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Fund/Build/ScaleAuthor: Walter Thompson
After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths Ive learned: 1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck. 2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge. 3. Real, actionable advice comes from those whove actually done it. Theres no such thing as founder DNA. If youre willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off less if youre a woman or person of color you can be a startup founder. Heres why I founded Fund/Build/Scale: 1. To help founders make fewer mistakes. 2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey. 3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. Theres a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out. This podcast is for anyone whos interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business. Im talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when youre outside a major tech hub all of it. Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more. Fund/Build/Scale is a production of Truth and Soul Media LLC. Language: en Genres: News, Tech News, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Don’t Wait for the IPO: How Tech Employees Actually Get Liquid
Episode 96
Thursday, 19 February, 2026
Startup employees are encouraged to believe in the mission. But IPO timelines now stretch well past a decade — and many never happen at all. In this episode, Ben Black, co-founder and managing director of Akkadian Ventures, explains how tech workers can think more strategically about the equity they’ve helped create. Drawing on more than 750 secondary transactions, Ben walks through how employees can evaluate a company’s liquidity posture before accepting an offer, exercise options intelligently, understand the real value of their shares, and access secondary buyers — whether through structured programs or more proactive approaches. We also dig into the psychological side of selling: when to take money off the table, how to avoid overestimating future upside, and why “loyalty” shouldn’t mean ignoring your own financial reality. Ben shares real-world examples of employees using secondaries to fund major life events — and even to bootstrap their own companies so they can retain more ownership and control from day one. Founders and VCs get a lot of attention for the risks they take. This episode is about the people who often take just as much risk with far less margin for error. * Information offered is for educational purposes and should not be considered financial advice. RUNTIME 52:37 BREAKDOWN (2:12) How Ben got into the secondary market and founded Akkadian (5:33) “The vast majority of really good companies now have secondary programs.” (8:39) Secondaries generate “a very significant part of the return of the large funds.” (9:57) Why are most companies still on a four-year vesting cliff? (12:55) Things to consider when you’re 25% vested (15:22) Why so many tech workers never exercise their vested options (16:49) A framework for identifying the *right* time to sell (21:26) How to access the secondary market if your company doesn’t offer a structured program (30:09) “I do see a lot of bad behavior among employees… using information that they’re not supposed to use.” (32:06) Startup employees: cultivate a strong relationship with your CFO (34:08) The #1 reason why employees sell secondaries (and a few edge cases) (38:44) “You have to be really skeptical, and you need to take a lot of shots on goal.” (45:11) How many founders are bootstrapping startups using the secondary market? (48:44) How long does it take to get liquid? LINKS Ben Black Akkadian Venture Capital IPO markets look primed to accelerate in 2026, pwc, 12/12/2025 SUBSCRIBE 📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/ 📸 Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ 📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw Thanks for listening! – Walter.
