Do You Need to Dump Your Stock in That Going Nowhere Startup?

Liquidity for Shares in a Private Company

If you do, there are several sites which attempt to bring buyers and sellers of startup company stock together.

More Ways to Sell Out of Your Startup Stock

SharesPost is positioned as a kind of Craigslist for private company stock, connecting sellers and buyers in an online classified ads-like model, say people briefed on the matter. The company aims to get revenue by eventually charging a monthly subscription fee for those who want to list their shares and those interested in purchasing the stock, say these people, who add that some of these plans may change. SharesPost has recently been testing a beta of its service, they say. (source)

And there are others:

How to Sell Out of Your Startup Stock

Now some outfits are trying to step into that wealth breach. On Thursday, a New York company called SecondMarket said it would offer a new avenue where owners of private company stock can sell their shares even if the startups haven’t gone public. This private company marketplace will allow venture capital investors, entrepreneurs and startup employees to sell their stock to angel investors, secondary buyers and others who are interested in buying into their privately held firm.

Barry Silbert, SecondMarket’s CEO, says the marketplace sprung up because he started getting calls from employees at startups such as social-networking company Facebook last year. Many of those workers had hoped to cash out of their startup, but couldn’t because their company wasn’t going public or getting sold in the deteriorating market.(source)

Just beware of the risks inherent in being a tiny shareholder in a private company that may never go public.

Comments

[Jeff]

PCM Exchange is also another valid resource and private company marketplace.