---
id: "prereq-pe-liquidity-events"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ Is It Transition Time?", "§ What Success and Failure Look Like"]
tags: ["finance", "private-equity"]
related: ["concept-leadership-stabilization-strategy", "contrarian-no-transition-option"]
reason: "Provides the context for why many of these transitions are initiated and the financial stakes involved."
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-122-leading-after-founder"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/leading-after-the-founder"
sourceTitle: "Leading After the Founder"
---
# Private Equity and Liquidity Events

The article frequently references PE-backed companies, "liquidity events," "recapitalization," and "PE sponsors" reinvesting rather than exiting. It assumes familiarity with the lifecycle of a private-equity investment and why a founder might feel pressured to exit after a sale.

**Why it matters:** Provides the context for why many transitions are initiated and the financial stakes involved. It explains the timing pressure behind [[concept-leadership-stabilization-strategy]] (keeping the founder invested near a recapitalization) and behind the contrarian argument that a founder should sometimes stay rather than transition after a sale ([[contrarian-no-transition-option]]).


## Related across articles
- [[prereq-pe-hold-period]]
- [[concept-amc-strategic-financing]]