Gatsby

Netlify — Gatsby's acquirer — achieves a strong exit (IPO or strategic acquisition) by 2028 at a $2B+ valuation, and employees who converted to Netlify equity see meaningful returns. This requires Netlify to successfully differentiate its composable architecture thesis against Vercel's dominant Next.js ecosystem and grow enterprise ACV materially.

Netlify remains private through 2028 with equity illiquid and worth roughly 60 cents on the dollar vs. grant price; Gatsby's open-source community sustains but the Gatsby Cloud shutdown limits monetization runway, and Netlify's own $213M+ in funding creates deep preference layers that suppress common-stock returns.

Gatsby-specific equity was effectively zeroed at Netlify's undisclosed February 2023 acquisition, which almost certainly priced below the $43M total funding raised given the Vercel/Next.js competitive rout; employees joining post-acquisition hold Netlify common struck at uncertain prices against a capital-heavy preference stack, with near-total loss of option value the base expectation.