EquityZen Blog

The hub for private market insights

Innovating Industries: Green Energy

Green energy refers to renewable sources of energy that are considered to be environmentally friendly and sustainable,...

A Primer on EquityZen’s Multi-Company Funds

Investing in the private markets can be tricky, especially when it comes to researching private companies and gaining...

2023 State of the Private Markets

The markets never cease to keep me on my toes and the current economic environment is no exception. Fundamentally,...

Innovating Industries: Artificial Intelligence

Innovating Industries is our new feature where we break down the innovations happening in a new or evolving industry...

A Better Path to Liquidity

The news that one of the top US Unicorns is planning an IPO or secondary liquidity program (aka a “tender offer”) for...

What Equity Compensation Means for Startup Employees

You’ve received an offer to work at a startup -- congratulations! Now, how do you go about evaluating your equity...

The Secondary Market is on the Rise

The IPO market’s “out of office” message stayed on through the end 2022, closing out one of the quietest years for the...

2023 Private Market Outlook

After a volatile 2022 in the markets, what will 2023 have in store? At EquityZen, we have led access to the private...

The Future is Fusion Energy

Yesterday, the Department of Energy (DOE) officially announced that experiments at the Lawrence Livermore National...

3 Reasons to Invest in the Private Markets Now

In 2013, when we founded EquityZen, Facebook had its IPO and the private secondary market was in its infancy. Since...

Guide to Investing in Pre-IPO Secondaries

With venture-backed technology companies staying private longer than ever, how do investors go about accessing growth...

The 7 Equity Documents You Should Always Have on File

It's often hard to read legalese and figure out the stack of paperwork you receive when starting a new job at a private...

The 'Liquidity Premium' and How it Benefits Investors

You may be interested in investing in the private companies, but not sure how to factor in the potentially long-term...

Shareholder's Playbook: What to Know About Selling Your Shares

You are working at the pre-IPO company of your dreams….but you need some immediate liquidity. You’ve heard of platforms...

Investing in Pre-IPO Secondaries for Advisors

Late stage private technology companies have fewer reasons to go public today than they did a decade ago. With the...

What is an Option Agreement?

If you work at a startup, you’ve probably received an Option Agreement. It lays out what you can and can’t do with your...

Why Time Horizon is an Investor's Best Friend

Sometimes, it’s not how much you invest, or even what you invest in, but rather when you buy and sell that matters most...

The Answers to Your Startup Equity Questions

For employee shareholders, exercising options or selling shares is something many consider, especially when there is a...

Exercising Without Cash: A Smoother Path to Liquidity for Options

When private company employees talk about selling their stock options, they’re not actually talking about selling their...

What is the Private Secondary Market?

From stocks, to bonds, to commodities and more, most investors are familiar with the various options when it comes to...

Revisiting the Vesting Schedule

Nearly 50 years ago, Silicon Valley introduced, among many other things, the practice of granting employees equity as...

Why Do Employees Need Pre-IPO Liquidity?

As companies are staying private longer than ever1, the need for pre-IPO liquidity has become increasingly important...

Guide to Understanding RSUs for Start-up Employees

In the past decade (really, since Facebook), it's become increasingly popular for private tech companies to issue...

What is a 409A Valuation?

Founders, management and employees should familiarize themselves with 409A valuations early in a company’s life....

The Expanded SEC Definition of an Accredited Investor

EquityZen welcomes newly-qualified accredited investors to the private markets. At EquityZen, we’re proud to have...

2021 VC-Backed IPO Shortlist

Despite competing factors like decade market volume highs and fears of global recessions, startups and VC investors are...

EquityZen Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum

EquityZen, the leading private market investment platform, was selected among hundreds of candidates as one of the...

The State of the Private Markets: 2020

Up for a while, then down, then back up. The pandemic and attendant market volatility have taken public market...

2020 VC-Backed IPO Shortlist

VC-backed companies looking to IPO (or directly list) this year will face increased scrutiny on profitability,...

WSJ: Staying Private Can Only Last So Long

Atish Davda, EquityZen Co-Founder and CEO, discusses the private markets with The Wall Street Journal's Katie Roof.

2019 IPO Outlook — A Bellwether Year for the New Tech Elite?

As the bull market charged into its ninth year in 2018, with the FAANG tech giants (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix...

EquityZen's 2018 IPO Outlook

The past year capped yet another relatively subdued year for tech IPOs, with activity still well below 2013/2014 levels...