Ultimately, I think that the interests of employees will not make a company decide to go public, unless it's already borderline.
To solve this, it seems like a more likely path is longer exercise windows, more liquidity in the markets for stock and/or options. If we're talking about "unicorns" like AirBnB, Uber and such, I imagine there is a demand so if a way for buyers and sellers to come together existed, it could work.
There are some advantages companies would be forgoing, but it's not like going public just to let employees cash out.
To solve this, it seems like a more likely path is longer exercise windows, more liquidity in the markets for stock and/or options. If we're talking about "unicorns" like AirBnB, Uber and such, I imagine there is a demand so if a way for buyers and sellers to come together existed, it could work.
There are some advantages companies would be forgoing, but it's not like going public just to let employees cash out.