Build Your Fortune in the Fifth Era : How Angel Investors, VCs, and Entrepreneurs Prosper in an Age of Unprecedented Innovation

The Internet didn’t even exist 30 years ago, and now billions of people are connected to the web every day, and remarkable new technologies have been invented that will dramatically change the way humans exist on our planet. This emerging playing field is not well understood and not everyone who was successful in the past will be able to benefit from this momentous shift. In “Build Your Fortune in the Fifth Era,” Silicon Valley insiders Matthew C. Le Merle and Alison Davis provide insights, based on 30 years of leading, investing in and advising new technology companies, on the rules of this game, and outline options for how readers can participate and prosper in the coming Fifth Era.

In these pages, through plain language and inspiring stories, you’ll:

• Understand this Age of Unprecedented Change. A time of transition to a new age unlike anything we have experienced before
• Discover the Greatest Wealth Creation Opportunity Ever. Every industry is being transformed and wealth is shifting to new disruptive players and those who back them
• Explore 9 Options to Build Your Fortune. The nine options to build your fortune and prosper in an age of unprecedented innovation

Matthew C. Le Merle is co-founder of Fifth Era (www.fifthera.com) and managing partner of Keiretsu Capital, the world's largest angel network and most active US venture investor. For more information go to www.matthewlemerle.com. Matthew is a sought-after speaker and innovation consultant. He is an expert on digitization and technology transformations having advised leading companies including Bank of America, eBay, EDS, Gap, Genentech, Google, HP, Microsoft, PayPal and Tata/JLR and many other companies on innovation-related issues. Matthew has advised sovereign and regional economic entities on issues of innovation, entrepreneurialism and cluster growth. Clients have covered the globe from China, the EU, and the UK to the US including in his home state of California and the Bay Area/Silicon Valley. Matthew's career has spanned being a global strategy advisor, professional services firm leader, corporate operating executive, private equity and venture capital investor, and board director for high growth public and private digital economy companies. Earlier in his career, Matthew spent 21 years as a strategy consultant and advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs, boards and executive teams with McKinsey & Company, and as a practice leader with EDS/A.T. Kearney and Monitor Group where he led both firms' West Coast practices and at Booz & Company. He was also a corporate executive at Gap Inc. where he was SVP strategy and corporate development and SVP global marketing. Matthew received a B.A. (Double First) and Master's from Christ Church, Oxford, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was born in London, UK, and is now a dual US/UK citizen and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Alison Davis, and their five children.

Alison Davis is co-founder of Fifth Era (www.fifthera.com). She is a global strategist, finance professional, public company board director and active investor in growth companies. For more information go to www.alisondavis.com. Alison is currently a director of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Fiserv (FISV), Unisys (UIS) and Ooma (OOMA), and is chair of the advisory board for BlockChain Capital. She is a former director of, City National Bank (CYC), Diamond Foods (DMND), First Data Corporation (FDC), Xoom (XOOM), and many private companies and was the Chairman of LECG (XPRT) until its sale in 2011. She has chaired audit, compensation, and governance committees and is a frequent speaker on corporate governance. Alison was previously the managing partner of Belvedere Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in US banks and financial services firms. Prior to this, Alison was the Chief Financial Officer of Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock), the world's largest institutional investment firm with more than $1.5 trillion of assets under management. Earlier in her career, Alison spent 14 years as a strategy consultant and advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs, boards and executive teams with McKinsey & Company, and as a practice leader with A.T. Kearney where she built and led the global Financial Services Practice. Alison is active in the community supporting non-profits and social enterprises as a board director, fundraiser and volunteer. She has been frequently named a "Most Influential Women in Business" by the San Francisco Business Times. She received a B.A. Honors and a Master's in Economics from Cambridge University in England, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business after completing the first-year at Harvard. She was born in Sheffield, UK, is now a dual US/UK citizen and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Matthew C. Le Merle, and their five children.