In today's investment world, the so-called celebrity investor is commonplace, such as Ken Heebner, Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, and Jim Cramer.

However, one of the first celebrity investors was Gerald Tsai, who made a big impact on the go-go markets of the 1960s. Unfortunately, this week he Tsai died at the age of 79 (ironically, he was born in 1929, a critical year for the world's stock markets).

Keep in mind that when Tsai got his start -- as a money manager for Fidelity Investments -- Wall Street was a fairly conservative place. That is, money managers focused on well-known companies that usually paid reliable dividends.

The concept of growth investing was quite foreign and scary. But Tsai saw it as a big opportunity. After all, the U.S. was undergoing a major change with new technologies (such as computers). As a result, he innovated a new type of investment vehicle: the aggressive growth fund. Through this, he evolved some of the key concepts of momentum investing.

Tsai's fund zoomed 27X from 1957 to 1965. From there, he started his own fund, the Manhattan Fund, which he sold to CNA Financial in 1968. It was great timing as the bull market was ready to implode.

But that wasn't the end of Tsai. In fact, in the 1980s, he sensed opportunity and leveraged his assets to purchase American Can. Through savvy dealmaking, he turned the company into Primerica, which ultimately became part of Citigroup (NYSE: C).

Yes, Tsai had an amazing life. And, if you want to learn more about it, there's a good book on the topic: The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

It is refreshing to any reader when the author of a book has walked the walk and talked the talk. Well, this is the case with Michael Moe's new book Finding the Next Starbucks. Michael Moe was among the very first analysts to discover the growth and magic of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX). Mike was a young analyst visiting companies up in Seattle, and after a long week, his last meeting was with the fledgling, up start company named after a Moby Dick character. Mike nearly canceled the meeting to catch an earlier plane home. The readers of Mike's new book should be grateful he did not. Mike was involved with Starbucks when it had a market value of barely $200 million: today Starbucks' market capitalization is $20 billion.

Finding the Next Starbucks is a must read for any level investor, new to experienced. Michael Moe brings his more than 20+ years of investment banking and analytical experience and skills to life. Michael is passionate about growth investing and the power of growth. I said he has walked the walk and talked the talk: Michael is Chairman, Founder and CEO of ThinkEquity Partners headquartered in San Francisco. ThinkEquity has recently merged with British firm Panmure Gordon to establish the entity into a global player.