Goldman Sachs is one of the largest investment banker “book runners” for IPOs – where banks are paid many millions of dollars for each listing they underwrite. Yet CEO David Solomon told attendees at the Cisco AI Summit in Palo Alto that startups should rethink the idea of ​​going public, reports the Financial Times.

Solomon said startups can grow just as big and raise more money in the private markets, without having to deal with the hassle of becoming a publicly traded company.

“It’s not fun being a public company,” he said. “Who wants to be a public company?”

Goldman is increasingly working with large private companies, including helping Stripe with its $6.5 billion round in 2023. Stripe is part of a growing class of large, private tech companies that are deciding to stay private for longer. time.