Why now
Why now: the liquidity events that tell advisors when to reach out
The right family at the wrong moment is a cold call. The same family a month before a lockup ends is a conversation. Here are the public filings that mark those moments, and when each one says to call.
Timing beats targeting
Most wealth is illiquid until something happens: a company lists, a lockup ends, a business is sold, a round closes. Each of those events has to be disclosed to the SEC, on a deadline, in a public database anyone can read for free 7. That turns "when should I reach out?" from a guess into a date you can put on a calendar.
Five signals and where they show up
| Signal | Public filing | What it tells you | When to reach out |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPO | S-1 or F-1 registration statement; 424B4 final prospectus | A company is going public. The prospectus discloses the lockup terms 1 | From the listing, as a planning conversation |
| Lockup expiry | Lockup terms in the prospectus | Insiders usually cannot sell for a set period, often 180 days 12 | In the weeks before the lockup ends, while there is still time to plan |
| Insider sale | Form 4; Form 144 notice | Directors, officers and 10% owners report most trades within two business days 3; affiliates selling more than 5,000 shares or $50,000 in three months file Form 144 4 | When sales start appearing: a sale program has begun |
| Acquisition closes | Form 8-K, Item 2.01 | A public company completed an acquisition or disposition of assets, reported within four business days 5 | In the weeks after closing, when the sellers' proceeds land |
| Private raise | Form D | A company sold securities in an exempt offering; the notice is due within 15 days of the initial sale and lists executive officers and directors as related persons 6 | After the round, as a planning conversation with the founders |
This week on EDGAR
Filings in the week of November 2 to November 6, 2026 78. These are counts of filings, not of people:
- Form 4 insider-transaction reports (including amendments): 2,842, across 1,100 listed companies 7
- IPO registration statements and final prospectuses (S-1, F-1, amendments, 424B4, 424B1): 45, of which 4 were final 424B4 prospectuses 7
- Completed acquisitions reported on Form 8-K Item 2.01: 46 8
- Form D private-offering notices (including amendments): 1,282 7
Who these events reach in our database
1,573 people in our database are estimated at $1M+ and carry at least one equity-event signal; 1,013 of them are estimated at $5M+ 9. By signal (a person can carry more than one) 9:
- Public-company stock holdings disclosed in SEC filings: 1,013 9
- Startup-executive Form D filings: 283 9
- Public-company insider filings: 243 9
- Startup-accelerator founder records: 34 9
Where they live, in metros with 25 or more people in our database 9:
- SF Bay Area: 465 people in our database 9
- NYC metro (incl. N. NJ, LI, Westchester): 137 people in our database 9
- Los Angeles / OC: 65 people in our database 9
- San Diego: 47 people in our database 9
- Boston: 30 people in our database 9
- Chicago: 30 people in our database 9
- Central NJ / Philadelphia: 29 people in our database 9
Smaller metros are grouped or left out where a count falls under 25 9.
How to use it
- Step 1. Pick the signal that fits your practice. Advisors to tech families start with IPOs and lockups; business-sale specialists start with 8-K Item 2.01.
- Step 2. Read the filing. Each one names the company and the date, and the deadlines above tell you how fresh it is.
- Step 3. Find the people. In HeyAlbert, filter by metro and wealth band and save the search; each result shows why it matched, with every fact cited.
- Step 4. Lead with the decision the event forces: what to sell, how to handle the tax bill, and what it means for family in India and the US. The playbooks walk through each event step by step.
Guardrails
- Never ask an insider to trade, and never use non-public information. Respect company blackout windows.
- 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 9.
EDGAR counts cover November 2 to November 6, 2026; database figures as of November 9, 2026. HeyAlbert figures are aggregates of people in our database; groups under 25 people are suppressed. Methodology.
Verified floor: public records only · heyalbert.site/why-our-counts-are-a-floor
Sources
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor Bulletin: Investing in an IPO. www.sec.gov
- Investor.gov (U.S. SEC), Initial Public Offerings: Lockup Agreements. www.investor.gov
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Insider Transactions and Forms 3, 4, and 5. www.sec.gov
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Rule 144: Selling Restricted and Control Securities. www.sec.gov
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form 8-K, General Instruction B.1 and Item 2.01 (Completion of Acquisition or Disposition of Assets). www.sec.gov
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Filing a Form D notice. www.sec.gov
- SEC EDGAR daily form indexes, November 2 to November 6, 2026, read November 9, 2026; Form 4 companies matched to the SEC's company ticker list. www.sec.gov
- SEC EDGAR full-text search, Form 8-K filings with Item 2.01 in EDGAR's item list, November 2 to November 6, 2026, read November 9, 2026. www.sec.gov
- HeyAlbert database, query of November 9, 2026; wealth bands are HeyAlbert estimates from public filings and records; groups under 25 people suppressed. heyalbert.site
See who has an equity event coming
HeyAlbert shows the founders and executives in your metro, with every fact cited.
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