In 1997, Dan Levitan, a managing director at Schroder Wertheim & Co., amazed Wall Street by walking away from his job. "I had a wonderful time as an investment banker," he says, "but in my heart of hearts, I knew I wanted to be more closely aligned with the entrepreneurs, who at the end of the day are the real heroes in any successful business." After giving notice, he set off to climb Mount Kilamanjaro.

In the meantime he and Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, had become close friends. They met in 1991, when Dan was chosen to handle Starbucks' IPO -- Howard noticed that when he talked about Starbucks' vision and commitment to employees and customers, Dan understood. By 1993, the two men were investing together in consumer businesses; two years later, Howard began asking Dan to come west and start a company. He could tell that Dan "was very much being seduced by the Northwest," and in 1997 Dan moved to Seattle.

Maveron was born in January 1998. Within six months, the company raised $75 million. Today, Maveron manages close to $600 million in committed capital from a broad range of sophisticated individuals and institutions.

Maveron's name was coined from the words "maverick" and "vision." "Maverick" entered the American vocabulary courtesy of Sam Maverick, a 19th-century pioneer and statesman who lived in Texas. He won 300 head of cattle in a poker game, then broke with tradition by refusing to physically brand his herd. The result was that every steer on the range without a brand was known as a maverick. It was a bold move, and it took vision -- something we prize at Maveron. To us, vision means looking beyond convention to create a more rewarding, memorable way of doing things.