The Shrinking Public Markets, and Rise of Private Liquidity Loops

Over the past 30 years, the number of publicly traded companies in the U.S. has been sliced in half, falling from a peak of ~8,000 in the late '90s to just ~4,000 today.That stat shocked me. I knew IPOs were a slow drip, but I didn’t realize that the number of companies being taken private was far out pacing the number joining the NYSE and NASDAQ ranks.Today we discuss:* Three structural changes in the capital markets that brought us to this point* The rise of private credit* How companies staying private changes your job as an operator or CFOThis week’s podcast is brought to you by Campfire (www.campfire.ai)We’ve all used legacy ERPs. Painful migrations, endless consulting fees, and even after you’re live, getting simple answers still means hours in spreadsheets.Campfire fixes that. It’s the AI-first ERP built for modern finance and accounting teams. It's helping mid-market and enterprise teams close faster, unlock insights instantly, and scale smarter - without the additional headcount.I use Campfire myself, and it’s been a game changer for our finance workflow. The interface is intuitive, migration was quick & painless, and it's freed us up to focus on strategic work.They just raised $35 million from Accel to further reimagine ERP. That's not easy to do.I’m excited to see how they keep reimagining this space – and you should be too.Check them out at www.campfire.ai. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com