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Bill Gates (44.2%) , Pierre Omidyar (32.5%), and Larry Ellison (30.6%) are the top three in terms of Pre-IPO ownership. I wonder how they managed that.

Also, Microsoft only had 5.4% VC ownership pre-IPO.

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Ebay had ~20% of equity owned by outside investors at IPO. Oralce had 8.3% at IPO. There is an inverse relationship between outside investment and founder equity. VC funding should be seen as just another tool, not the goal of a startup. HN - for all it's benefits - sometimes obscures this basic fact.

I believe all three of them were profitable when they took their first outside investment. That seems to make a big difference.

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