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random questions posed by users. In Katmandu, he trekked with the former head of marketing for an online grocery company. He had a memorable dinner with the former head of sales for a clothing dot.com in Bangkok, and climbed part of Mt. Kilimanjaro with early investors in a company that delivered videos and snacks to your door. When he got to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, a place where he thought he could soak up the silence, he stumbled upon what felt like a summer camp for dot.com dropouts.
    His return to the States was lonely. Friends were gone or hiding in offline leper caves. That said, it all seemed prelude to him. Yes, he had gotten dinged like the rest of them, but he wasn’t staying down. He was now an analyst at Teestone Financial covering computer software and networking. His reports were gaining a following. He was good with words in a way that other analysts were not. That year back in college doing editorials for The Daily Princetonian had paid off. The ability to write was still a differentiator in an industry consumed with figures. Institutional holders bought and sold millions of dollars based on his remarks. The Wall Street Journal quoted him endlessly. Institutional Investor had just named him the top-rated analyst on the Street. He knew everybody, and they knew him. His reports were beginning to drive stocks up, finally. That gave people hope.
    Although Braun had been tainted, he was considered too smart, too relentless, too connected to be cast aside - a 90s Milken whom people couldn’t help but gravitate toward, regardless of past sins. Other analysts liked having Braun back in the saddle. He lent a certain gravitas to a market trying to right itself. Investors liked him because he was beginning to make money for them again. CNBC liked him because he gave them pithy quotes and reminded them of the good old days. His appearances were beginning to boost their ratings. People were in a forgiving mood.
    Even the Sartos who ran the diner back in Michigan had made contact again. His recommendations in the late 90s had lost them $20,000 of their hard-earned money. Guilt prompted him to cover them out of his own pocket. They went their separate ways, but only a month ago they had sent him a letter saying they saw an interview with him, had decided to invest in a couple of companies based on his comments and had made some money.
    The CEOs of the tech companies who hadn’t given up liked him because he stroked their egos and re-validated their visions. They, in turn, were beginning to throw their investment banking business to Teestone, albeit within the confines of the newly reinforced, so-called Chinese walls that were supposed to exist between the investment banking and analyst sides of the house.
    It was Braun’s Man in the Arena tenacity that had won over Aaron Cannondale. Aaron kept a copy of Teddy Roosevelt’s words in his pocket – “… the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause...”
    Aaron had run across Braun back in the day. How had a former ski mask and beauty aid outfit transformed itself into a telecom company? Braun. How had a former wholesale fish company converted itself into a wireless player? Braun. The way Aaron saw it, he needed a guy like Braun to help him give flight to what he had in mind. So it wasn’t completely surprising that while Braun was standing there in line for a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate milk at Rebecca’s, his cell phone rang. He stepped out of line and made his way down one of the small aisles for more privacy.
    “Braun speaking.”
    “It’s Vaughn.”
    Terry Vaughn – the investment banking guru at Teestone, Friend of Cannondale, and arguably one the most connected guys on the Street.
    “Jack, did you catch Cannondale’s speech at the UN