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9. Salman Ullah and Sean Dempsey
Then: VP and Principal, Corporate Development
Now: Founders of Merus Capital

After three years of helping lead Google's aggressive acquisition efforts, Ullah, 44, and Dempsey, 34, took what they'd learned about scoping out startups to launch Merus Capital. Merus, which means "pure" in Latin, is still in stealth mode and all Ullah and Dempsey will say about their Palo Alto-based fund is that they'll be investing in early-stage tech companies. It can't hurt their business that some of the most interesting new companies are being started by ex-Googlers.

NEXT: Olana Khan
Last updated July 28 2008: 1:44 PM ET
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