Individual investors are likely to have access to initial growth companies through private investments, sometimes called "friends-and-family capital". At such an early stage, investors often know the company founders personally. And they can only hope to make a profit on their investment in the distant future, when the company offers its shares on a secondary trading market, or when the investor can find somebody else to purchase his or her ownership at a premium (which would take place, for example, if another company were to purchase all of the outstanding shares of the company).