Despite a heated debate among investors and bankers about the best way for companies to go public—via a traditional IPO or the newer direct listing—investment bankers say there is unlikely to be one single answer. Some companies are better suited to IPOs, and others to direct listings, while in the future some might benefit from a customized hybrid approach.

“There won’t be one or two or three solutions,” said William Connolly, head of technology equity capital markets for Goldman Sachs, speaking at a panel discussion on the future of the IPO at The Information’s Subscriber Summit on Thursday in Menlo Park, Calif. “There is so much more information, there's so much more data that there's just a way to customize around people's objectives in a way that people weren't doing before.”