If you want to gauge where a tech company will price an upcoming public offering, don’t bother looking at the value of its last fundraising. Instead, check out the employee stock option price.
For instance, enterprise software firm Apptio said on Monday it expects to go public at a price range of between $13 and $15 a share. That’s well below the $22.69-a-share price at which it last raised money in 2013. But it’s right in line with the $14.31 exercise price at which it recently issued employee options.