IPO and lockup expiry: how advisors reach founders before the shares unlock

Why the lockup date matters more than the IPO date

On IPO day, most founders and early employees cannot sell. Insiders usually sign a lockup agreement that stops them selling their shares for a set period, typically 180 days ¹. The day that lockup ends is the moment paper wealth can become cash, and it is when questions about diversification, taxes and estate planning become urgent. An advisor who shows up after the shares are sold is late. The window that counts is the 30 to 60 days before the lockup ends.

The public filings that tell you when

• The lockup terms are disclosed in the company's prospectus, which is free on the SEC's EDGAR database; most lockups bar insiders from selling for 180 days ¹⁷.
• Rule 144: for a company that reports to the SEC, restricted shares must be held at least six months before resale, and an affiliate selling more than 5,000 shares or more than $50,000 in any three-month period must file a notice on Form 144 ².
• Form 4: directors, officers and 10% owners must report most trades within two business days, so sales after the lockup show up on EDGAR almost immediately ³.
• Rule 10b5-1 plans: many insiders sell through pre-arranged trading plans, which since the SEC's 2022 amendments carry cooling-off periods before trading can start ⁴. A plan adopted near the lockup date is a sign a sale program is coming.

Who this reaches

Indian-American professionals are concentrated in exactly the roles that receive pre-IPO equity. In fiscal 2025, 70% of approved H-1B petitions were for people born in India, and 62% were for computer-related occupations ⁵.

In our own data, 1,573 people in our database are estimated at $1M+ and carry an equity-event signal: a public-company stock holding, a public-company insider filing, a startup-executive Form D filing, or a startup-accelerator founder record ⁶. Of those, 1,013 are estimated at $5M+, all of them through public-company stock holdings disclosed in SEC filings, and 560 at $1M–5M ⁶. They cluster where companies go public:

• SF Bay Area: 465 people in our database ⁶
• New York metro (incl. northern NJ, Long Island, Westchester): 137 ⁶
• California, other areas: 93 ⁶
• Los Angeles / Orange County: 65 ⁶
• San Diego: 47 ⁶
• Boston: 30 ⁶
• Chicago: 30 ⁶

Smaller metros are grouped or left out where a count falls under 25 ⁶.

The playbook, step by step

• Step 1. Build the watchlist. In HeyAlbert, filter by metro and industry (technology and biotech is the obvious start), set the wealth band to $5M+, and save the search. Each result shows why it matched, so you can tell an equity holder from a namesake.
• Step 2. Put dates on it. For each company on your list that went public in the last six months, note the IPO date and the lockup term from its prospectus on EDGAR ⁷. Add the stated term (often 180 days ¹) and put the date 45 days before it on your calendar.
• Step 3. Read the dossier before you call. Each HeyAlbert dossier lists career history, board seats, education and philanthropy, and every estimate shows its components, such as holdings disclosed in SEC filings, each with its citation and date.
• Step 4. Lead with the problem, not the product. The useful opening message is about the decisions the lockup forces: how much to sell, how to handle the tax bill, whether a 10b5-1 plan fits, and what it means for family in India and the US.
• Step 5. Watch the filings after the date. Form 144 notices and Form 4 sales ²³ tell you whether a sale program has started, and HeyAlbert's news and updates flag changes on the people you follow.

An opening message that works

"Congratulations on the listing. Many founders I work with find the months before the lockup ends are the best time to plan what to sell, what to hold, and how to handle the taxes, especially with family and assets in two countries. If it would help, I can share a one-page checklist we use. No pitch."

Guardrails

• Never ask an insider to trade, and never use non-public information. Insiders face company blackout windows; respect them.
• Our figures are aggregates of people in our database. We do not publish pages about private individuals.
• Wealth bands are estimates from public filings and records. Treat them as a starting point for research, not a statement of anyone's finances ⁶.

Data as of November 3, 2026. HeyAlbert figures are aggregates of people in our database; groups under 25 people are suppressed. Methodology.

Sources

1. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor Bulletin: Investing in an IPO. www.sec.gov
2. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Rule 144: Selling Restricted and Control Securities. www.sec.gov
3. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Insider Transactions and Forms 3, 4, and 5. www.sec.gov
4. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Adopts Amendments to Modernize Rule 10b5-1 Insider Trading Plans and Related Disclosures (2022). www.sec.gov
5. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers, Fiscal Year 2025. www.uscis.gov
6. HeyAlbert database, query of November 3, 2026; wealth bands are HeyAlbert estimates from public filings and records; groups under 25 people suppressed. heyalbert.site
7. Investor.gov (U.S. SEC), Initial Public Offerings: Lockup Agreements. www.investor.gov