the private markets now. VC and PE firms are able to provide liquidity at the company and personal level for companies that could be public. Yes, the cost is higher than if they were a public company but there is a big tradeoff and right now, for most companies, the pros of staying private are outweighing the cons.

It’s a trend that has been happening the last 20 years and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon unless there’s some changes on the macro environment and/or regulatory.