[tptacek]

Other employees, the management team, and the board.

[wglb]

And often with consultation with outside valuation consultants.

[apalmer]

which is exactly the problem.

[exelius]

Yep, all of those people stand to gain from setting as low a price as possible given that a liquidity event will reset the share price anyway. Not to mention that any buybacks would hit your run rate, because run rates are about operating cash flows and not valuation numbers (and buybacks are just a way to convert operating cash into equity).