Since the government gave up its prosecution of Frank Quattrone, he has slowly worked his way back up the food chain in Silicon Valley. Now, as the New York Times makes clear, he's once again on top. The credit crunch has left the top investment banks in poor position to assert themselves in the new Valley. And the disdain for them is palpable among executives and consultants.

Quattrone was in perfect position to fill the void. He now advises about 20 companies, from Google,at the top, all the way down to start ups. And he's been a player in recent deals, including EMC's purchase of Data Domain. Other small banks are also asserting themselves. We'll see if a new "four horsemen" emerge for the post dot.com era.  

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