Employees get a taste of liquidity, but not the full meal
A tiny share sale to keep talent from jumping ship.
The story
Carta and NewView partner to simplify employee share sales for startups, aiming to boost early liquidity. Tender offers are rising but still rare.
Source: techcrunch.com
Our reading
The partnership between Carta and NewView is supposed to help startups offer employees a way to sell shares early, which is supposed to make employees happier and reduce turnover. The problem is, the startups are staying private for 12 to 15 years, which means employees still can’t sell their shares until way later. The solution is to let them sell a portion now, but only to approved investors. It’s like giving someone a tiny taste of the future, just to keep them from leaving for a public company. The real kicker is that the startups are still private, so the employees are still stuck in the same situation, just with a little less stock. It’s not exactly a revolution, but it’s a way to keep people from feeling like they’re missing out on the big win.
