If you bumped into a venture capitalist this week, he or she probably brought up the super-secret confab Benchmark partner Bill Gurley held this week to proselytize the benefits of direct listings. 

Investors, directors and lawyers gathered at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, and, despite the presentation screens going out on Gurley’s talk, more than a dozen attendees told me they were impressed by the panels and talks, which attacked Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for profiting off traditional IPOs while their clients left lots of money on the table.