He estimates the same assignments would cost 10 times as much if the company hired a top-tier consulting firm.

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In yet another sign of the growing influence of the secondary markets, Alex Ferrara, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, is leaving the top-tier venture capital firm to join Millennium Technology Value Partners, a firm that buys private shares from employees and venture investors in companies like Facebook, Twitter, and eHarmony.

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That has drawn top-tier entrepreneurs who seek the firm out.

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After Alberto Herrera , chief executive of fledgling wireless-sensor network company Medida , pitched his firm to a panel of four top-tier Silicon Valley venture capitalists--in front of a standing-room-only crowd of some 350 people-- Josh Stein of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson was so impressed that he asked Herrera to set up a meeting.

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Akerson had held top-tier positions at MCI, Nextel and American Express before joining buyout firm The Carlyle Group as Managing Director.

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