How to Invest in Pre-IPO Companies Before They Go Public

Christine Healey (00:00)
the poster child for why this market is important because you have things like ChatGPT and you have things like SpaceX. And it’s it’s really a question of who gets to own the future and who gets to reap the financial

rewards really of these companies and technologies that are changing and building our future. And so that’s why I feel so strongly about this type of work because it shouldn’t just be venture capitalists and billionaires and professional investors that get to essentially take ownership over our changing world.

Quentin Edmonds (02:05)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited today. I have another fantastic guest.

And listen, she is a leader in her space. ⁓ she is in the private broker for tech, a private broker for tech. ⁓ this lady is international, right? So I mean she knows what she’s doing. And I cannot wait for us to just peek through her lens, get a little test of her experience and apply it to our life. And so I’m gonna introduce you all to Miss Christine Healey Ms. Christine, how you doing today?

Christine Healey (02:42)
Good. Thanks so much for having me, Q.

Quentin Edmonds (02:44)
Absolutely not so glad you’re here. And listen, I’m the type. I like to dive right in, ma’am. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. ⁓ and if you don’t mind, tell us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in.

Christine Healey (02:58)
Yeah, look, so I work with people every day that have reached some type of professional success. They might be surgeons, business owners, might be real estate investors, and they’ve built that financial base, but they’re looking towards what’s next, how to compound and grow from here, and especially expanding their portfolio into more ways. So looking at that portfolio as a whole and thinking about how to diversify or some industries they can take a bet on or

⁓ expand into that are a little bit different. So these are people in my world that see Chat GPT or use it every day ⁓ or see these big technologies happening or happening around them like the SpaceX IPO and they’re wondering how do I get into a company like that before the IPO? So people that aren’t satisfied with just sitting around watching these tech milestones happen and just waiting until those companies are already on the brokerage apps.

And and already that established. So what I do in a nutshell is helping people invest in these large private tech companies before the IPO. Now it’s a whole different type of investing to public investing, and of course, a whole different type of investing to real estate, as I’m sure we’ll get into. And so I provide a concierge broker service where I walk people through the whole process.

⁓ explain what they need to know, help them negotiate with a seller, help them even find a seller in that stock, and basically help people invest with confidence and do things the simple way for this private tech asset class. Origin story wise, I I kind of fell into this in 2018, a long while back. So I started in investment banking and decided I wanted to try a tech startup. And the tech startup I found happened to be talking about trying to build a

stock market for private companies. So that captivated me immediately. ⁓ that became a huge, huge company and I learned a lot along the way. But essentially at the time, it was companies like Pinterest, Uber, Airbnb, Lyft that were actually still private. And those were the companies that we were help peop helping people invest in. And of course, all these companies have now gone through that full life cycle. They’re now public.

But there were a lot of investors that were able to get in early ⁓ and get in a little cheaper than than the than the public investors. So that’s what I do nowadays. It’s a lot of companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, who of course makes Claude, ⁓ Andoril, a bunch of other companies. So very exciting.

Quentin Edmonds (06:24)
I love it. Thank you. Thank you so much for taking us through the journey of what it is that you do, a little bit of the origin story, kind of how you got into the space. now, Miss Christina, I often say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Destiny has no wasted moments. We learn on each leg of the journey. We’re refining the people that that that that’s in front of the people, that’s that’s in front of the people, right? We refine who people see when they see the people within us.

So I would love to know what have you learned on the journey about yourself? Have you learned discipline, resilience? Has it changed the way you see business? Like what have you learned about yourself during the journey?

Christine Healey (07:01)
Yeah, it’s such a good question. I I’ve learned a lot of things in terms of the maybe the types of environments, the types of clients that I thrive with. So I’ve worked at huge big toxic organizations like investment banks, and honestly, they’re even worse than they seem from the outside. That’s that’s just flat out. ⁓ and I worked at small startups and I’ve worked at everything in between. And e everything has instilled certain skills and lessons for sure.

⁓ but I’ve realized I love when I can work directly with clients and have a personal conversation and build a long-term relationship and spend as much of time as possible with my clients or serving my clients, doing the actual work that gets stuff done, and as little time as possible in admin meetings, in all hands, in all the performative stuff of a big organization, going in

telling out telling a boss and telling a boss’s boss and telling the boss’s boss’s boss what you’re up to. And all that stuff detracts from the real the real work and really adding value to clients. So that’s one thing I’ve for sure learned along the way that sled me to my my current business where I provide a broker, small scale service, and I get to spend a lot of time doing right by my clients and not worry about the fluff of a big corporation.

