February 2001, Volume 69, Number 2

Spreadsheet One *Popping Out of the Box *School Adopts a New Grading System *Networks For Entrepreneurs

Spreadsheet Two *Stumping for Stamps *Future Growth a Pretty Sure Bet *Pop Culture Online

Spreadsheet Three *Alumni Interview MBA Applicants *Urrutia Heads SBSAA

People: Mike McCaffery, MBA '82 People: Peter Baish, SEP '84 For The Record: MBA Class of 2000 Employment Report

Spreadsheet Two Illustration by Leo Espinosa Stumping for Stamps ARTHUR SWEET THINKS if Elvis Presley and jams and jellies are worth putting on a postage stamp, Main Street is just as deserving. Sweet, MBA '48, wants the nation's small businesses honored on a stamp as well. Two years ago the 78-year-old Southern California real estate developer began his campaign to lobby the U.S. Postal Service for a small-business stamp. With the backing of National Small Business United, an organization he's been active in since 1984, he submitted his concept to the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee last year. "It's a great way to show that Main Street and small business USA are good for America," says Sweet. Despite a letter-writing campaign on his behalf by members of Congress, Sweet's idea didn't make the cut. "I was told there already is a stamp honoring free enterprise," he says, "but all free enterprise is not necessarily small business." Sweet is not deterred and has enlisted the assistance of the U.S. Small Business Administration. He'll continue to point out to the advisory committee that by using the stamp for their mail, the nation's 24 million small business owners could turn it into a best-seller. Future Growth a Pretty Sure Bet IN THE FUTURE we will have access to minifactories that produce "valuable products like protein or pharmaceuticals with virtually no human interaction," GSB economist Paul Romer predicted to an audience of alumni/ae last October. The minifactories will search out their own renewable inputs, maintain their own optimal conditions, and replace themselves before they wear out, he said to the silenced crowd in Memorial Auditorium. For skeptics, Romer flipped on a slide projector to display his concept—a life-sized photo of a milk cow. It was one of the lighter moments in an Alumni Weekend lecture by Romer, who predicted that "perpetual economic growth" is likely, albeit with some cyclical downturns. Romer did not dispute the scarcity-of-resources view of 19th-century economist Thomas Malthus, but argued that technological advances will allow future generations to find alternative resources and that the anticipated increase in per capita income from technology will allow them to afford, for example, more expensive energy sources when oil runs out. For a fuller account of the lecture, go to www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/romer.html.   Pop Culture Online Illustration by Leo Espinosa   WITH A RESUME that includes brand management at Procter & Gamble and strategic marketing consulting at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Joe DiNunzio, MBA '88, sounds like a buttoned-down guy. But this is the same Joe DiNunzio who's CEO of one of the Internet's most freewheeling entertainment sites, Z.com. Launched about a year ago, Z.com Inc. of Burbank, Calif., is an online studio offering original comedy, film, animation, games, and celebrity programming. Its selections include the "Daily Dose," which has jokes, greeting cards, and faux "stolen" email from celebs, an illustrated road trip with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and an animated series called "The Prom Queens," written by Jillian Tohber, MBA '95. DiNunzio got bitten by the entertainment bug after a stint at Walt Disney Co. designing digital theme-park-type attractions. As of late October, Z.com had about 700,000 monthly unique visitors. The plan for the 50-employee company is to be profitable by 2002, which DiNunzio says will be achieved ahead of time. Tohber, who has written for ABC-TV sitcoms, aims "The Prom Queens," a series about three members of an all-girl rock band, at women ages 14 to 25. Entry-level jobs at Disney and with Bette Midler's production company prompted her to try writing. "I had never written anything before, and I wrote a really bad screenplay." Chagrined, Tohber put her creative life on hold and went to business school. "But I'm not really a business person, I'm a writer," Tohber says, adding that she doesn't regret the MBA education. "People there must have thought I was nuts." Another Stanford grad who came to Z.com by way of Disney is Jan Nash, MBA '89. Nash is executive producer responsible for developing creative content. "The Stanford experience has helped me in everything I've done since graduating," Nash says.

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