Page 15 - Priorities #13 2000-July

Alumni Profile
Bob Kamangar doesn’t fit the usual stereotype of a college philosophy major. He is a man most comfortable in the fast-moving world of business, venture capital and the Internet community.
One of the founders of Golden Parachute.com, an online service that helps communities form within and among the world’s top universities, he says the potential of Internet technology is irresistible.
“What’s exciting about dot-coms is that they are truly part of a revolution. They allow those who can build with this new technology to compete with the folks who have been around a long time. This kind of opportunity only happens when a new technology emerges. The last time we saw something like this was in the emerging software industry, with entrepeneurs like Bill Gates. Now you can see this same window of opportunity again with the Internet.
“I would have had a hard time sitting on the sidelines, “ he said.
He didn’t have to. A few years ago, his sister, Negin, began talking about the untapped potential of recent college graduates and their need to connect as they moved into their professional lives.
Once, the family network or the “old school ties” was enough to help a young person make decisions about jobs, graduate schools, cities to live in, you name it. Now, young adults also want to contact their intellectual peers globally to share knowledge and experience, and to socialize. They don’t want to deal with the frustration of time zones, changed addresses, weeks of delay.
Negin envisioned what the Internet could do. Golden Parachute technology smooths out the frustrations, makes it easy for people to find each other, protects their privacy, and also provides institutions with convenient ways to speed the communications process along.
Bob at this time was vice president of business development for ALPS Inc., a company that markets five-gallon bottled water worldwide. He loved the job of flying around the world, finding the funding and setting up a fledgling company, then sitting on the board of directors and helping to make the young businessprofitable. Buthelovedevenmorethe concept of his sister’s idea - not to mention the excitement of building his own company again.
Following graduation from UC Berkeley in philosophy, Bob earned a JD degree at University of San Diego, and chose the unusual path of starting his own law firm. Armed with two months’ rent borrowed from his dad, he managed the firm for six
years, then joined ALPS, who was at that time one of his clients.
“It was great. The hours and travel were crazy. I went around the world in 10 days one time - just up, then down for a day or two, then up again,” he recalled with obvious enjoyment. Countries on his agenda included the familiar such as Austria and Norway to the exotic, like Sri Lanka and Morocco.
“In Europe, especially, we found markets because people there are great drinkers of water but water is sold only in small containers,” he explained. Americans are not such consumers of water, they are soft drink junkies, he added.
Bob is intrigued by the idea of developing a web- based community for his WPS alma mater.
“My legal name and the one the school knows me by is Bobak, my Iranian name. It’s amazing to think of it in a class of about 30 but there was one other guy with my name. I’d love to get in touch with him! I’d love to get in touch with a lot of my classmates. It was such as close community that you can just pick up where you left off even though a lot of time has gone by,” he commented.
He envisions students, parents, teachers, alumni and their families all getting in touch online, where they are a lot less likely to lose each other as phone numbers and addresses change. Bob and Father Martin, Director of Alumni Relations, are talking and may have something to show alumni online this fall.
The international nature of the Woodside Priory student body, the personal attention, and the close community are things Bob remembers and still values from his school days. They may explain in part his confidence that small communities with a personal touch can grow and thrive on the new terrain of the Internet..
Bobak (Bob) Kamanger, Class of 1984 Lives in Los Altos, CA
Wife: Katja
Children: Nina and Sofie (due to be born on July 13) Favorite activities: surfing and skiing Professional field: dot.com application service provider
See Golden Parachute Inc. at www. goldenparachute.com
Bob envisions students, parents, teachers, alumni and their families all getting in touch online, where they are a lot less likely to lose each other as phone numbers and addresses change.
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