I’ve met some investment bankers along the way and here’s my take on what will happen to them over the next 2-5 years. As you know, many of them are now ‘on the street’ (and not Wall Street, either).  Just like other people who now find themselves unemployed, these Brooks Brother-wearing studs and studdettes are getting meager unemployment benefits and wondering “WTF?”  They’re in grief, maybe denial. You might even see them down at  Starbucks staring off into space wondering what’s next, trying to figure out how to replace their 6-figure salaries and matching bonuses.

Sure, a small percentage of them, those on the top floors with big offices, helped get us into this mess.  But the vast percentage toiled countless hours doing hard analytical work which, contrary to what you read, was generally used to make the right kind of financial decisions. Make no mistake, these are wicked smart people.

To my point. Investment banking is shedding jobs like automakers, textile workers and newspaper reporters. The people in these other industries will migrate to other industries and a great percentage will be re-trained in new skills, either at a vocational school or in an on-the-job training program.  What about these investment banker types?  What will they do?

One thing is clear. Over the last two decades, some of our best and the brightest—generally speaking—went into investment banking.  From 40,000 feet, these people understand business, they are extremely hard working (like 24 hours around the clock-type hard working), and they can apply business school logic to markets, industries and niches.

My prediction is that many of them, after they realize that their financial skills are no longer needed by now smaller investment banks, will start their own companies or buy poorly run ones.

Soon we will see a new class of entrepreneurs, these ex I-bankers, who will create new businesses with just as much passion as current entrepreneurs but a more healthy background in finance and general business skills.

This could morph itself into the greatest spate of new companies and entrepreneurial activity since, well, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

You heard it here first.

This should be great news to all those 60-70 year-old retired business people who lost their retirement accounts. If I were 28 again, I’d be signing up Grandpa as an advisor, particularly for operations and sales.