Two buyers wanted the same stake. I ended up selling above the last round.
Every other secondary I’d done was at a discount. This one wasn’t — because I had leverage for once.
Angel investor, ~20 checks
Illustrative composite. A representative scenario built from how angel secondaries commonly play out — realistic numbers, written in the first person, not the record of a specific named person or company.
Deal snapshot
- Side
- Selling
- Sector
- Applied AI
- Stage at entry
- Seed
- Original check
- $25,000
- Hold before sale
- 3 years
- Sold at
- 8% above last round
- Buyers
- Two competing growth funds
A company everyone suddenly wanted into
The company was a genuine category leader having a breakout year, and two growth funds that had missed its primary rounds both reached out to my broker independently, within the same month, both trying to buy shares from any early holder willing to sell.
How the premium actually happened
My broker, with my blessing, let both funds know a competing offer existed without naming the other side. Neither wanted to lose the allocation. The price moved from an opening offer 5% below the last round to a final number 8% above it — a 13-point swing purely from having two motivated buyers instead of one.
Why this is the exception, not the rule
Most of my secondaries have sold at a discount because I was the only interested seller and the buyer had the leverage. This only worked because the company was genuinely scarce and in-demand — competitive tension can't be manufactured for a company nobody's chasing.
What to take from this
- Competitive tension between buyers is the single biggest lever against the standard secondary discount.
- This only works for scarce, in-demand companies — most secondaries still sell at a discount.
- A broker who can run a quiet, informal auction adds real value in exactly this scenario.
Every angel who has held a position long enough eventually faces a version of this decision. For the mechanics behind stories like this one, see the guide to how secondaries work.