When Goldman Sachs announced it would acquire Industry Ventures for up to $965 million last week, the deal underscored a seismic shift happening beneath the surface of venture capital: the secondary market has exploded from a niche tool into a $152 billion necessity, fundamentally changing how startups get funded and how investors get paid back.

For better or worse, this is the new reality of startup funding. VCs can no longer afford to simply "spray and pray" and wait for exits. They need active liquidity management strategies. And that fundamentally changes what kinds of companies get funded and how.