# Understand how liquidity events can turn your equity into cash

Explore articles and guides to prepare for every type of private company liquidity event—from tender offers to IPOs.

## Popular articles

Author: Jackie Ammon  
Date: December 2023  
Liquidity events allow shareholders to turn illiquid equity into cash. Learn more about IPOs, M&As, tender offers, and other secondary transactions.

Founder Education  
December 2023  
An exit strategy outlines how and when a founder, CEO, or investor plans to liquidate a company. Learn more about IPOs, M&As, liquidations, and buyouts.

Liquidity  
August 2023  
We cover both standard and non-standard terms for each of the various rights and liquidation preferences, and how they can affect stockholder payouts.

Founder Education  
May 2024  
Learn how to model exit scenarios using waterfall analysis. Waterfalls help investors predict how shareholders would be paid out at a future liquidity event.

## Secondary transactions

Author: The Carta Team  
Date: April 2026  
Understand the function of the private secondary market and how companies can benefit from secondary liquidity and secondary market transactions.

Liquidity  
June 2026  
Learn what a tender offer is and how you can use one to provide liquidity for your shareholders, from the strategic benefits to the process for a successful transaction.

Employee Resource Center  
July 2022  
If your company isn’t public, selling shares can be complicated. Learn how to sell stocks in a private company through tender offers and secondary transactions.

Liquidity  
July 2025  
In this guide, learn how leveraged buyouts work and the steps required to complete these complex financial transactions.

## Going public

Author: The Carta Team  
Date: July 2025  
Preparing for an IPO can feel like stepping into the unknown. This article covers everything you need to know before, during, and after an IPO—so you can go public with confidence.

Liquidity  
March 2023  
An IPO is when a private company trades shares on a public stock exchange for the first time. Learn more about the IPO process & alternative exit options.

Liquidity  
June 2023  
Learn what a SPAC is, how the deal process works, and how a special purpose acquisition company merger differs from a traditional IPO.

Equity Education  
April 2025  
Direct listings offer companies a way to provide liquidity to shareholders without diluting shares or spending a ton of money on underwriters. Learn more about direct listings vs. IPOs when going public.

## Mergers & acquisitions

[**M&A: A definitive guide to mergers and acquisitions**](https://fund-forecasting@carta.com/sg/en/learn/startups/exit-strategies/mergers-acquisitions/)

[**The M&A process: How to know when the time is right to sell**](https://fund-forecasting@carta.com/sg/en/learn/startups/exit-strategies/mergers-acquisitions/process/)

[**What happens to stock when a company is bought?**](https://fund-forecasting@carta.com/sg/en/learn/equity/liquidity-events/acquisition/)

[**Purchase price allocation (PPA): How it works**](https://fund-forecasting@carta.com/sg/en/learn/startups/exit-strategies/mergers-acquisitions/ppa/)

## State of Private Markets

Authors: Peter Walker & Kevin Dowd  
Date: February 2024  
While volatility diminished in 2023, fundraising activity in the startup ecosystem remained near recent lows in Q4 2023.

Data & Research  
October 2023  
The downturn that has defined the venture capital industry for much of the past two years continued in the third quarter of 2023.

Data & Research  
May 2023  
Across Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, Los Angeles County was the fifth-busiest county for venture investment in the U.S., according to Carta data.

Data & Research  
July 2023  
The venture economy stabilized somewhat in Q2.