# EquityZen's Phil Haslett Charts The Private Secondaries Boom: Why Startups Are Rushing To Offer Liquidity Earlier
Phil Haslett, co-founder of EquityZen, sits at the center of one of the startup world's most consequential shifts. The private-market liquidity platform has become essential infrastructure as founders and investors grapple with a brutal reality: companies are staying private much longer, yet employees and early backers need cash access far sooner than IPO day ever arrives.
The secondaries market for private-company shares has exploded in size and relevance over the past five years. EquityZen operates the largest platform for these transactions, where employees can sell restricted stock, founders can achieve partial liquidity events, and late-stage investors can trim positions without pushing companies toward public markets. Haslett's insights cut through the noise around inflated headline valuations and reveal what actually moves the needle in private markets.
Startups now deliberately build liquidity programs for employees earlier in their lifecycle. This shift answers a hard truth: the venture-backed path to IPO takes longer than it did a decade ago. Companies spend eight to ten years in private status, yet employee stock options lose their motivational power if holders see no realistic path to cash out. Secondary transactions solve this problem. Employees get partial liquidity events at key milestones. Founders retain control while unlocking value. Investors manage portfolio concentration without forcing exit timelines.
Secondary prices diverge sharply from headline funding valuations. A Series D round at a $5 billion valuation does not mean employees can sell shares at that price. Secondary markets discount heavily based on illiquidity, dilution risk, and path-to-exit uncertainty. These real prices tell a story that press releases do not. They reflect what sophisticated investors actually believe a company is worth when forced to transact today, not what they claim in a press release tomorrow. This gap matters enormously for understanding which startups have real momentum and which ones are riding bubble-era valuations.
The AI and SaaS categories dominate EquityZen's transaction volume. Both sectors attracted massive venture capital inflows over the past three years. Both also employ thousands of engineers and product people who want liquidity. AI startups in particular saw frothy valuations during the peak hype cycle, making secondary price discovery essential for reality-checking. When ChatGPT-era AI companies see their secondary shares trade at thirty to fifty percent discounts to headline funding rounds, that tells you something about investor conviction shifting.
Haslett's role has expanded beyond platform operator to market observer. EquityZen now functions as a barometer for private-market health. When secondary volumes decline, founders face harder conversations about future funding. When secondary prices spike, it signals confidence in specific categories and companies. The data EquityZen collects reveals patterns that venture capitalists and founders ignore at their peril.
The private secondaries market will continue growing. More employees demand liquidity options. More founders embrace staged liquidity events rather than waiting for IPOs. More investors recognize that secondary transactions provide better price discovery than inflated series rounds. EquityZen's infrastructure position strengthens as this market matures. Haslett's commentary on AI, SaaS, and the shape of venture capital matters precisely because his platform sees the actual money moving through private markets in real time.