Why would a VC care if later rounds of funding came from an IPO or through Private Financing, as long as they were able to liquidate.<p>What I think is cute, is that with Second Market, Sharespost, and others, we're seeing "collectives" or "partnerships" raise money from the private investors, and then purchase private stock.<p>For all intents and purposes, these private companies will now have thousands (or tens of thousands) of investors, as represented by a few very large partnerships.<p>Unlike Google, these private companies won't exceed the 500 investor limit, won't have to go public, will allow employees to liquidate - and the only organization that is hurt will be the SOX auditors who don't get a new public company to audit.