Barry Silbert

Age: 33

Company: SecondMarket

Year founded: 2004

Site: SecondMarket.com

What SecondMarket does: Second Market is a centralized marketplace and auction platform for illiquid assets (e.g. private company stock, bankruptcy claims, etc.). The platform brings buyers and sellers together to provide transparency, and offers a marketplace and a variety of auction formats, including SecondMarket’s patent pending ManhattanAuctions. The trading platform also features a proprietary matching algorithm to pair buyers and sellers. Silbert developed the idea for SecondMarket in the early 90s while working as an investment banker. He was asked to locate buyers for restricted stock, and he found that the market was fragmented and inefficient. SecondMarket first found success in the restricted securities space and, over time, expanded into numerous other asset classes, including structured products, stock in private companies (such as LinkedIn and Facebook), and bankruptcy claims. Today, there are more than 10,000 SecondMarket participants and nearly 150 employees worldwide.

How he’s changing the game: With nine diverse asset classes, more than 10,000 buyers and sellers, and more $25 billion in assets available for sale, SecondMarket is the largest illiquid asset marketplace in the world. The SecondMarket business model combines the efficiency of a centralized, transparent, online trading platform with the expertise of market specialists employed by the company. Silbert says this model, “brings an effective solution tocreating liquidity in complex, historically opaque asset classes.”

Recent highlights: In the last year, SecondMarket launched its market for private company stock. The company also announced it is launching its marketplace in the Asian market and received Series B financing from worldrenowned Chinese investor Li Kashing, and Singapore-based Temasek Holdings. In 2009, SecondMarket had nearly $2 billion in transactions. The company also acquired InsideVenture, a firm that helps match institutional investors with privately held companies, and opened a Silicon Valley office. Silbert earned a 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and was named in Treasury & Risk’s 2009 list of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance.

What’s next: With two strategic Asian investors recently onboard, SecondMarket will expand into Asia by providing local buyers and sellers access to its existing dollar denominated assets, as well as develop distinct region-specific markets that address liquidity issues present in the various Asian markets.

Keep up with the 2010 Game Changers on Twitter (#gamechangersnyc) and on Facebook.