[downrightmike]

All value has been extracted by VC before the IPO. All the IPO does is dump the stock on institutions and retail investors.

[el_nahual]

This is trivially proven false, at least as a generalization. Looking at recent-ish IPOs:

Spotify: up 380% since IPO

Service Now: 4,000%

Shopify: 685%

Meta: 1,600%

[candiddevmike]

There are at least 150-250 IPOs every year, good luck picking winners like those four.

[FreakLegion]

If https://site.warrington.ufl.edu/ritter/files/IPOs-VC-backed.... is right, the last time there were 150+ tech IPOs in a year was 2000 (1992-2000 were all anomalously high). 2021 is the only year to break 100 since then, and only three other years cracked 50.

[asah]

um, perhaps it's worth reviewing the stock charts for MAANG whose early investors extracted a tiny % of the their total marketcaps.

The subtlety is that you can buy shares on the open market post-IPO, so when you buy "pre-IPO" you're just getting the one-time "pop."