“ Historically, companies like SpaceX would have gone public earlier”

Could woulda shoulda. Mate they didn’t. Moreover if they had, the existing investors would’ve got a shittier exit.

Yes, they did. In the wake of Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley was passed, for which the 2nd order effect was that companies take years and years longer to IPO. 10-17 years on average since 2010 (it used to be lower). (There are other reasons, it's not purely due to SOX.

The existing investors don't have liquidity. I can't buy a house or pay my bills with shares I'm not allowed to sell. A better exit later is worthless if I starve to death before the exit.

	▲	yfg2 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		“ The existing investors don't have liquidity.” Did mom and pop invest..? No they did not. The investors who did knew the long time horizon they were committing to. They could’ve gone public earlier - they chose not to and venture capitalists were happy to keep supplying the funding. Also lol @ using that act to explain why people take longer to ipo. Lest we forget how deep venture capital has become. Hahahha