The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) · Saturday, June 27, 2026
Paul Erlanger highlights that 'perps' (perpetuals) and prediction markets are enabling retail investors to access capital markets earlier. He uses Shopify's IPO as an example of retail investors achieving private-scale returns in public markets, suggesting that pre-IPO markets and prediction markets are democratizing access to investment opportunities that were previously unavailable.
“But I think it's really important because public markets have been how retail gets access to capital and we talked about this and we were talking about Shopify and how amazing that was that retail investors got private scale returns in the public markets when it launched at what, 2 billion and is where it is now.”
“This is becoming earlier and earlier, right? If you have perks that are pre IPO and then prediction markets that are, you know, from a year ago.”
“So what a perp is, you're you're placing a bet on a price. Basically.”