Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by danieltillett | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

danieltillett

How can I invest in this company as a common stock holder?

View on HN

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11373215 and marked it off-topic.

Companies like SharesPost and EquityZen allow accredited investors to invest in some venture-backed companies.

I think I need to make my snark a little more obvious.

I am sure that there are some common stock holders in DoorDash looking to offload their stock, but I can’t think of a more certain way to lose all your money than to invest in the common stock of a startup who has just taken a down round.

Sometimes, the devaluation might be just due to a wider market correction and not specific to the company itself (which in this case appears not to be if its having the problems described). But if that's the case, then it would be an opportunity to invest, wouldn't it be? That is if the fundamentals of the business are on a strong base?

Outside of even preferential shares, there are other reasons not to invest. The company isn't public, so the reporting requirements are minimal at best. There isn't anywhere near the oversight of a public company, so shady business shenanigans are very difficult to detect. And, of course, the kicker is that there isn't really a market for the shares, should you want to liquidate your holdings. It's an illiquid asset with minimal protections and no timeline for being able to sell it and no influence over the direction of the company; is that really something you'd want to invest your money in?

It might be if the earlier investors didn't have preference shares. Typically once you have a down round the common stock holders are wiped out if there have been a significant numbers of preference share issued.

> Typically once you have a down round the common stock holders are wiped out if there have been a significant numbers of preference share issued.

That all depends on several unknowns at that time. It definitely increases the chances of the holders of common stock to be left without compensation if and when the company sells or there is some other 'liquidity event', but it definitely is not a given.

A down round is simply the issuing of new shares at a different valuation than the previous shares. There could very well be a round at a higher valuation later on, the difference between the previous share issue and the current one could be small, the number of shares issued could be small to the number of shares already outstanding and so on.

Jacques all of these are true, but more typically once you go through a significant down round with a lot of new capital raised the common stock holder is wiped out. The holders of preference shares may be smart about it and make sure the current employees are protected, but you don't want to be a normal common stock holder.

> I think I need to make my snark a little more obvious.

Actually, please just keep it off HN. It distorts the discussion in all the wrong ways.

Sorry Dang, I guess I was reacting to how this whole issue was swept under the carpet by DoorDash in the article.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com