You've Been Grantd: Companies Staying Private Longer

With companies now staying private for 12-14 years on average, an estimated $1 trillion in employee equity sits locked up with no clear path to liquidity.

In this episode, host Brian McDonald, CEO and founder of Grantd, sits down with Greg Brogger - a pioneer of the private secondary market and founder of SharesPost (now Forge) and Collective - to discuss how the landscape has shifted since 2009 and what it means for the hundreds of thousands of startup employees whose net worth is concentrated in a single company's stock.

Greg introduces the concept of exchange funds for the private market: a tax-efficient way for employees to diversify out of concentrated positions without triggering capital gains. They cover the mechanics of Collective Liquidity's curated portfolio approach, lending against fund interests, the wave of consolidation from players like Schwab, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs, and practical advice for anyone holding illiquid startup equity.