Revenge of the Nerds, the Sequel: Silicon Valley Wallflowers Now Hot
Phil Fernandez was used to being a Silicon Valley wallflower.
His start-up makes software for marketing departments, and for years, he toiled in obscurity as the tech spotlight shined on hip Web arenas like social networking and their young Internet entrepreneurs, such as Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg.
But now it is Mr. Fernandez’s turn in the limelight. His firm, Marketo Inc., is generating buzz among investors as an initial-public-offering candidate. He says he is getting daily invitations to baseball games, lunches with investment bankers and fancy society dinners.
