The IPO window is reopening, but not uniformly, and for most late-stage companies the question has shifted from whether to go public to when, how, and under what conditions, with secondaries, de-SPACs, and dual-track M&A now sitting alongside the S-1 as real paths. The ground has moved in the last year: the SEC's May 2026 disclosure reforms aimed squarely at making public-company status more attractive, hardening proxy-advisor and institutional-investor pressure on dual-class structures, and AI on every active drafting team have made a 2022 mental model a liability. Across mainstage sessions, operator-led workshops, and small-group roundtables organized by company stage and readiness, you'll compare how recently-public and pre-IPO GCs are sequencing governance work streams, calibrating disclosure against a moving SEC target, and advising boards when the legally correct answer is to wait and the instinct in the room is to push.
The TechGC IPO Conference is designed exclusively for General Counsels and Chief Legal Officers at early, growth, and late-stage private companies.
This event is open to L Suite members by invitation only. Invitations are non-transferable and Chatham House Rule applies.
The Holding Pattern: Running a Public-Company-in-Waiting
For General Counsel of late-stage and pre-IPO companies, the operative question is no longer whether to go public but how to maintain registration-readiness across an unpredictable window. This session examines the legal infrastructure required to hold that posture: audit-ready financial statements and confidential filing infrastructure that survive multiple amendments, the executive compensation and equity decisions that compound when timelines extend beyond a single fiscal year, and the specific board governance work of advising directors through filing, withdrawal, refile, and wait decisions. Panelists will compare how they read regulatory and market signals to distinguish a viable window from a false start, and how they counseled their boards when the legally correct answer (wait) ran against the founder's or the bankers' instincts (push). They will also address a pressure that is sharper in 2026 than it has been in years: how to hold disclosure and quiet-period discipline when a direct competitor's filing resets the board's sense of urgency overnight. The conversation is calibrated for GCs whose companies are currently in or approaching the holding pattern, and for those advising boards on the legal trade-offs of waiting.
Michael Brown, Partner, Fenwick
Tad Freese, Partner, Latham & Watkins
Lauren Lin, Chief Legal Officer, Wealthfront
Shirley Li, General Counsel, Cerebras Systems
The Room Where It Happens: Inside the IPO Process
The legal work of taking a company public runs through a small group: the General Counsel, CFO, head of investor relations, head of communications, CEO, and a tight perimeter of issuer and underwriter counsel. The cadence, sequencing, and decision rights of that group determine whether the process holds together under pressure. This session pulls apart the operating model: when drafting actually begins relative to the kickoff meeting, who takes the pen and how the workload gets allocated across in-house and outside counsel, where quiet-period judgment shows up day to day, and how the GC coordinates across functions when the timeline tightens and decision rights start to blur. Panelists are GCs who recently took companies public and who field consistent reach-outs from peers asking how the work actually got done. Built for GCs preparing for or currently running an IPO process, and for those who will inherit a public-company legal function in the next eighteen months.
Tony Jeffries, Partner, Chair of the Board, Wilson Sonsini
David Peinsipp, Partner & Co-Chair, Cooley
The Alternative Playbook: When the IPO Isn't the Only Exit on the Table
Every late-stage GC preparing an S-1 is also, whether they plan for it or not, preparing for the acquirer who calls during the roadshow. This session treats the dual track as the real job: not choosing between an IPO and a sale in the abstract, but doing full IPO readiness while keeping an M&A path credible, then advising the board on which one actually serves stockholders when valuation is unknowable until pricing day. Panelists will work through the governance and disclosure calls that dual-track status forces, how they sequenced financial advisors and Delaware counsel once both paths were live, the fiduciary analysis when an unsolicited bid lands mid-process, and where the legal exposure diverges depending on which path the board takes. The premise throughout is "yes, and": you don't get to prepare for one. Calibrated for GCs whose companies are likely to sit with this decision in the next twelve to eighteen months.
Calise Cheng, Partner, Freshfields
Albert Vanderlaan, Partner, Orrick
Lora Blum, Chief Legal Officer, Grafana Labs
Our room block is sold out at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. Please see below for some additional hotel options within walking distance. Availability and rates current as of August 6, 2026:
335 Powell St
Rates starting at $428
999 California Street
Rates starting at $321
466 Bush Street
Rates starting at $269
340 Stockton Street
Rates starting at $360
We expect sessions at this event to be eligible for CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules. This course is appropriate for experienced attorneys only. The L Suite has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board and the State Bar of California as an Accredited Provider of continuing legal education. Additionally, we will seek CLE accreditation in IL, WA, FL, TX, PA, CO, GA, and any of the other 50 states upon specific request from an attendee.
TechGC is a private, invitation-only community for General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, and Heads of Legal at high-growth tech companies—from venture-backed startups to public tech companies and venture capital firms. Founded to solve a simple problem—that no one teaches you how to be a GC at a scaling company—TechGC was built by GCs, for GCs. What started as a small group of startup GCs sharing advice has grown into the leading network for legal leaders in technology.
TechGC is part of The L Suite, a broader community for in-house legal executives across industries. Within The L Suite, there are also dedicated communities for General Counsel of large enterprises (EnterpriseGC), as well as highly curated experiences for DeputyGCs, senior in-house counsel, and legal operations leaders.
As a TechGC member, you get the best of both worlds—a deeply curated, tech-only network of peers facing the same challenges as you, along with access to the broader L Suite community, events, and resources.
