I think the real trend here is that small, fast-growing companies "cash out" not by having an IPO, which might get you an annoying "activist shareholder" lawsui

I think the real trend here is that small, fast-growing companies "cash out" not by having an IPO, which might get you an annoying "activist shareholder" lawsuit in a year or two as soon as you do something they don't like, but rather by selling to an existing, large company (Apple or Facebook or Google or whoever). Then, in many cases, the founders of the original company go out and start another one, using the money (and experience) they got from founding the first one. I'd say the real issue here is the amount of headaches involved in doing an IPO and being a publicly traded company.