Cerebras Founder Claims More Money Made After IPO Than Before in Most Cases

What was said

"I think historically more money is made after IPO than before. I think every single study shows that there is more money to be made both in percentage and in what we care about, which is absolute. And so the amount of money that it's possible to put to work in most venture companies is very modest. By the time we get public, there's a lot more money there. Things are going well and the opportunity to make vastly more is after IPO, not before."

Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras, argued that contrary to LP pressure for early distributions, historical data shows investors capture more value by holding shares post-IPO rather than selling at the public offering. Brad Gerstner supported this with examples including Planet Labs, which achieved a 10x return in public markets, and MongoDB, which went from $1 billion pre-IPO to $50 billion in 24 months. The discussion highlighted tension between LP demands for liquidity and the reality that most value creation happens after going public.