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Denise Brosseau, President FWE

by Peg Townsend

As President of FWE, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Denise has single handedly helped shape how women seek high tech capital for startups.

It was the faces of the young women on the oncology ward of the hospital that haunted Denise Brosseau. The delicate shape of the women's skulls laid bare by chemotherapy. The hollow cheeks. The frightened eyes. Brosseau, who was in the hospital to help care for her mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, looked into their faces and it changed her life. Her best friend's 27-year-old husband had just had surgery for a brain tumor. Her father had been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia. "It was a huge wakeup call," said Brosseau, sitting in the Redwood Shores, Calif., offices of Forum for Women Entrepreneurs which she now runs. "It was very much a time to say 'hmm, what are you waiting for?" Brosseau, who had a high-paying job at a software firm and her own consulting business, bought a book called "Stay or Leave," which talks about making the decision to leave or remain with a company.

But for Brosseau, it showed she had a third choice. "I had a high-risk profile," says the 5-foot-2 Brosseau. "It showed I would make a really good entrepreneur." So at 31, Brosseau left her high-profile job to enroll in Stanford University's business school. If it hadn't been for that decision, Brosseau, 40, may have never become executive director of the non-profit FWE, which, last year, helped 19 women raise $133 million in venture capital to start their own companies. If it hadn't been for that decision, hundreds of women across the U.S. may not have had access to top lawyers, accountants and financiers that they do today. "I gave up higher salaries elsewhere and opportunities because I'm determined and focused on this mission," Brosseau says. "I want to make the world aware of the accomplishments of women and open doors for women. "I want to change the poster of Silicon Valley."

Brosseau's adaptability and willingness to make big changes may have come from her early years, when she and her family moved to Paris for three years. Her father worked for IBM and instead of being angry that she was missing out on her high school years back home, the teen-age Brosseau delighted in the freedom of the European city. She loved the noisy energy, the exotic food, the romantic-sounding language. "I fell in love with the freedom to be in a place like Paris," Brosseau says. "My curfew was the last train home at 1 a.m." Her vistas broadened, Brosseau returned home to go to Wellesley where she chose the unpractical but fascinating field of Russian studies as her major.

Then it was time to get a job. "For a person who helps people find jobs now, I have to say my own job search was abysmal," Brosseau says with a laugh. She got a list of about 10 law firms in Washington D.C. that hired out of Wellesley, prepared her resume and sent them off. She didn't even check to make sure the addresses listed were still current. "How incredibly disorganized I was," says Brosseau, who is known as a stickler for organization now. Some of the resumes came back marked "return to sender" because the addresses had changed. One came back saying to call in three months and the last one said to stop by for an interview when she was in town. Brosseau headed for Washington and within 24 hours had a job as a paralegal at one of the most prestigious firms in that city. It was an opportunity that could have brought her a career in the law. But, Brosseau says, she saw what the law did to HER FRIENDS - how it sucked the fun out of them and bent their spirits under a burden of minutia.

So, she did what was in her heart. She joined a startup travel agency that, within a few days of unpacking, landed the Mondale-Ferraro campaign account and for the next eight months put in 14-hour days, seven days a week. The BEST thing that came out of the job was the fact that Brosseau used her bonus to move to California. There she found a job with another startup company operating out of a drafty warehouse under a freeway in San Francisco. A year later, it closed. "I was presented with many other interesting job opportunities over the next few years, and in each case, I chose the new and unproven over the tried and true," Brosseau says. She followed her interest in cool technology and interesting people, rather than having prestigious names to put on her resume. She formed her own Mac consulting company and got a job with Broderbund Software.

But it was after she went to Stanford - after had quit her job and sunk almost $60,000 into business school - that she found her true calling. It came partly from opportunity and partly out of a somewhat old-fashioned sounding motto at Wellesley. "'Not to be ministered unto but to minister,'" Brosseau says. "What I believed was that it meant that I should have a purpose larger than myself. "Over time, this has developed into a simple statement 'empowering others is empowering yourself.'" Brosseau joined FWE, which was founded by one of her Stanford colleagues, Jennifer Gill Roberts, in order to open some of the doors that were closed to women wanting to start their own companies. Today, there are 1,000 women members in the non-profit FWE who get advice, support and opportunities to have their new companies funded through the organization.

