There is strong pressure to IPO because that is a liquidity event (opportunity to turn ownership into money) for investors. The other option is acquisition. R

There is strong pressure to IPO because that is a liquidity event (opportunity to turn ownership into money) for investors. The other option is acquisition. Recently, IPOs are hard, for a combination of regulatory and market reasons. One could imagine a hypothetical world where profits paid as dividends to owners would suffice to give investors the return their business model requires but that is very much not standard practice in the US tech industry. To a professional investor (especially a VC firm), a profitable company that cannot be sold/IPOed is a failure.