Should a SaaS Company Go Public?
Use Stock Options to Scale Without VC

How a Public Listing and Stock Options Can Help SaaS Founders Recruit, Retain, and Scale Without VC

SaaS companies are known for high margins and recurring revenue—but scaling a sales team, retaining top talent, and avoiding dilution are persistent challenges.

What if you could use stock options to recruit top engineers, close enterprise reps, and retain senior leaders—without raising venture capital or giving up control?

Going public isn’t just for unicorns. For profitable or break-even SaaS companies, it can be a powerful tool to accelerate growth, attract key hires, and build long-term value.

Why Go Public as a SaaS Company?

Most SaaS founders think about going public only after a Series D. But for many profitable or cash-flow-conscious SaaS businesses, a direct listing offers a faster, lower-cost alternative that provides all the benefits of being public—without the fundraising or dilution.

Here’s why it works:

• Recruit top-tier talent with structured equity instead of inflated salaries
• Retain engineers, sales leaders, and execs with multi-year vesting plans
• Attract enterprise buyers who trust public companies
• Build a brand story around transparency, scale, and credibility
  
  

You don't need to raise much money to go public. You need the structure and strategy to use your public status as a competitive edge.

How It Works

1. We take you public via a direct listing, which avoids underwriting fees and unnecessary dilution
2. We create a 409A-compliant stock option plan, allowing you to issue performance-based options to employees and advisors
3. Use equity strategically to recruit top engineers, revenue leaders, and developers
4. Drive retention by tying long-term value to individual performance and company growth
5. Grow with control, using cash flow—not capital raises—to fund expansion
   
   

Who This Is Right For

This model is ideal for:

• Bootstrapped or lightly funded SaaS companies
• Vertical SaaS firms in healthcare, legal, real estate, logistics, or finance
• Recurring-revenue businesses with proven product-market fit and 10%+ net margins

If you’re profitable (or near break-even) and ready to scale, this gives you the ability to:

• Retain control
• Avoid VC pressure
• Incentivize growth through shared ownership

Real-World Scenario: Scaling a Vertical SaaS Company

You run a healthcare SaaS platform with:

• $6M in ARR
• 80% gross margins
• 25 employees

You want to grow without taking a term sheet.

You go public. Create a stock option plan. Offer equity to senior engineers, top sales reps, and key partners.

Over 24 months:

• You recruit and retain a stronger team
• Expand into 3 new verticals or states
• Grow ARR from $6M to $15M
• Trade publicly at 5–8× revenue
  
  

Now you're a $75M–$120M public company—and still in control.

What It Costs

Most SaaS founders we work with spend about $20,000 to start the process, covering:

• Legal and compliance setup
• Entity and cap table structuring
• Listing prep and advisory
  
  

Only a small capital raise is required. The goal is to unlock equity as a growth lever—not give it away to investors.

What Success Looks Like

• You attract top technical and commercial talent without overpaying
• Your best people stick around because they own part of the outcome
• You grow revenue efficiently, without venture dilution
• You position yourself for an eventual strategic exit or scale-up liquidity event

This is how you build a durable public SaaS company—on your terms.

Want to Explore This Further?

Our founder has taken four of his own companies public and advised dozens more. We specialize in helping founder-led businesses use public listing strategies to grow with alignment—not pressure.

If you're a SaaS founder thinking long-term, we’d love to connect.