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Newsmakers

Online Real Estate Sites Continue Growing

Sami Inkinen and Pete FlintThe grounded world of real estate is finding a home online. Several real estate websites are creating virtual communities for their users.

Sami Inkinen and Pete Flint (l to r), both MBA '05, founded Trulia three years ago as a search site tailored for the real estate market. Its straightforward maps and interface simplify house hunting. The two met while students at the GSB. A recent infusion of venture capital will allow the site to expand its social aspects, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

But it's not just potential buyers who benefit from an online community. Ryan Slack, MBA '00, created MyDealBook.com when he realized the company he helped found, PropertyShark.com, offered commercial real estate information only at the parcel level. MyDealBook fosters communication between developers, brokers, investors, and bankers to create a virtual online marketplace. Slack told Community Property News that the network serves as a way to recruit brokers.

For the past 20 years David Faudman, MBA '84, has organized real estate deals. His CleanOffer.com, started in 2002, recently expanded to the Austin, Texas, market. Both agents and buyers access the network, and buyers are notified almost immediately of new listings and changes in sales prices, according to Inman News.

He Grew into His Shoes

As a kid, John Hoke, SEP '06, came up with what he thought was a revolutionary idea for an athletic shoe—an air-cushioned sole. He dashed his sketches off to Nike founder Phil Knight, MBA '62, who responded with a letter saying they were already developing that technology, but Hoke should come work for the company when he was old enough.

Hoke told the Financial Times he did just that and recently was handed the reins to the now Nike-owned sports brand Converse, whose shoes are considered to be the parent of every modern sneaker. Hoke plans on targeting the shoes to the "optimistic rebel" and will be continuing an ad campaign showcasing footwear named for famous and influential wearers past and present, like the already available custom sneakers commemorating Kurt Cobain, who helped establish Seattle's "grunge" sound.

A Private Investigator for High-Tech World

With a computer mouse in one hand and a telephone in the other, Margo Evashevski, MBA '98, checks the backgrounds of prospective new hires in venture capital, private equity, investment partnership, and hedge fund firms as well as some of the entrepreneurs those groups fund.

"I do human due diligence," she told the Wall Street Journal. That can mean verifying if a startup president really did get an MBA from Stanford or unearthing the fact that your candidate for finance executive sold credit card information obtained from a bank where he once worked.

Gary Kremen, MBA '89, hired Evashevski to track down ill-gotten gains earned by a convicted felon who stole the sex.com domain name from him and profited wildly. Evashevski discovered some of the profits invested in a Tijuana topless bar, a Mexican shrimp farm, and a file-sharing service based in the Gaza Strip.

Swaddling 101 for Dads

It sounds like a boot camp. Its teacher looks like a boot camp instructor. But it smells like … diapers? Welcome to Boot Camp for New Dads, the brainchild of Greg Bishop, MBA '81, who started the three-hour baby handling training sessions 18 years ago. The courses are now taught in 43 states as well as Britain and Australia. This year marks the graduation of the class's 200,000th attendee.

Although instructors push for the gentle touch, they can be unlikely candidates, like a former Air Force special-ops commander. Expectant dads are taught everything from diaper changing to burrito wrapping (aka swaddling) infants in their blankets. Bishop told Time magazine that one of the course's benefits is the discussion on marital advice, as dynamics change once a baby joins the family.

Gambling Big Versus Investing Wisely

Picture this: A stranger puts $20 on the table and asks you to pony up $1. If he gets heads on the flip of a coin, he takes all; tails you do. It's heads.

You're out $1 but your decision was still a good one based on your knowing the potential returns. Your outcome, however, was bad. The stranger's decision to make a wager was bad because of the greater risk of loss involved, but his outcome was good because he won the coin toss. Professor Emeritus Charles Horngren used this example in an interview with Business Finance to illustrate the importance of distinguishing between bad and good decisions made in the face of risk. The best protection against a bad decision, he says, is to get the most information and increase your likelihood of a good outcome.

Stamp of Approval for Online Businesses

Remember the old television commercials asking buyers to look for the union label? A modern version of that can be the TRUSTe seal seen on more than 2,400 websites. TRUSTe, which recently converted to profit-making status, monitors and requires all its clients to adhere to a set of online privacy practices. Heavy hitters eBay, Apple, PayPal and Disney all are TRUSTe certified, according to the New York Times.

At the helm is Fran Maier, MBA '89, who sees the need for online policing increasing as more social networking sites are created and health records go online.

Land Brokers Pick Vintage Locations

Instead of acquiring or launching wineries, which he's done in the past, William Hill, MBA '69, is investing in the wine industry from the ground, literally. He and GSB classmate Richard Wollack, MBA '69, formed Premier Pacific Vineyards to acquire plantable land that they lease to vineyards.

"We think we found a real gap," Hill told Wine Spectator. Leasing small plots of land is an opportunity for small wineries to expand into other varietals, he said. So far they've acquired a total of 7,600 acres in California, Washington, and Oregon. Hill and Wollack emphasize they're in the real estate business, not the wine business, as they plan to systematically sell off the land.

Ulrich Hits Bullseye

It would be easy for Bob Ulrich, SEP '78, to claim credit for the success of retailer Dayton-Hudson and its subsidiary chain, Target stores. Since he was named to head the parent company in 1994, Target's sales and store presence tripled. Before that, when he was responsible only for the Target division, the division doubled in size. But he attributes the company's success to choosing the right team and taking care of them.

"It's not about me. It's about this team," he told AllBusiness.com. "People need to be motivated." Challenges included facing mega retailer Wal-Mart, providing designer products, and placing a stronger emphasis on food retailing and pharmacy services. After 41 years with Dayton-Hudson, Ulrich followed company policy and retired at age 65 in May.

John BurbankThe King of Shorts

Overlooked or shunned markets are favorite investment opportunities for John Burbank (at right), MBA '92. In 2000, his Passport Capital funds were shorting technology stocks. He beat the herd by early investments in India. Confident the soaring U.S. housing market would eventually crack, he started shorting stocks of U.S. subprime lenders in 2004. As the market rose, he doubled down by buying credit default swaps that paid if securities backed by subprime mortgages went into default. His Passport Global Strategy fund climbed 219 percent in 2007, according to Forbes.

"The way to make high returns is to invest in things people don't understand," Burbank said.

V.C. Doyen Ventures into Green Territory

Change is afoot at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The venture capital firm that helped establish Netscape, Amazon, and Google as household names is changing course, Fortune magazine reported. While other firms are investing heavily in Web 2.0 startups, Kleiner is moving toward green tech, biotech, and energy-related ventures.

Brook Byers, MBA '70, specializes in biotech with Joe Lacob, MBA '83, who splits his time between that field and energy-related ventures. One such investment is in Terralliance Technologies, Lacob told Fortune, which developed software that makes it easier and cheaper to detect and extract oil and natural gas. On the "junior varsity" roster are GSB alumni Trae Vassallo, MBA '00, and Chi-Hua Chien, MBA '06, who have been serving apprenticeships to older partners and are beginning to lead their first investments.