What are the early signs that a company is looking for exit? (vs IPO)
Hiring of new executives that have successfully overseen acquisitions in the past. Such as a CFO or COO with prior acquisition experience before bouncing
Sorry to disappoint you but Magic Leap ain't matured enough for an IPO yet.
Agreed.
He is taking a magic leap
Become friends with upper management and have these conversations. They are people too
This is good advice for Expedia. Unfortunately most other companies don't just hire their friends and relations and this strategy may prove ineffective.
True, on another note if I had to guess which department would know beforehand I would say the marketing dept
In the case of an IPO the company will start talking to investment banks and usually news will break out at this stage. Getting anything before this would require befriending upper management.
Give in OP, kiss some ass. Become one of them
The ceo / vps taking a lot of trips to talk to other companies, talks about โpartnershipsโ - which could be trial runs. Security testing of software