.gif)
Cross Filters can be a difficult concept for some users. In this section they will be explained to help you use them effectively.
Cross Filter Basics
There are many Direct Filters for the different types of nodes that allow you filter them according to their own attributes. For example:
For Companies, you could filter them by the amount of capital raised, by whether the company is active or inactive, or by how many investors the company has.
For Investors, you could filter them by the number of investments they have made, or by whether they are VC, Corporate, or Individual Investors.
For Person nodes, you could filter them by the university they attended, if they serve on any management teams, or by current or former employers.
In all of these examples you are filtering the nodes by their own attributes. Cross Filters allow you to filter the nodes instead by the attributes of the nodes that they are connected to. For Investors this means you can filter them according to the kinds of companies they have invested into. For Companies this means you can filter them according to the kinds of Investors that have invested into them. Currently only limited Cross Filters are available for the Person nodes, and only on the Search Screen (not in the map filters).
By contrast, using the Cross Filters you can filter for Copmanies that have a high proportion of Individual Investors, or Investors that have a tendency to invest in Companies of a certain stage or sector.
Cross Filters can be employed in two different ways in LinkSViewer. You can use them when you are at the Search Screen and you are searching for Companies, Investors, or People in order to make a map. You can also use them when you are already viewing a network map and you would like to filter it to focus on certain nodes in particular.
Searching with Cross Filters
Each search category in the Search Screen (Company, Investor, Person) contains a blue section with check boxes at the bottom that enable the search Cross Filters. You can see them below with the check boxes in their default positions. For example, these check boxes enable you to enter the name of a Company (let's say Google), and have the results return not only Google as the matching company, but also return Google's Investors in Investor results column, and Google's Board Members in the Person results column.
.png)
Company Search Cross Filters
There are three check boxes in the Company Search Cross Filters:
1. Require Matching Investor
This box is checked by default. It references the Investor Search fields. If no search terms or requirements are made in the Investor Search fields, then this Cross Filter does nothing. However, if you were to type "Kleiner Perkins" into the Investor Name field, then the results for Company would only contain companies that have Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as an Investor. This Cross Filter requires that a Company have an Investor that matches the search terms in the Investor Search fields.
2. Require matching Person as Board Member
This box is checked by default. It references the Person Search fields. If no search terms or requirements are made in the Person Search fields, then this Cross Filter does nothing. However, if you were to type "Doerr" into the Person Name field, then the results for Company would only contain companies that have John Doerr as a Board Member. This Cross Filter requires that a Company have a Board Member that matches the search terms in the Person Search fields.
3. Require matching Person on Management Team
This box is not checked by default. If you wish to use it, you will have to check it. It references the Person Search fields (like the example for Board Members above, but this time for Management Team connections to Companies). If no search terms or requirements are made in the Person Search fields, then this Cross Filter does nothing. However, if you were type "Stanford" into the Education field, then the results for Company would only contain companies that have management team members who attended Stanford University. This Cross Filter requires that a Company have a management team member that matches the search terms in the Person Search fields.
Investor Cross Filters
Require Investment in matching Company
This box is checked by default. It references the Company Search fields. If no search terms are entered in the Company Search fields, then this Cross Filter does nothing. However, if you were to highlight the Biotech sector, then the results for Investor would only contain investors that have invested into at least one company listed as being in the Biotech sector. This Cross Filter requires that an Investor have invested in at least one Company that matches the search terms in the Company Search fields.
Person Cross Filters
Must be Board Member for a Matching Company
This box is checked by default. It references the Company Search fields. If no search terms are entered in the Company Search fields, then this Cross Filter does nothing. However, if you were to enter "Google, eBay, Palm" in the Company Name field, then the results for Person would only contain people that are currently serving on the board of one of those companies (if you want former board members as well, check the box for 'Former Board Status'). This Cross Filter requires that a Person be a board member on a Company that matches the search terms in the Company Search fields.
