THE GREAT LIQUIDITY SHIFT

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

Venture-backed startups now see 71% of exit dollars flowing through secondaries rather than traditional IPOs or M&A, signaling a fundamental market evolution that founders should pay attention to. With the IPO market silent since 2022 and companies needing $250M ARR (up from $80M in 2008) to go public, capital markets have adapted by creating alternative liquidity paths for employees and early investors, making secondaries not just a temporary workaround, but a permanent fixture that's transforming venture capital to more closely resemble private equity markets.