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by throwaway-1283 2661 days ago
What do you mean "pay back"? If you're talking about liquidation preferences those all go away in an IPO.
1 comments

All the investors that 'purchased' a percentage of the private company with their investment during funding rounds will want to see ROI when the company goes public (or if the company is insanely profitable while private). Most of these VC's expect to start seeing ROI around the 10yr mark. The company isnt remotely profitable still privately held, so lets go public and get other suckers to buy in so the early investors can cash out and hopefully make a buck or two or at least breakeven.