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"Not Your Father's Silicon Valley"

Venture capitalist Roger McNamee says the area has survived the downturn well and its outfits have reemerged as leaders

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September 7, 2004 at 4:00 AM UTC

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There are smart tech investors, and then there's Roger McNamee, a man with a reputation for spotting tech trends before they happen. In the early 1980s, one of McNamee's first investments was ADP (ADP ), a small company that went on to become the gorilla of automated payroll processing. In 1999, he co-founded Silver Lake Partners, a leveraged-buyout firm that specializes in taking sickly tech outfits off the public markets and fixing them.

His latest investment venture, Elevation Partners, has a decided pop-culture twist. Formed in April, one of its managing directors will be rock musician Bono, the sunglasses-wearing lead singer of rock band U2. Bono will presumably help the Silicon Valley denizens mingle with the Hollywood crowd and aid Elevation Partners' search for companies that combine the tech and entertainment industries.