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Haas Business School Alumni Networks

The recently updated features of new LinkSViewer 1.3 allows new ways to explore university ties. Allow me to provide some examples of Haas Business School at UC Berkeley on (1) Haas multiple management team ties; (2) Haas CEOs; (3) Roost CEO and Haas-Alum. Alex Chang ties; (4) Accenture, Tube Mogul, Delivery Agent, & Clorox Haas Clusters ; (5) Two Large Haas Clusters; and (6) Berkeley, Stanford, & Cornell Haas Clusters.

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Take the Forbes 400 Alumni Networks Quiz

The Forbes Richest 400 Alumni Networks Quiz (by Dean Krikorian, Ph.D.)
GroupScope and Spresent partnered with Forbes.com to deliver the Forbes 400 Viewer, which maps network affiliations between the richest Americans that attended Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale Universities (The Top 4 Universities on the Forbes 400). The Forbes 400 Viewer is a flexible Flash interface that displays relationships that are not readily apparent to the end user. This blog post illustrates some of these key relationships in a 10-question multiple choice quiz format. See how much you know about universities ties of the richest Americans. This is a fairly difficult test (as an ex-Cornell prof. who was known for having <70% median scores on multiple choice exams): Score 8-10 and consider yourself a Forbes Expert; Score 6-7 and consider yourself as passing. On with the questions...answers at end:

1. What degree is most popular for Harvard alumni on the list?
A. BA/BS
B. MBA
C. MA/MS
D. Ph.D.

2. What degree is most popular for Yale alumni on the list?
A. BA/BS
B. MBA
C. MA/MS
D. Ph.D.

3. In which state do most Yale alumni on the list currently reside?
A. Connecticut
B. New York
C. California
D. Texas

4. What two Universities have the most co-alumni?
A. Harvard and Princeton
B. Harvard and Yale
C. Harvard and Stanford
D. Princeton and Stanford

5. What company has the most Investments (>5% Stake) from list member alumni in the Top 4 Universities?
A. Microsoft
B. Google
C. Gap
D. Berkshire Hathaway

6. What University has the most co-alumni with Harvard University?
A. Columbia
B. Stanford
C. Yale
D. University of Pennsylvania

7. Which University has the most Self made list members in the Finance industry?
A. Harvard
B. Stanford
C. Princeton
D. Yale

8. Which University has the most Inherited and Growing list members in the Oil/Gas industry?
A. Harvard
B. Stanford
C. Princeton
D. Yale

9. What is the state residence for the most Top 4 University list members under the age of 60?
A. New York
B. California
C. Texas
D. Florida

10. What University has the most Self made list members with Wealth over $2 Billion under the age of 50?
A. Harvard
B. Stanford
C. Princeton
D. Yale

Continue reading Take the Forbes 400 Alumni Networks Quiz…

Quark Files IPO: Larry Ellison & SuperGen Former Connections

Quark Biotech hopes to raise up to $86.25M in IPO (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal)

Quark Biotech filed for its IPO on March 30.  The Quark Biotech Relational Map provides some insight into the relations between its current and former management team and board members.  Along the way, I would like to point out some key transition points that will help LinkSViewer users to navigate from simple to complex maps (the opposite of the previous post which demonstrated navigating from complex to simple maps).  First I started with a relatively simple relational map - I searched for Quark Biotech and then filtered in former people.

Quark Biotech Relational Map (Former People Included).  Notes: (1) Board Interlock Ties: Joseph Rubinfeld & Daniel Zurr (Former SuperGen Board Members); (2) Key People Ties: Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO, previous Quark board member).

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Data Domain files IPO: Greylock, NEA, & Sutter Hill Ties

Data Domain, storage appliance co., files for $100M IPO (VentureBeat NewsWire)

Data Domain filed for its IPO on April 4.  The Data Domain Relational Map provides some insight into the co-investment relations between its three investors: Greylock Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, and NEA.  Along the way, I would like to point out some key transition points that will help LinkSViewer users to navigate from complex to simple maps.  First I started with a relatively complex relational map - I searched for Data Domain and then filtered in current and former people and dropped pendants.

Data Domain Relational Map (Pendants dropped).  Notes (1) Co-Investment Ties: Sutter Hill-Greylock (Trusted Data); NEA-Sutter Hill (QuickLogic, Kovair); and NEA-Greylock (PortAuthority, SiTime, PolyServe, Tabula); (2) People Ties: Geoff Barrall (Trusted Data CEO); Reed Hundt (Former FCC Chair); Aneel Bhusri (Greylock); Scott Sandell (NEA); Ron Codd (PeopleSoft Former CFO); and Michael O’ Donnell (Network Appliance Former Director of Federal Sales); (3) Strong Company Ties: Trusted Data (Geoff Barrall, Greylock, & Sutter Hill); Kovair (Scott Sandell of NEA & Sutter Hill). 

Continue reading Data Domain files IPO: Greylock, NEA, & Sutter Hill Ties…

Derivative Networks: Hot Board Member, Angel, and VC Relations

Continuing from the previous post…We now use the relations found in the previous map to investigate ‘hot company’ networks in new ways. This is based on the idea that key people and investors can help point the way to new companies. The goal of a ‘derivative network’ is to take a network of interest and ‘invert’ it to see another view of its affiliations. In each of the ensuing three derivative maps, we will be exposed to new sets of people and companies that are not in this group of ‘hot companies,’ but are related to that group through these derivative networks.

