Not so long ago, the best way to build wealth in America was simple.
As classic investment books like Stocks for the Long Run explained, we should buy shares of great public companies and hold onto them for the long run.
But times have changed.
Today, companies are staying private longer and longer. That means more of their growth — and more of their increase in valuation — is happening before they go public.
This is bad news for everyday stock-market investors. It means the biggest profits are now being earned by private investors, instead of those buying shares after the IPO.
Today I’ll explain more, and show you what to do about it so you don’t get left behind.
The Case of Cerebras Systems
Cerebras Systems is one of the most exciting private companies in the AI chip sector.
It designs AI processors that compete with Nvidia’s GPUs for high-performance computing and data-center applications.
Investors have been champing at the bit to get in. So when Cerebras filed to go public earlier this year, it caught Wall Street’s attention.
But on October 3rd, just days after raising $1.1 billion in private funding — a massive round that will allow it to stay private well into the future — Cerebras withdrew its IPO.
According to Crunchbase, that new funding valued the company at $8.1 billion, roughly double its $4 billion valuation from just a few years ago. So, as its valuation grew over the years — from $100 million to $1 billion to $4 billion to $8 billion — all those gains went into the pockets of private investors, not public stock-market investors.
If Cerebras had gone public years ago, stock-market investors could have captured those gains. But now that it’s valued at over $8 billion, stock-market investors will be lucky to make a dime.
The Broader Trend: Staying Private Longer
The thing is, Cerebras isn’t an outlier — it’s part of a powerful, long-term trend.
In the 1980s, the average U.S. company went public about four years after its founding. By the early 2000s, that number had doubled to around eight years. Today, it’s often twelve to sixteen years before a startup lists its shares on a public exchange.
This change has enormous consequences for investors.
During those extra years in the private markets, companies like Airbnb, SpaceX, Stripe, and OpenAI can grow from small startups to multi-billion-dollar powerhouses.
But because they’re still private, only private market investors are profiting from their growth.
By the time these companies go public, most of their value creation will already have happened.
Why the Public Markets Feel Flat
This helps explain why so many stock investors are feeling frustrated.
Even though the headlines are filled with record-breaking valuations for AI, biotech, and fintech companies, much of that wealth creation has been locked away in the private realm.
When a company finally IPOs, its early-stage private investors can cash out — and meanwhile, stock-market investors like you are left buying near the top.
In other words, the stock market is no longer where new wealth is being created. It’s where old wealth is being sold.
Our Mission at Crowdability
At Crowdability, our mission is simple. We help everyday investors like you tap into the highest-potential private companies — like Cerebras — before they IPO.
That’s where the opportunities are today. And that’s where the biggest returns are being earned.
Thanks to new regulations and online platforms, it’s now possible for all investors — including non-accredited investors — to access private investments that used to be reserved for the elite few.
By learning how to navigate this new landscape, and by investing smartly, you can finally sit on the same side of the table as the venture capitalists and insiders who’ve been profiting for decades.
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll show you where to find these opportunities, how to evaluate them, and how to build a diversified portfolio of private-market winners.
So stay tuned.
Happy Investing
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
