[mdda]

> The act of selling implies you think it's worth less than what someone else is willing to pay which is dishonest.

Any trade involves both parties giving up what they have for what the other person has. Both parties believe they gain from the exchange. There doesn't have to be any dishonesty involved : Both parties can come out ahead of where they started (because they value what they had before vs having after in different ways).

A startup entrepreneur can reasonably value freedom+cash more highly than a cash-cow business. The business buyer may value proven yield above their other alternatives for their cash. Both people win by doing the trade.

[YZF]

There doesn't have to be but the way IPOs are set up there's incentive for dishonesty. At the very least, the buyers of the shares are at a information disadvantage compared to the issuer. If you were to personally buy an entire private business you would never accept the level of disclosure that people buying shares in an IPO have to accept. You'd have your experts review every corner of the business.