The sad thing about the rush to create all these unicorns is that there is a good chance that its the employee's who get screwed the most if there is a reset in funding levels.
As Bill points out, its been speculated that in an effort to be coined a unicorn, many of these companies agreed to some onerous funding terms, including ratchets, PIK dividends and preferential treatment as to when they can redeem their shares if there is an IPO.
This might make sense from a founders perspective as reportedly many of the founders have taken some money off the table during previous funding rounds.
This leaves the employees as the only class of shareholders who often can't take money off the table during fund raising and who are usually the last to be able to sell their shares/exercise options when the company goes public.
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As Bill points out, its been speculated that in an effort to be coined a unicorn, many of these companies agreed to some onerous funding terms, including ratchets, PIK dividends and preferential treatment as to when they can redeem their shares if there is an IPO.
This might make sense from a founders perspective as reportedly many of the founders have taken some money off the table during previous funding rounds.
This leaves the employees as the only class of shareholders who often can't take money off the table during fund raising and who are usually the last to be able to sell their shares/exercise options when the company goes public.