[drhowarddrfine]

You still can. My company, for instance, has but two investors holding all company stock. My wife and me. If we wished, we could sell a portion of our company to others even though it is not publicly traded. Privately held companies like ours can still sell portions of their company to other investors, or even take investment capital without selling private stock.

[_delirium]

You can even sell to (up to 35) non-accredited investors, as long as you in good faith believe that they are "sophisticated" and understand the investment, and you provide them with some additional required financial disclosures. Afaict, most startups avoid that though, mostly because of worries that having non-accredited investors might complicate future financing rounds.