THE PE OPTION Private company growth CEOs: if you're at ~$100M ARR and growing ~20% YoY, going public might not be an option. I'd suggest strongly considering the option of partnering with a PE firm such as Thoma Bravo, Vista, etc (they will clean up your cap table and take a meaningful stake in your company). They will give you the dry powder to buy adjacent companies in your space, build scale, and eventually go public. Being the CEO of a PE-owned company is not for everyone, esp CEOs who are used to very little accountabilty from mostly fawning investors. That said, don't think of PE as the Gordon Gekko types - it's an outdated perception. These are exceptionally smart, savvy investors, whose goal is to build shareholder value. They are not going to strip down the company and sell it for parts. They will hold you to a higher standard of discipline (like public markets would!) but also be supportive (with capital) if you pursue high-ROI investment opportunities, including buying other companies. Also, either you become the acquirer and consolidator in your industry, or someone else consolidates you. Which do you prefer? Sitting still and hoping for a public market turnaround, is not a good strategy. Anaplan, which of course actually went public, is pursuing the first strategy after being acquired in a take-private by Thoma Bravo. --- Anaplan, an SF portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, agreed to acquire Fluence Technologies, a Canadian provider of financial close software. Fluence had raised around $17m from firms like Banneker Partners, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund and Graphite Ventures.