The New Rules of the IPO

Inside the Surreal and Emotional Experience of Taking Your Company Public

The CEO and executives of a $2 billion company candidly recount how it happened — from roadshow to opening day

This story is part of The New Rules of the IPO, a multi-part special report.
Illustrations: James Clapham

It was one of the most hotly awaited IPOs of 2017. Redfin, a Seattle-based real estate site, took off after hiring agents and cutting way down on their fees through technology like map-based searches, house-tour booking, and tracking of the closing process. In 2005, CEO Glenn Kelman joined the company, and once it survived — barely — the 2008 housing downturn and recession, the will-they-or-won’t-they debate around an IPO began.

By 2016, when Redfin earned $267 million in revenue, leadership thought the time might finally be right to go public. Marker asked Kelman and 11 others involved to get candid about the process, from the private jet to Kelman’s anxiety when he thought investors seemed totally uninterested, not to mention the food. So much food. “No one else had ever been around me 24/7, and I think they were actually disgusted at just how much I ate,” Kelman says.