Back to Ownership

For most technology companies, the path to liquidity is through an exit, i.e. being acquired or going public. As a company with plans to continue to exist independently for the long-term, our approach to liquidity needs to be different than the norm.

The question of “if there is no exit then are stock options worth anything?” is a completely valid one. With our operating principles of being independent and thriving for the long-term, we don’t have plans for an exit. There are, however, other ways to achieve liquidity than going through an exit. Liquidity can also occur through company buybacks, and secondary market sales.

The topic of achieving liquidity in alignment with our independence and long-term goals, is one I’ve given considerable thought to over the years. At times, I have even considered whether it makes most sense to do away with stock options, and instead focus more on profit sharing. For example, we could discontinue issuing stock options and aim to gradually buy back shares so that we significantly reduce the number of shareholders. Going this path, we could start to issue dividends / distributions or index more on profit sharing.

There are, however, some clear Reasons issuing stock options is important for us, and after some reflection, we’ve arrived at clarity on Why we’ve decided not to do dividends at Buffer.

Given that 1) we’ve chosen to give the team ownership in the form of stock options, 2) we have no plans for dividends, and 3) we are not seeking an exit, this leads us to regular liquidity events being our choice to enable shareholders to realize value in their ownership.

Read about The plan for regular liquidity events as a company.