Four years ago in Harvard Business School's Hamilton Hall dormitory, a tightly-knit group of first-year Business School students spent their nights tossing around ideas for making money.

One stuck: a Web site that would inform college students of the events happening at their schools through campus-specific Web pages.

That idea has since become Mascot Network Inc--a 23-person company that reaches 20,000 students. It has a Harvard-educated president and CEO, and a fifth of its employees have a degree from the University.

The story of Mascot Network is only one of many success stories from the Harvard network--graduates who find that their common bonds to other alumni help them get ahead in business and in life.

But there are limits to this network's power, alumni say. It helps when you're asking for advice from other graduates or just trying to get your foot in the door.

When seeking a job from another Harvard graduate, alumni say, you're better off relying on the widespread respect accorded the Harvard name than seeking a special deal out of your common connection to the University.

Spinning the Web

Students begin pulling together the strands of their Harvard network in undergraduate clubs and dining halls. The threads intertwine, alumni say, through casual contacts, business relationships and alumni clubs.

"You make friendships and build relationships that last a lifetime. You feel you know them in a [special] way," says Harvey V. Fineberg '67, University Provost.