>If so, why should a company like Etsy even bother to go public? Etsy took $85m in VC funding. Those VCs want an exit. So, in my mind, they made the decision

>If so, why should a company like Etsy even bother to go public? Etsy took $85m in VC funding. Those VCs want an exit. So, in my mind, they made the decision to eventually go public at the same time they made the decision to take that funding. I do agree with your broader point "Wouldn't it have been fine to not go public?" but I think if you want to plan to not go public, you probably should bootstrap your company instead of taking VC funding.