Silicon Valley's Prodigal Son Comes Home

Silicon Valley prodigal son Frank Quattrone is staging a comeback, poised to debut his new tech-centered investment bank Qatalyst—after years recovering from federal obstruction-of-justice charges. But now that he's back, the question is whether the industry will welcome home an errant child with open arms. Probably, BusinessWeek writes—if he wields his Rolodex right.

Before getting burned, Quattrone helped jumpstart Amazon.com, Cisco Systems and Netscape—in turn jumpstarting the 1990s IPO boom. As a result, many Silicon Valley luminaries consider Quattrone a tech-world founding father, and those are the ones he's looking to tap. And with most investment banks stretched thin by a limping economy, Quattrone's self-styled "boutique" venture could make for a smooth reentry. (More Silicon Valley stories.)