The content here is for informational purposes only, should not be taken as legal business tax

or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security and is not directed

at any investors or potential investors in any A16Z fund. For more details, please see A16Z.com

slash disclosures. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the A6NZ podcast. I'm Sonal. We've covered a lot of company building

advice, including strategic financial milestones for startups from the case study of the open

table IPO on the show a couple of years ago and a list of 16 things CEOs should do before

the IPO and shared a detailed IPO readiness checklist to also recently sharing

the behind-the-scenes process of the roadshow and pricing, all of which you can find at

A6&Z.com slash IPOs. You can also find out that link our explainer about another route to the public

markets, the emerging trend of direct listings, which is the topic of this episode.

There, Jamie McGurk explained the process and tradeoffs of the methods in detail for those who

are interested. But in this episode, we bring together two experts from their front lines,

the architect of the direct listings in their current form, Barry McCarthy, CFO of Spotify,

and former CFO of Netflix, along with

Stacey Cunningham, the president of the exchange where they were listed, the New York Stock Exchange,

to share more about the what, the how, and the why from an insider perspective.

We also touch on the big picture and secular shifts in the public and private markets,

go into the nuances of all the different pric public and private markets, go into the nuances

of all the different pricings and market mechanisms involved, share some behind the scenes

details on the process, and throughout we demystify some common myths around both methods for

going public. But first, we begin with the differences between direct listings and IPOs.

Let's break down what a direct listing is, how it works, some common myths and misconceptions.

...