Referrals Drive Niche Employee Liquidity
Dave Thornton, co-founder of Vested, on unlocking startup employee equity
The referral ties show this market is segmenting by deal shape, not collapsing into one winner. Vested is built for small, early and mid-stage option exercises that larger, diligence-heavy firms often skip because the economics work better on later-stage names and bigger checks. That makes partnerships natural. One firm can monetize large blocks with deep underwriting, while another can clear smaller employee financings that would otherwise die in the 90 day exercise window.
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Vested describes its niche as ex-employees from early and mid-stage startups who need modest amounts of capital to exercise options. It says 30% to 50% of deal volume already comes from referrals, which fits a market where distribution and trust matter as much as pricing.
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The broader secondary market has long been split by customer. EquityZen and Forge help employees and investors trade smaller blocks, while Nasdaq Private Market and Carta run company controlled tenders. Vested sits closer to employee financing, so it complements both marketplaces and issuer led programs.
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EquityBee adds another layer. Its marketplace can list deals from any stage, but investor demand clusters around companies with enough information to underwrite. That leaves earlier-stage listings unfilled, which creates a natural handoff to a specialist willing to underwrite smaller, less obvious deals.
This points toward a more connected liquidity stack. As private companies stay private longer, employee equity problems will be routed to the provider best suited for the company stage, deal size, and transaction structure. The winners are likely to be firms that plug into one another and turn fragmented employee demand into a repeatable flow of financings and secondary transactions.