Why Price Discovery Is the First Problem Worth Solving in Private Markets?

I have been in the private equity and valuation space long enough to see the same question surface over and over again:

“How do we unlock liquidity for private companies?”

It’s a fair question, because liquidity is the lifeblood of any market. Without it, capital is harder to raise, employees have fewer opportunities to realize the value of their equity, and investors face an uphill battle to exit. But over time, I have come to a conclusion: liquidity is not the first problem to solve. In fact, focusing on liquidity first is like putting a roof on a house before laying the foundation. The real foundation, on which everything else depends, is price discovery.

Let Me Explain

In the public markets, nobody enters a transaction without knowing the price beforehand. Whether you’re buying 100 shares or selling 10,000, the price is right there on the ticker. It’s a shared, visible truth. That number isn’t just a convenience; it’s the baseline for every negotiation, every decision, and every trade.

In the private markets, things are far murkier. The “price” of a company’s shares might be based on a funding round from a year ago, a 409A from nine months ago, or an isolated secondary sale at a steep discount. By the time these numbers reach decision-makers, they are already outdated. And yet, these stale figures are still used to drive high-stakes actions – raising capital, granting equity, and structuring M&A deals.

Where the System Breaks

The primary market for private companies is straightforward: new shares are issued, terms are negotiated, and a price is set.  However, the secondary market, where existing shares change hands between investors or employees, is opaque, fragmented, and unpredictable.

Without accurate, current pricing:

• Employees risk selling their equity at a price far below its fair value.
• Investors can unknowingly overpay for shares.
• Companies are left managing distorted cap tables and misaligned expectations.

Liquidity without clear pricing is risky. It creates mistrust and undermines the very benefits liquidity is supposed to bring.

Why Eqvista Started with Price

While much of the industry has been chasing liquidity solutions, we chose to start with the only thing that makes liquidity work: price. Reliable, defensible, always-on share pricing.

Our Real-Time Company Valuation™ is not a static number frozen in a PDF. It’s a living signal, constantly updating as your company evolves, built on more than $100B in valuation experience, thousands of company cases, and processes that are fully audit-ready.

What This Changes

When you have real price discovery in place, everything else becomes easier and more trustworthy.

You can negotiate funding rounds from a position of strength. Liquidity events can occur without distorting the company’s value. Employees and investors stay aligned because they have access to the same, accurate information. And most importantly, you never have to enter a transaction without knowing the price beforehand.

This isn’t about making private companies public. It’s about giving them public-level clarity and control, on their own terms.

The Bigger Vision

There are more than 6 million private companies in the U.S., representing over half of the country’s GDP. Yet 80% of them lack standardized, real-time valuation.  There’s trillions of dollars in enterprise value out there, yet it’s all happening without the kind of transparency that can really drive growth, liquidity, and trust.

We’re here to change that. In private markets, whether you’re raising funds, handling secondaries, managing M&A, or focusing on retention – it all works better when you start with the right price.

Real-Time Company Valuation™

With Real-Time Company Valuation™, we’ve transformed the slow, PDF-driven appraisal process into a continuous, responsive, always-on system. Companies can now:

• Track FMV and 409A valuations that update as the business evolves
• Maintain audit-ready compliance at all times
• Integrate valuation directly with their cap table and equity planning
• Run scenarios for fundraising, M&A, and secondary sales using current data

And here’s what makes our approach different:

• FMV (Preferred Stock Price) included at no extra charge – normally a separate paid service, now part of your 409A package
• 409A starts at $1,290 for Seed stage companies – unlimited updates and renewals included
• PDF reports still available for your data room
• Powered by AI, delivered by humans – every valuation reviewed and refined by our analysts
• Analyst support anytime via email or call
• Personally overseen by me, Tomas Milar, founder of Eqvista, to ensure accuracy and trust at every stage

When you order your 409A, you’re not just getting a compliance document – you’re getting a living, breathing valuation that keeps pace with your company.

This is more than a valuation product. It’s the missing financial layer for the private market, one that finally brings price discovery into the present tense and lays the foundation for liquidity to work as it should.