First let’s look at the networks of the three key board members identified in the previous post: Reid Hoffman, David Sze, and Bill Gurley. Q: What do these board members have in common? The goal here is to identify companies not found in the previous post map - companies that are found in the same circles as the ‘hot companies’ discussed in the last post. Along with the new people we find, all of these companies are potentially interesting, so let’s see what we can dig up.

In the last post we started with a map of company nodes. In this first derivative map we will look at the network formed by the affiliations of those companies - namely, the key board members.

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New Feature - Exclude Target Node: Mohr Davidow Strong Investor Tie Example

Another new feature to LinkSViewer 1.2 is the Exclude Target Node check box.  This feature can help reduce the clutter from busy maps by removing the dependence on the targeted node.  This feature can be illustrated using the example of Mohr, Davidow Ventures strong ties.  The purpose here is to identify the strong ties of Mohr Davidow with other VC firms: Who do they co-invest with the most (at least 3 active co-investments)?  What active companies are tied to these strong-tie co-investors?  We set the MinLink to 3 to indicate only those investors that are tied to 3 or more active deals with Mohr Davidow and Dropped Pendants. The resultant Investor Relational Map is below. 

Continue reading New Feature - Exclude Target Node: Mohr Davidow Strong Investor Tie Example…

ShoreTel IPO Filing - Early Returns, but a Cautionary Tale?

ShoreTel, an Internet-telephone systems provider, recently filed its IPO.  I use this post to investigate its public company ties.  Based on the common board member ties, I then charted the trends of four related public company IPO pricings: Interwoven, Turnstone Systems, Foundary Networks, and SonicWall.  In comparison, their IPO pricings indicate an early rise from the initial IPO price, but decrease in stock price therafter.  As a secondary purpose for registered LinkSViewer users, I provide some tips on how to best navigate Person-Investor and Company alternative maps.  The ShoreTel Relational Map w/ Public Company ties is below (Private + Acquired companies filtered out):

Continue reading ShoreTel IPO Filing - Early Returns, but a Cautionary Tale?…

IPO Speculation using LinkSViewer: Does Success Breed Success?

Much speculation has been afforded to companies at their IPO.  Here I propose a new method examining how a company’s relational capital network can be used to inform whether IPO companies will achieve success.  The underlying premise here is to test the theory “success breeds success.”  This can be explored by examining the network of common investments and board memberships of related public companies affiliated with the target IPO company.  What public companies do the investors and board members have in common?  And how have these companies fared at IPO?  I take the case of two relatively successful recent IPOs, Riverbed Technologies and Google, illustrating my point. First, let me state how I arrived at the public relational maps:

(1) Search for the company in LinkSViewer 1.2; (2) Show the relational map; (3) Company filter out (i.e., deselect) private and acquired companies (registered users only); (4) Drop pendants

The result is the relational map for the target company’s public relational network.  Questions to ask: How have related public companies fared at IPO?  Are they successful?  How much experience do the investors and people have in taking companies public?  Let’s now preview the public relational maps for Riverbed and Google.

Riverbed has relations with two public companies: Polycom (Stan Meresman and Accel Partners link) and eHealthInsurance.com (Christopher Schaepe of Lightspeed Ventures).  Polycom has achieved great success (700% increase in stock price over the past 10 years) over the long haul and the jury is still out on eHealthInsurance.com (4% decrease in stock price since its offering three month ago).  The important part here is that the affiliation between Stan Meresman and Accel seems a winning formula.  Check out the below for a comparison of each stock’s historical prices.  

Riverbed Public Company Performance (Yahoo Finance)

Continue reading IPO Speculation using LinkSViewer: Does Success Breed Success?…

Mayfield Fund & Foundation Capital - Management Interlock Relationships

All of the links to LinkSViewer maps in this post are viewable by anyone. However, if you want to manipulate the maps, you must be a registered LinkSViewer user. Registration is free and easy. Just go to one of the maps, try to click around, and you will be prompted to login (or register). Or just click here to sign up now.

I was playing around with the network for Kevin Fong, one of the most connected board members in our database when I digressed and began to play with the combined network for two fairly large investors - Mayfield Fund and Foundation Capital. If you click on Kevin’s name (above) you will see a map that shows how Mayfield and Foundation are very centrally located because of the amount of common companies they share with him. Mayfield should be no surprise because he is a general partner there, but it got me to start wondering about what else Mayfield has in common with Foundation… Continue reading Mayfield Fund & Foundation Capital - Management Interlock Relationships…

Introducing LinkSViewer 1.2

Introducing LinkSViewer 1.2

GroupScope is proud to announce the release of our LinkSViewer 1.2 product. LinkSViewer 1.2 is a visual network analysis tool that explores relationships between management teams, board members, investors, and companies in the Silicon Valley. It is the first application of the GroupScope network analysis engine, which is the result of research at Cornell University and our current headquarters in Shell Beach, California. LinkSViewer is made possible thanks to our partners at Link Silicon Valley (LinkSV.com), who develop the database used by our network engine. LinkSViewer turns that data into network maps that are easy to read and learn from. What you will discover are indirect relationships that may not be readily apparent without a network perspective. Using LinkSViewer 1.2 users can search, filter, summarize, email, and navigate any map to suit their specific needs.

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