If Noel had known how hard it would be to build the infrastructure for the modern pre-IPO market, he would not have started Augment. He started it anyway. Five years and over a thousand trades later, he walks Max through how a real venue for private stock works: why his original order-book idea had to give way to a managed marketplace, what the SPV debate is really about, and the four variables (access, simplicity, transparency, liquidity) anyone trying to build for this market has to solve.
In this episode, Max sits down with Noel Moldvai, co-founder and CEO of Augment. They discuss:
• The Rubrik liquidity story: cold LinkedIn DMs, twenty brokers, and the 6% fee. All leading to the creation of Augment
• Why the order-book idea had to die: the three-sided marketplace problem (buyer, seller, company), and what a managed marketplace solves
• The four variables any real venue for private stock has to solve: access, simplicity, transparency, and liquidity
• The SPV debate, on the record: layered fees, chain of custody, and why Augment runs a 0/0 structure
• How institutional anchors give a $10,000 accredited investor institutional-level pricing
• Why the previous attempts (SharesPost, Forge, EquityZen, Carta) did not solve it: a product-and-tech vs. broker-and-banker culture clash
• The regulatory triad: broker-dealer, ATS, and registered investment advisor, and what each piece actually enables
ABOUT THE GUEST
Noel Moldvai is the co-founder and CEO of Augment. Before Augment, he spent five years at Rubrik as an early engineer and architect, joining at 23 and staying through the company's journey to being a unicorn. Before Rubrik he was a software engineer at Google, and before that a Berkeley EECS undergrad and astrophysics researcher. Augment is the company he started after selling his own Rubrik shares in 2020 and discovering the process was held together by one-person brokers, opaque pricing, and a 6% fee on his transaction.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelmoldvai
Company: augment.market
OUTLINE
(00:00) Intro and Noel's path: Berkeley, Google, Rubrik
(01:00) Selling Rubrik stock in 2020: cold DMs, twenty brokers, and a 6% fee
(09:00) Meeting Adam, the venture-scale question, the early build
(11:00) Why the order-book idea had to die, and what replaced it
(13:00) The four variables: access, simplicity, transparency, liquidity
(15:00) The SPV debate: Bill Gurley, layered fees, and Augment's 0/0 structure
(21:00) Who is actually trading: 80% institutional, $10K to $50M checks
(25:30) The pricing trick: institutional anchors and retail-level access
(27:00) Why this has not been solved before: product vs. broker culture
(34:00) The future: Augment behind your Fidelity, Schwab, or E-Trade account
(38:30) The regulatory triad and what 1,000 trades looks like
(41:00) Hindsight, family, and the founder reality check
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Rubrik. Google. UC Berkeley. SharesPost. Forge. EquityZen. Carta. SpaceX. OpenAI. Anthropic. Anduril. Kalshi. Polymarket. Robinhood. Fidelity, Schwab, E-Trade. Bill Gurley on SPVs. The JOBS Act of 2012. The Power 20 (Augment's report on the most-in-demand private companies).
FOLLOW
Max Melmed on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/max-melmed
The Augment Exchange: augment.market/the-augment-exchange
Augment: augment.market
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Augment Exchange is a biweekly conversation about how private markets operate, with the people running it. Produced by Augment (augment.market), building the access and execution layer for the pre-IPO market. New episodes every other Wednesday.
DISCLAIMER
Please note that this conversation is for informational purposes only. None of the information provided represents investment advice, an offer, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security. All views are subject to change.
Private securities are typically illiquid, have limited pricing transparency, and often require longer holding periods. These investments are available exclusively to qualified accredited investors and offer no guarantee of returns. An IPO or other liquidity event is not guaranteed. Additionally, past performance of private securities does not indicate or predict future results. Investing in private securities involves a high degree of risk, including the potential loss of all invested capital.
Augment Markets Inc. is a technology company. Brokerage services are offered through Augment Capital LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services are offered through Augment Advisors LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Augment Capital LLC and Augment Advisors LLC are wholly owned subsidiaries of Augment Markets Inc. Please see Augment’s disclosures here.
