Sherman Henderson, former chair of Lightyear Networks and COMPTEL, has a new gig at Derby Capital.  There were a few events where Derby Capital was explaining their deal, but my pal went and explained it to me.

So Derby Capital will bring new business to a carrier - like Star2Star and Windstream. The agent will be buying in for an equity plan. Not cheap either. So you buy your equity stake, act as an agent, and if the company has an exit event, you get paid off your equity stake.

I guess everything that was old is new again. Equity stakes have been tried before - see TNCI. I think Derby Capital will do well, since Henderson did something similar back in the WilTel days, but I think  everyone else will be holding their breath.