MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK
SAM ADAMS
TITLE : EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR , PRIVATE TO PUBLIC STRATEGY
He goes on to explain that a shift has occurred , where these companies have to start paying more competitively on base salaries . But they may also have to be competitive on the equity front . And very often in these cases , private companies are competing with large public companies .
“ So , if I ’ m a senior engineer looking at joining one of these late-stage private companies and I ’ ve got an offer from them and I ’ ve got an offer from one of the world ’ s leading public tech companies – they may be very similar in terms of the base salary , and even the value of the equity I ’ m getting .”
“ But one big difference is that in a public company , when your equity vests , you can immediately sell it on the public markets . You have access to a liquid market .”
At a private company , the options are more limited . Swan establishes that this is where Morgan Stanley at Work comes in , following a growing number of private companies that have started becoming more proactive in providing liquidity to compete with public companies . Just over the past three years , it ’ s a much more commonplace approach for large companies to take .
Offering access to value through private equity programmes Current financial instability is another reason for employees to demand greater value and security from their companies , says Adams , highlighting that the need for better equity packages has probably never been greater .
“ In terms of what ’ s happening economically , I think liquidity is even more important because people
INDUSTRY : FINANCIAL SERVICES LOCATION : CALIFORNIA , US
Sam Adams is currently an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley at Work leading a specialised team focused on helping private companies transition their stock plans into the public market . Prior to this role , Sam led the global equity team at DoorDash through building a best-in-class equity infrastructure to operate as a growing public company and a tremendously successful IPO in 2020 . She also led MuleSoft ’ s global equity team through an IPO in 2017 and subsequent acquisition by Salesforce in 2018 . Additionally , she designed MuleSoft ’ s Total Rewards and Mobility practices , including global compensation programs , ESPP , and employee benefit packages . Sam was also a key member on the Trulia legal team managing all things stock and corporate compliance through their IPO in 2012 and subsequent acquisition by Zillow in 2015 . Sam received a BA in Sociology from UCLA in 2004 and the CEP designation in 2015 .
“ Trust and reputation are a really big deal . Typically , when a company decides to embark on the path to IPO , they may only give themselves three months to manage the entire process ”
SAM ADAMS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR , PRIVATE TO PUBLIC
STRATEGY , MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK
June 2023 | fintechmagazine . com 55