This tech company was valued at over $8 billion two years ago

TC This tech company was valued at over $8 billion two years ago Lacework, last valued at $8.3B, is in talks to sell for just $150M to $200M, say sources Ingrid Lunden @ingridlunden 10:51 Apr 18, 2024 How much has Lacework raised? and considering Lacework raised almost $2 billion from investors $1.8 billion Founded in 2015, Lacework has raised over $1.8 billion from investors including Sutter Hill Ventures, Altimeter Capital and Tiger Global Management. The San Jose, California-based company cut staff in 2022, citing a plan to conserve cash and strengthen the firm's balance sheet. 4 days ago it's unlikely that any of its employees maybe even the founders who worked there for the last nine years will receive a single penny from the sale due to what's known as liquidity preference where essentially investors get first dips on any money upon the sale of a company then whatever is left over gets between the founders and employees and so although raising lots of money from investors sounds cool and gets those PR articles if you don't manage to get that huge huge exit then all of the hard work can be for nothing and all of the nice looking pay packages that promise employees life changing amounts of money and equity in most cases are for nothing so in my opinion this is just another case of a company that raised cheap capital during the growth of all costs era hired too many people didn't prioritize sustainable growth and are now unfortunately paying the price so if you're in the start scene I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this I think we're gonna be seeing a lot more of these stories over the coming months