Becoming an Outsourced Liquidity Partner
Andrea Walne, GP at Manhattan Venture Partners, on getting on the cap table
The real edge in private company secondaries is becoming useful to the company, not just finding stock for sale. Outside a primary round, companies are not obligated to refresh disclosure, so a buyer that wants ongoing access needs to look like a long term partner who can buy shares repeatedly, reduce surprise transfer requests, and give the issuer confidence that future liquidity can happen in a controlled way.
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A backstop buyer is valuable because private companies want liquidity without chaos. They want to know who may join the cap table, avoid random broker driven trades, and keep administrative work and legal review low. A repeat buyer with issuer trust helps solve all three problems.
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This is why access in secondaries often comes from relationships built before the trade. Large multi stage funds often reserve room to buy secondary later, and experienced investors talk to the company, existing investors, and finance teams instead of relying on broker circulated blocks alone.
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The market structure reinforces this. Marketplace platforms can help smaller lots trade, but the largest institutional transactions still run on high trust, high touch workflows. That is why issuer friendliness and steady presence matter more than simply offering the highest price for one block.
Going forward, the winners in secondaries will look less like opportunistic traders and more like outsourced liquidity partners for late stage companies. As firms stay private longer and shareholder liquidity needs rise, issuers will increasingly favor buyers who can provide repeat demand, clean execution, and reliable price signals between funding rounds.