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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (right) shares a laugh with Interwoven CEO Martin Brauns at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the company's newest facility in Sunnyvale.
Lance Armstrong comes to Interwoven
Company has helped sponsor Armstrong's USPS team over years
By Jana Seshadri
Amid loud applause and cheers, three-time winner of the Tour de France and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong helped Interwoven President and CEO Martin Brauns cut the red ribbon and officially open its new office building in Sunnyvale.
"It will be great to be reunited again," said Brauns, alluding to the fact that the almost 400 South Bay employees of Interwoven are now in three different office locations, having to shuttle back and forth between offices.
Starting next month, the three offices will gradually consolidate into the new 165,000-square-foot, four-floor building, at 803 11th Ave., off Moffet Park Drive in Sunnyvale.
"The new building is gorgeous," said Mercedes De Luca, director of information systems at Interwoven. De Luca said she has been monitoring developments in the new building on an ongoing basis and cannot wait to move in.
"Four years ago this company had only 28 employees, and were housed in a dingy building," Brauns said. Now Interwoven has 900 employees worldwide.
Brauns, himself an accomplished ultra-endurance athlete, talked at the opening about striking a parallel between business and sports. In both fields, one has to work very hard, train intensively and keep up with changes in order to be successful, he said.
"The company promotes a balance, which is very important to me," De Luca said.
"The two most important things in life for me are my job and my family," said the cycling champion Armstrong. "It's important to keep a balance in life."
Armstrong and his wife, Kristin, have a son, Luke, who was born in October 1999. His wife is pregnant with twins.
Brauns added that reuniting the company under one roof was not the only reason for this move.
"We're extremely confident about the business," he added. "I'm confident about our ability to grow and expand."
Interwoven Inc. is the world's leading provider of content infrastructure software and has received several industry awards, including the Forbes ASAP "Ramp Champs" list of the top 20 best managed, fastest growing technology companies.
Brauns joined Interwoven as president and CEO in March 1998. Under his leadership, Interwoven has evolved from a start-up to an Internet industry leader. Achieving significant growth, Interwoven now boasts a market capitalization of more than $1 billion and a 686 percent year-on-year revenue increase. Interwoven had a successful IPO in October 1999 and a secondary stock offering in January 2000. More than 700 global 2000 companies, including British Airways, Cisco Systems, General Electric, General Motors and Phillips, use its products.
In 1990 Armstrong qualified for the junior world cycling team and placed 11th in the World Championship Road Race. That same year he became U.S. national amateur champion and won two major races, the First Union Grand Prix and the Thrift Drug Classic.
In October 1996 came the shocking announcement that Armstrong had been diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer, which meant he was facing a survival rate of 40 percent. But, after a successful surgery to remove tumors, which had spread to his brain, removing a testicle and rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, Armstrong was declared cancer-free in February 1997.
Throughout his struggle with the disease, Armstrong said he was determined to return to competitive racing and vowed to do it even though nobody believed him. Having trouble finding a sponsor, Armstrong finally signed onto a $200,000-per-year position with the United States Postal Service team, which is sponsored by Interwoven Inc.
In 1998, Armstrong started winning several events, and in the summer of 1999, he returned to the grueling, 2,274-mile Tour de France, the crown jewel of international cycling and won the event. He won it again in July 2000 and yet again in 2001, making it his third consecutive championship.
Armstrong said he could not have accomplished what he has if it wasn't for the support of his family and the help from all the experienced people around him. While he may not have too many years of competitive cycling left, Armstrong still hopes to compete in and win as many events and championships as possible, maybe even a couple more Tour de France championships.
The new Interwoven office building will also house a fitness center, which will be open 24 hours for all employees and will be named The Lance Armstrong Fitness Center.
Brauns said he hoped Interwoven's relationship with Armstrong will be a long-term one, and he looks forward to more such meetings with him in the future.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
