Direct Listing vs IPO: Why Companies Are Skipping the Bank Fees
Posted on October 29, 2025 by Edwin Schneider
My buddy Jake works in finance. When Spotify went public in 2018 without underwriters, he called me up, freaking out. “They can’t do that! That’s not how this works!” Except it did work. Spotify just picked a different path than everyone else, and suddenly a bunch of companies started asking why they’re paying investment banks […]