Clouded Judgement: The Bar for Going Public

The article examines the rising valuation and operational thresholds for SaaS companies pursuing IPO, comparing historical medians (~$200M ARR, 50% YoY growth, >120% NRR) to current public market benchmarks dominated by profitable, high-FCF businesses like CrowdStrike and Snowflake. The author argues that founders must understand stock-based compensation dilution as a critical IPO readiness metric, recommending targets of 30% growth with 1-2% annual equity dilution and emphasizing the importance of early strategic conversations about realistic exit paths.