One of the biggest reasons people sell private stock on the secondary market is because the want (or need, in the case they leave) to exercise options and pay the associated taxes. Early Twitter, Facebook etc... employees who left had the standard 90 days to exercise options. The good news is that an option exercise might only be $30k, the better news is the stock was worth $15 million the bad news is the tax bill was $6+ million - probably more than Mom or Uncle Willy could lend! Hence a stock sale. The other big reason people sell is life happens, i.e. after 5+ years earning $150k in the Bay Area doesn't buy a new house after you get married and have kids. I've done hundreds of deals and the reasons for selling are very consistent. But there are definitely issues with the proposed structure of Equidate. Happy to discuss with anyone [email protected]