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.