Companies are arriving at public markets larger, more mature, and less dependent on public capital than their predecessors were. The pool of public companies reflects this. Private markets built the infrastructure the IPO once monopolizedThe reasons are structural rather than cyclical. Private markets have responded by developing the infrastructure to support companies at sizes that once would have required public capital. But its role as the primary gateway to growth is diminishing, and the companies choosing to stay private longer are making a rational calculation that the infrastructure now exists to support them without it.