It took Kareem Amin, co-founder and CEO of sales automation startup Clay, to see the company's products eventually take off in 2022. Since then, the startup has experienced explosive growth, reaching a valuation of over $1 billion and expanding its workforce from lows to more than 200.

Although the team's average tenure at the company is short, Amin made a rare decision: Clay allows employees with at least one term to sell some of its shares at a relatively high share price to Sequoia, one of its existing investors. This is everyone's victory. Employee tender offer for the company is $1.5 billion, up from the $1.25 billion it received in Series B funding in January. Since the 2019 Series A, Sequoia has been an investor in Clay and has agreed to buy up to $20 million in employee stock.

Amin told TechCrunch that startup employees often place bets on the company’s future at low prices. “Most startups can’t solve it, but Clay is working out, so we want to make sure they have the option of liquidity.”

According to Amin, both current employees and former employees are eligible to sell a portion of their equity, usually equivalent to about a year’s salary.

Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia, believes that Amin and co-founder Varun Anand’s decision to participate in the startup’s financial success is another unique sign of Clay.

“Clay is a very creative place,” Lin said. The startup’s technology helps salespeople and marketers find the right data and automate their to-market strategies through AI. Clay's tools are used by thousands of customers, from large companies such as OpenAI, HubSpot and Canva to more than 100 small consulting agencies that can help other businesses use clay for their efforts in the market.

The company has not taken its loyal client community for granted. In February, Clay provided its direct users with the option to participate in its growth by allowing its global community members to invest in startups around the world at the same valuation as its Series B investors. Amin said Clay raised about $3 million in the community round so customers can share their growth directly.

Armin believes that the tender offer and community rounds are demonstrations for Clay’s employees and guides clients, building a company is a collective effort: as he puts it, a way to ensure that “the gain is more than just a few people accumulated.”

The tender will help current and former employees cash out some of their shares, giving them a certain degree of financial freedom, but Amin and Anand do not intend to sell any shares in their offering.

For Sequoia, tendering is an opportunity to increase its stake in clay, reflecting the company's confidence in the company's potential.

However, Lin believes that many clay employees are not too eager to sell a lot of stocks now because they want the stocks to be worth more in the future. “The demand could be less than $20 million, which is sad for Sequoia because we want to buy more.”

And if employees don’t sell their shares now, there may be another opportunity in the future. Amin said Clay is growing so rapidly that he wants to launch a bid every year.

Amin hopes that the company's bidding will set a trend and stimulate other startups to provide employee mobility as well.