Any ideas on pre-IPO investing?

[Tudo]

Does anyone have experience with it? Especially using EquityZen platform?

[WikiRando]

I have not used EquityZen but from my experience in 3 or 4 pre-IPO businesses, in total losing tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's absolutely not worth the risk if your goal is just to make money.

It's not just that it's full of BS con artists and shady people, it's just that, why would you ever do that to make money, when the risk is so high and there are so many better investments with better risk reward ratios. I'll tell you why, because of greed.

If I were to ever touch or invest in a pre-IPO business again, it would absolutely not be to make money. It would only be for the experience, connections, purpose / vision, possibly take up some position of mentorship or offer something to the organization. 

In fact I have, and will always go into any pre IPO investment with the preparedness to be utterly wiped out, to lose all my money with near certainty. The odds are just not in your favour. This is casino money, treat it accordingly or you might ruin your life.

Even in the past, I absolutely ensured that I did not actually need that money at all in any way.

Don't get me wrong though, it was a fun, eye opening, highly valuable experience that will grow and expand you as a person, leave you with many business insights, lasting connections, and cool stories that you can tell for the rest of your life. For that alone I can say it might be worth it to invest a small amount just once in your life for the experience.

But my approach is do NOT do it for the money because you will probably lose everything.

This is just my own personal perspective and experience.

 

 

Edited April 6 by WikiRando