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.

Capital Instincts: Life As an Entrepreneur, Financier, and Athlete

Business & Money

Brandt, Richard L.

Economics

wiley

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

Management & Leadership

Bertrams Books

An award-winning journalist and technology correspondent for BusinessWeek draws on interviews with the Google founders' employees, competitors, and professors to trace their early years, expansion strategies, and advertising restrictions while analyzing their user-focused philosophy.

Inside Larry and Sergey's Brain

Industries

Portfolio

Amazon's business model is deceptively simple: Make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won't think twice. It can almost be summed up by the button on every page: "Buy now with one click."
Why has Amazon been so successful? Much of it has to do with Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder, whose unique combination of character traits and business strategy have driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world.
Richard Brandt charts Bezos's rise from computer nerd to world- changing entrepreneur. His success can be credited to his forward-looking insights and ruthless business sense. Brandt explains: 
<ul>
<li>Why Bezos decided to allow negative product reviews, correctly guessing that the earned trust would outweigh possible lost sales. 
</li> <li>Why Amazon zealously guards some patents yet freely shares others. 
</li> <li>Why Bezos called becoming profitable the "dumbest" thing they could do in 1997. 
</li> <li>How Amazon.com became one of the only dotcoms to survive the bust of the early 2000s. 
</li> <li>Where the company is headed next. Through interviews with Amazon employees, competitors, and observers, Brandt has deciphered how Bezos makes decisions. The story of Amazon's ongoing evolution is a case study in how to reinvent an entire industry, and one that anyone in business today ignores at their peril. </li>
</ul>

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

How much do you really know about Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin? The Google Guys skips past the general Google story and focuses on what really drives the company's founders. Richard L. Brandt shows the company as the brainchild of two brilliant individuals and looks at Google's business decisions in light of its founders' ambition and beliefs. Larry is the main strategist, with business acumen and practical drive, while Sergey is the primary technologist and idealist, with brilliant ideas and strong moral positions. But they work closely together, almost like complementary halves of a single brain. Through interviews with current and former employees, competitors, partners, and senior Google management, plus conversations with the founders themselves, Brandt demystifies the company while clarifying a number of misconceptions.

The Google Guys: Inside the Brilliant Minds of Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Penguin Publishing Group

Amazon’s business model is deceptively simple: Make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won’t think twice. It almost can be summed up by the button on every page: “Buy now with one click.” Why has Amazon been so successful? Much of it has to do with Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO, whose unique combination of character traits and business strategy has driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world. Richard Brandt charts Bezos’s rise from computer nerd to world-changing entrepreneur. Through interviews with Amazon employees, competitors, and observers, Brandt has deciphered how Bezos makes decisions. The story of Amazon’s ongoing evolution is a case study in how to reinvent an entire industry, and one that businesses today ignore at their peril.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brandt, Richard L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Brandt, Richard L.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brandt, Richard L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Capital Instincts: Life As an Entrepreneur, Financier, and Athlete

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

Inside Larry and Sergey's Brain

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

The Google Guys: Inside the Brilliant Minds of Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com