Must be Manager in a Matching Company
This box is unchecked by default. You must check it before performing the search if you want to use this Cross Filter. It references the Company Search fields. If no search terms are entered in the Company Search fields, then this Cross Filter does nothing. However, if you were to enter "Google, eBay, Palm" in the Company Name field, then the results for Person would only contain people that are currently on the management team for one of those companies (if you want former management team members as well, check the box for 'Former Management Status'). This Cross Filter requires that a Person be a board member on a Company that matches the search terms in the Company Search fields.
Filtering Maps with Cross Filters
The filtering cross filters are applied one you have already created a network map, and you would like to filter the contents of that network. Cross Filters are only currently available in this capacity for Companies and Investors by clicking on the Company Filter and Investor Filter links (go to Filters section). At the bottom of each of the Filter pop up screens there is a section with a blue background instead of a white background. These are the Cross Filters.
An important difference between these Cross Filters and those on the Search Screen is that you must define a minimum number or percentage of matching nodes. Notice in the images below that there is a light blue section above the actual Cross Filters with a field followed by "(# or %) matching:". Continue reading for an in-depth explanation.
Company Filters - Cross Filters
There are only two ways to implement the Cross Filters on the Company Filter window: by the type of Investor and by the number of investments made by that Investor. If you enter "50%" in the field for "# or % matching", and then check ONLY the box for Individual, then the resulting map will only contain companies that have at least half of their investors as Individual type Investors.
The Cross Filters can also be used in conjunction with the normal filters. For example, if you check ONLY the boxes for Private and Active copmanies, and then enter "5" in the "# or % matching field" and enter "250" in the "# of Investments" Cross Filter field, then the resulting map will only contain Active Private companies. Furthermore, in order to be included, at least 5 of the Investors into each of those Active Private companies must have made at least 250 Investments. You are therefore filtering for only Active Private companies that have investments from multiple large investors.
Investor Filters - Cross Filters
There are many ways to implement the Cross Filters on the Investor Filter window, in fact there is a counterpart for every Direct Filter available for Companies in the Company Filter window (as seen above). If you enter "20%" in the field for "# or % matching", and then check ONLY the boxes for Inactive and Acquired, then the resulting map will only contain Investors that have at least 20% of their investments into Inactive Acquired companies. All other investors will be excluded from the resulting network.
The Cross Filters can also be used in conjunction with the normal filters. For example, if you were to check ONLY the box for Individual type Investors and then enter "10" in the "# or % matching" field, and then highlight the Biotech sector in the Cross Filters, then the resulting map will contain only Individual Investors that have at least 10 investments into companies in the Biotech sector. In this way you can filter for Individual Investors who tend to focus heavily on Biotech investments.
Cascading Connections
There are many different ways to implement the different types of Cross Filters in order to shape your searches and networks to address your specific interests. Initially they can be very useful during searches for a Company, an Investor, or a Person by automatically returning not only the matches to your seach, but the cascading connections. So if you search for a Person, the results will return not only the matching people, but the companies that those people are linked to, and then the Investors that have invested into those companies. If you search for a Company it will return the matching companies, the Board Members for those matching companies (and management team members if you check that box as well), and the Investors in those matching companies. If you search for an Investor it will return the matching investors, the companies that those investors have invested in, and the people who are connected to those companies as Board Members.
However, if you are entering search terms for Companies and People at the same time, you may have to uncheck the Cross Filter boxes to obtain useful results. If you search for a Company that must have a Board Member matching the Person Search terms, and at the same time search for a Person that must be on the board for a Company matching the Company Search terms, then you will only receive results if you were searching for a Company and Person who are connected (the Person sits on the board of the Company). However, this is fairly useless, because you would have to be searching for connected nodes, and if you know that they are connected already, you probably don't need to use this feature. However, if you are just searching for one type of node (for example, a Company) then this is a great way to see at a glance in the Results Screen all of the connections to the matching companies. At that point you can decide if any of them look interesting enough to map alongside the company (or companies) you were searching for.
Multiple Category Searches
The main thing to remember is that if you are searching for more than one type of node (for example, searching for a Company and an Investor) at the same time, it is usually better to uncheck and turn off the Cross Filters. That way, all matching companies are returned for the Company Search, and all matching investors are returned for the Investor Search, and the Cross Filters do not impair each other.