keywords: forbes entrepreneurs private companies billion
text: The Importance Of Being Private (Forbes.com) Forbes.com - Google's 1.7 billion initial public offering in August gave entrepreneurs reason to rub the sleepy dust out of their eyes. All year the new-issues market had been slowly awakening. Through the end of October U.S. companies raised  #36;29 billion in initial stock sales, almost twice the total raised in all of 2003.