Quentin Edmonds (08:22)
I love it. I love it. Now you talked about providing value. So one of the ways we’ve had value to ourselves is obviously putting systems into place, operations in the place, right? So what’s one operational thing you’ve put in place the last two years that has made the biggest difference in how you run your business?

Christine Healey (08:38)
Two things come to mind. First, you really gotta be meticulous about tracking. ⁓ so whether that’s a software or whether that’s an old-fashioned notebook or whether that’s a spreadsheet, you gotta have visibility into what you’re working on ⁓ in its entirety and all the different details. You know, it can’t all live in your head. That’s one very simple thing, which I’m sure everyone can relate to.

And the second thing, especially when you’re a small business, I think you need to think about what technology you can use to reach people at scale. ⁓ and what I’m talking about is some sort of mass communication system, whether that’s ⁓ newsletters that go out to to a large email list of people, or whether that’s ⁓

A platform where you can show a live transaction, a live opportunity to a lot of people at the same time. Anything like that, where you’re saying, I’ve got a l I’m one person or I’m a small team, I’ve got a limited amount of human capacity, but how do I still get the information out to a really large group of people and all these inv investor clients in a way that gets them at the right time? And and so

That’s one thing. I do a little bit of that. I do newsletters. I also use some, you know, technology and mailing, things like that. But I think you gotta have those touch points and ⁓ at least initially getting people to know what you’re doing as fast as possible in bulk. And then of course you can have the personal conversations from there with the people that put their hand up and want to know more. So you can still have that personal experience, but building in some of the tech.

that enables you to serve everyone really well and not let anything get get dropped or lost in the mix.

Quentin Edmonds (10:23)
Absolutely. Well it’s nothing we’d have gone this far without actually saying your company’s name. So give us the company’s name. And is there a story behind the name?

Christine Healey (11:08)
It’s so funny, there actually is. So I’m Christine Healy. My business is Healy PRE-IPO. It’s about as straightforward as you can get. I’m a concierge broker helping people invest in PRE-IPO companies. So there’s a reason I put my name on it. Firstly, I think it’s a vote of confidence that this is this is ⁓ an approach that I can really put my name on. And it it I I’m gonna deal with in integrity and commitment to my clients. That’s why I put my name on it.

but equally it’s really hard to get a trademark these days. So originally I had a different idea. ⁓ it was two words, and the first word was trademarked for some something or other. The second mark, the second word, someone else had trademarked, and it was just a mess. And I was like, look, let me just go with my name. I’ll tell people the truth. This is a personal business that I’m putting my name on, literally. and I just want to get straight to straight to the work and not mess around so much with.

the branding or reinventing the wheel. It’s Hewly PRE-IPO, that’s what it is. And people are gonna come to me because of the service they get, not the the thrill or the novelty of a branding name.

Quentin Edmonds (12:14)
I love it. I love it. Brilliant. I love it. So what’s next for Healey? ⁓ Healey PRE-IPO, right? Did I say it right, Healey? Pre-IPO, right? What’s next? What is your next goal? What are you looking to solve or scale next?

Christine Healey (12:28)
Well, probably the most interesting thing that’s happened in the PRE-IPO world so far this year is the IPO of SpaceX. So SpaceX was a company that was actually really active on the private markets, and a lot of investors found their way through me or through other folks to get invested before it even went public. So a lot of people out there still don’t realize that’s possible, or maybe they’ve heard of it or got a cold email in their inbox, but

Never really understood the kind of legitimate way to do these types of trades. But the reality is a lot of investors did get in and have done quite well. A lot of them, especially the ones that got in a few rounds before the IPO. And so the whole market is really looking at that story of SpaceX, watching the day-to-day fluctuations, trying to see where it’s going to end up. But all in all, a a huge, a huge inflection point really in both.

public markets and private markets to have a company like SpaceX that is so inspiring to so many people that has created enormous value and it’s it’s even trading today at close to two trillion dollars. ⁓ and it’s really

the poster child for why this market is important because you have things like ChatGPT and you have things like SpaceX. And it’s it’s really a question of who gets to own the future and who gets to reap the financial

rewards really of these companies and technologies that are changing and building our future. And so that’s why I feel so strongly about this type of work because it shouldn’t just be venture capitalists and billionaires and professional investors that get to essentially take ownership over our changing world.

