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By James E. Aisner, HBS Director of Media Relations
Peter Brooke (HBS MBA '54) is a voracious reader, but the tastes of this renowned venture capitalist don't include business bestsellers. Instead, he prefers to settle down with a volume of European history. Brooke's pioneering professional pursuits reflect his broad worldview. Making use of venture capital as, in his words, "an effective economic development tool," he focused on investments not only in this country but abroad years before the importance of the global economy became conventional wisdom.
As head of TA Associates, a venture capital firm he had founded in Boston in 1968, Brooke established a unique network of affiliated VC operations, initially in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Japan. And with the launch of Advent International in 1984, he created the first global private equity firm. Investing in international growth-oriented companies and providing them with extensive operational and developmental support, Advent today ranks as one of the world's largest private equity investors, with more than $4 billion under management and offices stretching from Silicon Valley to Singapore.
Present at the unveiling of the Marshall Plan at Harvard's Commencement ceremonies in 1947 (which he attended while a student at Phillips Exeter Academy), Brooke has been influenced by that model throughout his career. "An industry that wishes to sustain itself must have an underlying philosophical concept that adds value," he observed upon his induction into the Private Equity Hall of Fame in 1996. "Making money is not enough. Making a contribution to industrial growth, employment, and society is what will distinguish an industry and sustain it over a long period of time."
Brooke first took that tack as a loan officer at the First National Bank of Boston (FNB) in the late 1950s after serving in the U.S. Army. The Massachusetts economy was then suffering from an exodus of textile and shoe manufacturers to less costly locales. However, the space race that began in 1957 with the orbiting of Sputnik provided the perfect antidote, recalls the dapper Brooke in his office in the heart of Boston's financial district. Small technology firms were springing up throughout the metropolitan area to work on projects for the U.S. government. They had access to the best minds from local universities; what they needed was money. With the support of two senior colleagues at the bank, Brooke developed a rationale for taking on what many others regarded as dangerous territory. The number of guaranteed federal contracts was so large, he argued, that there was virtually no risk.
Brooke was soon visiting start-ups in Cambridge (including Dr. An Wang's new enterprise near MIT) and along Route 128. "The idea was to attract the best technology-based companies through a combination of more loan capital and low interest rates," he explains. The successful efforts of Brooke and other members of the newly formed High Technology Lending Group made the FNB a major player in the recovery and repositioning of the Massachusetts economy.
In 1961 Brooke accepted an offer to grow the venture capital and private equity department of Bessemer Securities Corp. in New York City—an arrangement that had him commuting to Concord, Massachusetts, every weekend to be with his wife, Anne, and their three young sons. Wanting to spend more time with his family, Brooke opted to return to Boston in 1963 and a position at Tucker Anthony & Co.—the struggling VC arm of Tucker Anthony & R.L. Day—which he soon turned into a moneymaker. Named a partner in the parent firm in 1966, Brooke put together the funding for TA Associates a few years later.
Although TA Associates became one of the largest venture capital firms in the country, revenues from its first two funds weren't sufficient to meet operating needs. To make up the difference, Brooke undertook consulting assignments—among them a request from Arthur D. Little to contribute to a study for the French Ministry of Industry on the development of innovative companies. Convinced by Brooke's analysis, France created tax incentives to encourage institutions and individuals to contribute to VC funds. The next step occurred in 1973, when he accepted an invitation from the French government to cofound Paris-based Sofinnova S.A., now the oldest venture capital firm on the Continent.
From then on, Brooke's strategic outlook knew no boundaries, as TA Associates searched for more international opportunities. "We established the first venture capital firms in a number of other countries," he notes, "maintaining, on average, a 25 percent interest in each of them, while putting majority ownership in the hands of native associates, who provided invaluable insights and leads. We, in turn, advised them on management issues and the venture capital process." When Brooke left TA Associates in 1984 to found Advent, these operations formed the foundation of a new (and now more centralized) network that currently numbers thirty affiliates. Leaving the dealmaking to others at Advent, Brooke continued to travel the globe, solving problems and overseeing the execution of his strategy.
In keeping with the way its founder "knocked on garage doors" during his FNB days, Advent seeks out companies for its portfolio, investing regionally in diverse industries and striking a balance between early- and later-stage enterprises. Brooke is quick to credit much of Advent's success not only to his colleagues but to his wife of almost fifty years. "Anne turned my business relationships into lasting friendships for both of us."
Stepping down as Advent's CEO in 1996, Brooke devotes most of his efforts these days to his duties as a Harvard Overseer and chairman of the board of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. An avid athlete (he was an All-American lacrosse player at Harvard College), he also makes time for a good game of tennis. Indeed, thanks to a surprise gift from some friends when he turned seventy last November, Brooke found himself playing in a doubles match with German star Steffi Graf. Even on the court, an international perspective makes him a big winner.
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