According to Apollo's co-president, increasing questions around the off-balance-sheet debt used by AI labs to finance GPUs will pressure them to go public sooner than anticipated. An IPO would provide access to more traditional and transparent capital markets, such as convertible debt and public equity, to fund their massive infrastructure needs.

The traditional purpose of an IPO—raising capital for company growth—is obsolete. Today, companies scale using private equity and only go public to allow early investors and insiders to cash out. This means the public market captures significantly less of a company's early, high-growth phase.

While many private founders fear going public, David George of a16z claims he's never met a public CEO who regrets it. Key benefits include easier and often cheaper access to capital compared to private markets, increased transparency, and the discipline it instills. The narrative of public market misery is overblown for most successful companies.

The decision to go public is now driven less by a need for currency or liquidity and more by massive capital requirements, like for AI build-outs, that private markets can no longer satisfy. Solomon notes the current regulatory and market structure makes it unattractive for companies to go public until it's an absolute necessity.

Venture capitalist Bruce Booth explains that bankers, lawyers, audit firms, and VCs all have strong financial incentives for a company to go public. This creates systemic pressure that may not align with the company's best long-term interests.

Contrary to the trend of staying private, Navan's IPO was partly a go-to-market strategy. Large corporate customers demand the financial transparency and long-term stability that being a public company provides. This credibility was crucial for unlocking the enterprise segment and winning major accounts.

For many large companies today, an IPO's primary purpose has shifted from raising growth capital—which is readily available in private markets—to creating liquidity for early investors and employees. The public offering acts as a valuation marker and an exit opportunity, not a funding necessity.

Despite private capital availability, the scrutiny of being a public company imposes healthy discipline. It forces better prioritization and maturity, which is ultimately beneficial for long-term growth and provides access to the world's deepest capital pools.

Intercom raised $250M in debt to fund its AI expansion. For a high-growth, profitable company, debt is far less dilutive than equity, costing an estimated tenth of the price to shareholders. It is an underutilized tool for mature tech companies to finance new growth.