It makes Brosseau proud. A vein of excitement runs through Brosseau's voice as she describes a trailblazing forum sponsored by FWE in January, 2000. Called Springboard 2000, the event helped 26 women present their business plans to an audience of high-powered venture capitalists. "It brought together an entire community to make it happen," says Brosseau, who was one of the chief organizers of the event. There were business people who helped pick the 26 presenters out of more than 300 women entrepreneurs who had applied. There were coaches who helped the women refine their pitches. There were those who got investors to come. Then, in a big auditorium at the Oracle Conference Center in Redwood Shores, Calif., the women entrepreneurs stood before an audience of 350 investors and gave their pitches.

Allyson Campa, seven months pregnant with her second child, presented her plan for Bravo Gifts, a business gift website, and raised $27 million following the event. Pamela Reilly Contag presented her plan for Xenogen Corp., a developer of medical-imaging technology, and six months later closed a $30.5 million round of financing. In all, 22 of the 26 women presenting at the forum received venture capital funds. "I just felt proud. Really proud," Brosseau says. Sitting in her unassuming office scattered with papers and books, Brosseau ticks off the other opportunities offered by FWE: the networking, the briefing sessions, the conferences. She has a special place in her heart for the eSeries program which brings together 20 women entrepreneurs for three months and gives them a glimpse into the world of venture capital and practical lessons on running a business.

Sitting around a table, dressed in everything from jeans to tailored suits and eating take-out, the women hear presentations from the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley. They hear from lawyers, accountants and CEOs. They get to ask questions and have a safe place to discuss their successes and failures. But most of all, the series forms a network of women who are taking their places on the front-line of a new economy - a whole new, gutsy army of women entrepreneurs. Now, according to information from FWE, women-owned firms account for 38 percent of all companies in the U.S. And 37 percent of those earning MBAs in the U.S. are women, compared to only 5 percent in the '70s.

Brosseau likes the numbers. An extroverted woman who likes traveling, spending time with friends and "chick music," she believes that connecting women is what counts. "I'm a connector," Brosseau says. "From the time I was in eighth grade I have kept the addresses and phone numbers of everyone I have met. "I have lifetime friends," Brosseau says - and a Rolodex most people would die for. Keep your eyes open, she tells women. Go to trade shows and conferences. Talk to your women friends about how much money they make so you have power when it comes time to negotiate. "Remember that you are responsible for your own career and don't sit around waiting for anyone else to take care of you," Brosseau says matter-of-factly. "Because," she says, "they won't."

A FEW MORE MINUTES WITH DENISE BROSSEAU:

T.D. If you could have dinner with two people (living or not) who would they be?

BROSSEAU: I would certainly choose Eleanor Roosevelt, who is one of personal heroines. She overcame significant adversity as a mother, wife and daughter-in-law and came into her own quite late in life, but she was still one of the most influential women of the 20th Century. Second choice would probably be Leonardo da Vinci. The diversity and complexity of his interests and the depth of his creativity would make for a lively dinner.

T.D.: What's is the last book you read? Anything you would recommend?

BROSSEAU: I am very much enjoying my latest book, "The Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women." It is written by a woman journalist Geraldine Brooks who spent 10 years in the Middle East interviewing women in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, etc., about why they wore the veil and what it meant to them. It is a fascinating cultural study that really opened my eyes to the depths of this issue, which before I had dismissed as just a barbaric leftover of times past.

T.D.: If you were to choose a different profession, what would it be?

BROSSEAU: I think I would enjoy having Terry Gross' job from NPR where she gets to interview all these amazing people every day, learning a new subject each time. She has interviewed authors, musicians, artists and great thinkers and each time it is apparent that she has mastered her subject but also allowed new points of view to come her way.

T.D.: What is your definition of success?

BROSSEAU: To me, so much of success has to do with understanding your own meaning and purpose. Without that, there is no real success. Silicon Valley and much of the rest of the world has become so wrapped up in money and big houses as a sign of success. To me, it's more about whether you are accomplishing your personal goals and living up to some higher purpose. Whether it is becoming a great chef, a great parent, a great friend, a great politician...each of us has role to play where we can make a difference in the lives of others.

Peg Townsend is an award winning writer with Central Newspapers and a contributor to TECHdivas.com