NO. 3 DRAFT PICK
Dan Rapaport
College: Stanford Graduate School of Business
Age: 29
Other Degrees: B.A. in economics, University of California at Berkeley, 1994
Hometown: Los Altos, Calif.
E-mail: rapaport_dan@gsb.stanford.edu
Web site: www.gsb.stanford.edu
RESUME AT A GLANCE
As a summer associate at Offroad Capital, Rapaport performed due diligence and valuation analysis on Internet companies, as well as soaked up the finer points of statistical analysis from Susan Woodward, former chief economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He's spent the past year as director of marketing for ConsumerSpot.com, a startup that provides post-sale services. Currently, he's president of his class at Stanford. Before B-school, Rapaport spent four years doing financial consulting at Cornerstone Research. He's also been CEO of Urban Ministry, a homeless services nonprofit; CFO of Start Up, a nonprofit that assists low-income entrepreneurs; and CEO of Berkeley Housing Association, a $24 million, 1,200-member agency. In college, he led a team that excavated a historic Russian fort in Alaska.
HOOP DREAMS
For Rapaport, the most important factor in choosing an employer is finding a business plan that he's passionate about. He's certainly keeping his options open: He's looking for a position at a high-tech startup, incubator or venture capital firm. He says he knew he was destined for startups when he started moonlighting while at his day job in finance. During his off hours he says he saved three nonprofits from bankruptcy. That's experience any startup CEO needs these days.
All that, and Rapaport has found the time to start the mysterious "Dead Sea Fishing Club," read the Harry Potter series and think deep thoughts about the future of the Internet Economy: Watch out for "consumer-to-government" e-commerce and something about sub-wavelength and holographic lithography. Like any good VC, he's thinking one step ahead of the pack.
THE JUDGES SAY
"The general smarts, strong analytics and eclectic interests make this guy a star athlete," says Jonathan Goldstein.
Rating: 8.2
Salary: $99,000
