How to get cash out of your startup equity — without waiting for an exit

On paper you own something worth a lot. Getting some of it into your bank account before the company is sold or goes public is possible more often than people think. Here's how it works — and where it gets stuck.

You've built real value into a startup — as a founder, an early employee, or someone who's since moved on. On paper you own something worth a lot. In your bank account, it's worth nothing until the company is sold or goes public, and that could be years away, or never.

First: what do you actually own?

Before anything else, get clear on this, because it changes everything:

• Shares you already own outright — the most straightforward to sell.
• Vested options you haven't exercised yet — you have the right to buy shares, but you don't own them until you pay to exercise. You usually have to exercise before you can sell.
• Unvested options — not yours yet; nothing to sell.

If you're not sure which you have, your option agreement and the company's cap table (the record of who owns what) will tell you.

The routes to getting liquid

• A company-run buyback or tender. Some companies periodically buy shares back, or organise a round where employees can sell a slice. If yours does, this is the cleanest path. Most small European companies don't.
• Selling to a private investor. You sell some of your shares directly to an individual investor who wants exposure to the company. This is the route that exists for everyone else — and the one small sellers in Europe struggle to arrange, because the big secondary platforms only bother with large, late-stage deals.
• Waiting. Always an option. But "wait for the exit" isn't a plan if you need liquidity now, or if you simply want to take some risk off the table after years of building.

The steps, at a high level

Each of those has detail, and we've written a short, plain-language guide for the ones that trip people up — see the links below.

Why Europe is different

There's no single, easy marketplace for small European startup-share sales. The market is fragmented across countries, tax rules differ, and the well-known platforms are built for Silicon Valley mega-deals. That gap — a €30k, €70k or €150k sale by a European founder or ex-employee — is exactly the gap we exist to fill, with discreet, one-to-one introductions rather than a fund or a brokerage.

Read next

• How much are my startup shares worth?
• What discount is fair when you sell startup shares?
• Can I sell my startup shares before an exit or IPO?
• Can an ex-employee sell startup shares?
• EU Unicorns — Europe's leading private companies and how their shares sell

Further reading

General, independent references on how private-company shares and options work. We're not affiliated with any of them.

• Carta — cap tables, secondaries and valuation explainers
• Cooley GO — startup legal explainers, including rights of first refusal
• Forge Global and EquityZen — secondary marketplaces (larger, later-stage deals)
• Ledgy and Index Ventures OptionPlan — European equity & ESOP references

General information only — not financial, tax or legal advice. Every situation is different; check your own share and option agreements and take professional advice before selling. PrivateTechShares makes introductions only: it is not a broker, does not hold funds, and does not execute or advise on transactions.