Most Returns Captured Before IPO
Investing for unaccredited investors
The biggest shift was that top startup gains were increasingly realized before IPO, which made access itself the scarce asset. Companies were staying private far longer, raising $100M plus rounds that looked like private IPOs, while public listings happened later and in smaller numbers. That left most of the steepest value creation with founders, employees, VCs, and secondary buyers, which is exactly the gap platforms like PIN are built to narrow for non traditional investors.
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The timeline moved. The median VC or buyout backed company was taking about 10 to 11.5 years to go public, versus about 4 years in 2000. More time private meant more revenue growth, more users, and more valuation appreciation happened before public investors could buy in.
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The capital moved too. In 2019 there were 237 private rounds of $100M or more, versus 76 VC backed IPOs. When companies can raise huge late stage rounds privately, they do not need public markets as early, so the late stage compounding stays inside private cap tables.
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This is why private market access products keep expanding. Secondaries, tender offers, and club structures all try to give investors a slice of companies before listing, because by the time many companies reach the public market, a meaningful share of the upside has already been priced in.
The next phase is a more liquid private market, not a return to earlier IPOs. As secondary infrastructure improves and community vehicles get easier to run, more companies will fundraise privately for longer, and more investors will try to get exposure before the public debut rather than after it.