Beyond the PayPal Mafia: How Alumni Networks Drive New Ventures
Tracing Founder Factories to Find Your Next Outlier
šĀ Hi, Iām Andre and welcome to my newsletter Data-Driven VC which is all about becoming a better investor with Data & AI. Join 27,310 thought leaders from VCs like a16z, Accel, Index, Sequoia, and more to understand how startup investing becomes more data-driven, why it matters, and what it means for you.
Brought to you by VESTBERRY - Portfolio Intelligence Platform for data-driven VCs
It's your chance to explore the intriguing and constantly evolving world of VC technology!Ā The first 10 VCs to subscribe to our newsletter, "The Venture Compass," get a free ticket to the event.
Join us for the Venture Intelligence Day conference, packed with networking, discussion, and workshops with experts and thought leaders on data-driven and industry-shaping topics.
Good Relationships Only Harm Those That Donāt Have Them
Creating alpha in finance is all about proprietary access and superior interpretation of data. From venture capital investors who hear about and access this new hot deal before anyone else to hedge fund managers trading on insider knowledge. The spectrum is broad yet all asset classes have in common that professionals rely heavily on their networks.
I wrote about the basics of knowledge graphs and what social network analysis of founders and VC tells us in 2022, and had many of you share innovative applications based on Twitter and LinkedIn data with me since.
Recently, Johan Torsell (one of the Master students I supervised at Earlybird in the past) launched his project Venture Maffia and I thought it would be valuable for our community to learn more about it.
Thank you Johan for sharing the backstory and what successful alumni networks have in common in the guest post below!
Power of Alumni Networks
The PayPal Mafia is famous for starting and investing early in successful startups like Tesla, Uber, and Airbnb. This group has demonstrated the power of alumni networks through contributing to 575 startups, collectively raising more than $200 billion. Many other successful startups have, like PayPal, become critical founder factories shaping the startup ecosystem.
To explore these networks, I analysed data from over 1,000 startups and developed Venture Mafia. This web app shows the most influential alumni networks and the startups they have supported as investors, executives, advisors, and board members.