Alumni Pages, Division of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego

Alumnus Profile

Daniel Rosen, PhD, 1979

Dan Rosen Makes Things Happen

Dan Rosen has a passion for making new things happen. And he gets to do just that as Managing Partner of Frazier Technology Ventures (FTV), a Seattle-based venture capital fund he co-founded in 2000. “At FTV, we tend to focus on what we call ‘enabling technologies’—technologies that enable new ways of doing things,” says Rosen. “One example of this,” he continues, “is a company in our portfolio that makes methanol micro fuel cells. Imagine a laptop that will run for 15 to 20 hours on an ounce of methanol. And then when it’s fully de-charged all you have to do is pop in another methanol cartridge and it’ll run for another 15-20 hours. And it’s a completely green technology. We’re very proud of this company.”

Rosen’s commitment to helping fledgling technology companies is also reflected in his four years as chairman of the Seattle Alliance of Angels, one of the nation’s largest angel organizations. The Seattle AoA acts as a matchmaker between young technology companies and interested investors. Rosen also serves on the boards of a number of technology companies, including Neah Power Systems, eCommerce Industries, and Hynomics. He is also on the Governor’s Technology Council and on the board of the Technology Alliance, which sponsors the Alliance of Angels.

Prior to launching FTV, Rosen was General Manager of New Technology for Microsoft. He describes that position as a “kid in a candy store” job. “I got to look at all those new technologies that Microsoft didn’t have and figure what to do about them.” Before joining Microsoft, Rosen worked for AT&T for 15 years. He served as the VP and general manager of AT&T’s first consumer Internet offering, AT&T PersonaLink Services, and he pioneered AT&T’s wireless data offerings.

Rosen earned a B.S. in biology from Brandeis University in 1972 and a Ph.D. in biology from UC San Diego in 1979. “I was at UCSD a total of eight years including a year and a half of postdoctoral work. I had career aspirations that were matched well by San Diego. There were groups and professors there that had the kinds of skills that I really wanted to develop. Several UCSD faculty certainly stand out in my mind. One is my thesis advisor, George Feher, in physics. The biology professors I remember the most are Paul Saltman and Jon Singer. I student-taught with Paul several times. He became a good friend and a mentor.”

When asked how his UCSD education has served him throughout his career, Rosen responds, “Mostly it provides me with a way of looking at problems and analyzing things. That’s probably been the most enduring benefit. But there are several other direct ones. For example, I was recently at a cancer research seminar and I was able to understand every word of it. I think that my science background has served me well through almost everything I’ve done.”

“If you think about it,” he continues, “it’s really wonderful that it has come full circle. My degree in biophysics has come back to help me by allowing me to be a good multidisciplinary venture capitalist. So years after leaving the biotech area I suddenly find myself re-engaged in it to a degree greater than I ever thought I would be. I think the life lesson for students is that you never know whether what you’re studying will provide some benefit for you much later in life. And very often you find that it does.”

Rosen, a member of the UCSD Alumni Association, was one of 40 outstanding alumni selected to receive an Alumni Award for Excellence as part of UCSD’s 40th anniversary celebration in 2000.

For more information, visit: http://www.frazierco.com or http://allianceofangels.com.