Great article in the Mercury on Merriman, Curhan, Ford & Co., a investment bank that arose post-bubble. Get this, their Analysts are actually analysts. What a novel idea. Mike from Techdirt points out that its relatively easy for this to work in today's climate and the challenge will be avoiding conflicts when the market gets cooking.
There is a little history here. The bank, to Jon Merriman's credit, arose from the ashes of a company I founded, RateXchange. Jon was our banker at First Security Van Kaspar, helped us raise a $35m PIPE came in as CEO just as I left. RateXchange was serving the telecom market, Jon and the board was smart enough to recognize the market was dissapearing and the company needed a new direction. Jon went with what he knew, recognizing the opportunity for SF-based boutique investment banks after the industry had dissolved them all. Jon ran a tight ship, navigated a tough transition and built a new bank on great people and ethical structure demanded by markets today.
I have only been an observer (and shareholder) of this transformation, but its a great example of how a restart can work and how those who do it deserve credit for foundership of something wonderfully new.
