The Technology Boom
As a tech stock analyst and client of financial advisory professionals that service technology companies in the 1990s, AKA tech investment bankers, I saw up close the essential role investment banks played in creating Silicon Valley.
The leading tech bankers known as the Four Horsemen – Robertson, Stephens & Co, Hambrecht & Quist, Montgomery Securities, and Alex. Brown & Sons were the dealmakers that made Microsoft, Apple, Intel, and Amazon possible.
It was a wild time and lasted so long that eventually, it seemed “normal.” Near the end, the tech bubble looked irrationally overdone (it was) and when it popped, the world changed. The Four Horsemen are now gone. Nevertheless, the tech industry had launched with great success.
A friend and colleague, JP Mark, also watched as the tech launch unfolded, but from the perspective of investment banking and research. Recently, he interviewed Sandy Robertson, the Founder of Robertson Stephens & Co., and wrote about it. (Did you wonder where the name “the Four Horsemen” came from? I hadn’t known until I read JP’s article.)
I look forward to JP’s book which emerges from his terrific tech industry experience, skillful interviews with key founders in the tech industry, and JP’s amazing writing skills.