Capital Instincts: Life As An Entrepreneur, Financier, And Athlete

An insider's view of the investment banking world from someone who is actually shaping it
Powerful, controversial and determined, Thomas Weisel is known for his unwavering focus on winning the race, whether he is competing in a national cycling championship, sponsoring Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong or negotiating with business competitors. For twenty-seven years he ran one of the major investment banks on the West Coast, bringing public companies such as Applied Materials, Siebel Systems and Yahoo! and was instrumental in establishing San Francisco as an alternative financial center to Wall Street. In 1997 he sold his company to NationsBank, which later merged with Bank of America. Unhappy with his treatment after the merger, Weisel trumped Bank of America by negotiating a separation package that included $500 million in stock options and the ability to hire away crucial Bank of America management. Within two years, the investment bank he started, Thomas Weisel Partners, reached half a billion dollars in revenues and negotiated high-profile deals such as Yahoo!'s merger with Geocities. Power Investor weaves Weisel's approach to success, his competitive nature and love of cycling into a fascinating inside account of the cutthroat world of investment banking.
Thomas Weisel (San Francisco, CA) is the founder, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Thomas Weisel Partners, a research-driven merchant bank exclusively focused on the growth sectors of the U.S. economy. He is founder and president of Tailwind Sports, which manages the U.S. Postal Service cycling team, and was an Olympic-class speed skater and the former chairman of the U.S. Ski Foundation.
Richard Brandt (San Francisco, CA) has twenty years' experience as a leading business journalist. He was a senior reporter for BusinessWeek for fourteen years and editor in chief of the technology business magazine Upside for four years.

RICHARD L. BRANDT is one of the few journalists who has gained Weisel's trust, and has contacts deep within the worlds of finance and technology. A veteran journalist with over twenty years' experience, Brandt was formerly Editor-in-Chief of Upside magazine. Prior to joining Upside, Brandt was a senior reporter for BusinessWeek for fourteen years.
THOMAS WEISEL has led his most recent firm, Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), to the top of the investment banking world. His negotiation tactics, strong stomach for risk, and ability to ferret out influential investment trends are legendary. Weisel has expanded the firm into a multifaceted merchant bank that, in only four years of existence, has orchestrated $135 billion worth of public and private stock offerings and mergers, invests in private companies with two funds totaling $1.6 billion, manages over $5 billion worth of assets for private clients, and acts as a prime broker for many of the world's largest financial institutions.

San Francisco investment boutique Thomas Weisel Partners just offloaded another 100 employees (spurring more rumors the firm will be sold), but its 62-year-old founder is busy charging up other hills. Weisel, a renowned cyclist, has been promoting his new autobiography, Capital Instincts: Life as an Entrepreneur, Financier, and Athlete, and doling out the tome to clients. The book isn't exactly flying off the shelves (Amazon rank: 9,136), but it's packed with testosterone-charged tales of Weisel's athletic, business, and art-collecting exploits--including his recent $40 million sale of abstract impressionist art. Chapter 1: "Never Underestimate Thom Weisel." (Fortune Magazine, March 31,2003)

Foreword.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Never Underestimate Thom Weisel.
Life on the Edge of a Precipice.
Of Midget Boys and Men.
Breaking Away.
A Goof Place to Be.
Passion Is Good.
Skiing, Cycling, Selling Stocks.
Postal Services.
The Buildup.
Politics and Art.
The Big Sale.
The Big Boom.
Conflicted.
The New Age and Old Age.
Endnotes.
Timeline.
Index.