So that that real estate person or that business owner or that surgeon shouldn’t just have to see SpaceX ⁓ landing rockets in the news.

They should be able to have some sort of path to financially participate. And so with SpaceX now public, what’s next is there’s a range of giants that are just right around the corner, like Anthropic, the maker of Claude, ⁓ and a bunch of other exciting names, whether it’s robotics companies making humanoid robots that are gonna fold your laundry and assemble cars and factories, ⁓ to defense companies, AI companies, and and everything in between. So

It’s a really exciting time. And I think the SpaceX IPO has really been the catalyst for new investors learning about this market and s and and seeing if they also would like to start investing a little bit earlier in a company’s life life cycle.

Quentin Edmonds (15:46)
Absolutely. I love it. I love how you’re evening out the playing field, helping people be able to really succeed and go out with the big boys. I absolutely love it. So you’re people oriented, obviously. So I want to hear this from you about relationships. What is your philosophy on business relationships? Tell us about some of the business relationships that you have now, people who you work closely with, that’s really helping you out this in your corner. So please, Miss Christine, talk to me a little bit about relationships.

Christine Healey (16:15)
So the fun thing about how I’ve purposely structured my business as a small business is I’m not trying to compete with the $10 billion ⁓ you know platforms out there. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I’m trying to provide an old school service in a small boutique white glove format. And the beauty of that is I’m not competitive necessarily to other brokers in the market or things like that. So I can connect to

Investors, depending on what they their needs are, what they’re looking for, to a whole range of different counterparties from a bunch of sellers and funds and individuals and my Rolodex that might be selling. But equally, I have a huge network throughout the world of other experts in my space, also, whether that’s lawyers, ⁓ venture capitalists, ⁓ family offices, specialized brokers, investment bankers, whoever.

And because I’m not trying to compete with them to be a $10 billion company, I can partner selectively too. And so clients that come to me get to see the whole ecosystem. And if it benefits the client, we’ll pull right from my Rolodex, no one else involved. If it benefits my client, I’m not shy about going and collaborating. And so that’s the nice thing too. So when it comes to people, I’m I I’m very open to basically

finding the nuggets and finding the partnerships from whatever source they might take, as long as they’re going to be useful to my client in the end. And the cool thing about you know, my client base, once they find me, they tend to stick with me. But as a small business, it’s just about getting the word out that not everyone has to default to a large platform, you know, some automated matching system. A lot of people out there really do just want ⁓ an expert

person and more of a a personalized experience and more of an old school approach really to this very new school market. So as long as people get the the word out and they hear about it, ⁓ typically they’re quite sticky once they do that first deal with me and they see they see the results I can give.

Quentin Edmonds (18:17)
Miss Christine, I’m super excited about what you’re doing. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, man?

Christine Healey (18:28)
Yeah, you can reach out to me or follow me on LinkedIn. I put off a a lot of free educational content there. You can also find me at healeypreipo.com ⁓ H-E-A-L-E-Y PRE-IPO.com. ⁓ you can also sign up for my mailing list there with educational content and other stuff, completely commitment-free and cost-free. And learn a bit more. Or if you’re ready to explore investing, then I offer again free.

Free calls just to get to know each other and see if I can serve you.

Quentin Edmonds (19:01)
Yes, yes. Well listen, let me say three things to you sincerely. One, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So sincerely, thank you for showing up today, giving us your time. Secondly, thank you for your story and thank you for just your experience and planting seeds. I really believe seeds have a way they’re dropped. We don’t know when it will take root. We don’t know when it’s gonna grow, but the seed is there. So I know you dropped some seeds today and it’s gonna grow some people in the future.

And secondly, well secondly, lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today.

Christine Healey (19:35)
Thanks so much, Q.

Quentin Edmonds (19:36)
Absolutely. Listen, y’all heard Miss Christine. Her information is in the show notes. Please get in contact with her. But definitely make sure you subscribe here. Because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Miss Christine. So, ma’am, I say thank you again. And everyone else, listen, y’all have a fantastic day.