Q: I've heard Entrex has created a new private investment marketplace with public market disciplines. What does this mean for me as an accredited investor?

- Matt Hayes, investor, Palm Beach, Fla.

A: That's a good question because it gives us the opportunity to step back and look at the big picture.

The creation of the Entrex private marketplace is an important milestone for two reasons. It gives accredited investors like yourself a place where they can invest thoughtfully in private companies. For the private companies themselves, it is nothing less than a new source of capital. But let's get back to you.

Until Entrex, there was no opportunity for those wishing to invest in private companies to do so with any degree of transparency. And as for finding research on private companies outside your local market, forget about it. Transparency, quarterly results, valuations and public market liquidity - that's what Entrex provides.

What Entrex has done is take the compliance standards and reporting structures that have long been a part of the public market and apply them to private companies. This gives investors like you an asset class that, until now, wasn't very attractive.

Furthermore, with the Private Company Index up 37 percent in the first quarter, an average over 12 percent monthly, the private market is red-hot.

You can invest in the underlying securities themselves or at the fund level. The Symphony Development Fund, which comprises socially responsible private companies, is one example of such a fund.

What this all amounts to is an investment revolution, one that you can and should be a part of.