To illustrate how the economy has shifted, David Posnick, one of Mr. Moelis's colleagues, suggested following the career paths of some Drexel alumni. Consider Art Bilger, who used to be co-head of investment banking at Drexel. In 1990, when the firm filed for bankruptcy, he left to become a partner in Apollo Management, a buyout shop started by former Drexel executives. In the mid-1990's, he served a short stint as president of the New World Communications Group, the television broadcaster, and later joined Akamai Technologies, the Internet information delivery service, as a vice chairman. Mr. Moelis said in a recent interview.
People know where to make phone calls to make things happen.
Incubator is a dirty word on Wall Street these days. So far the incubator model is unproven,'' said Mr. Witherow of VentureOne. Idealabs, the Pasadena-based brainchild of the entrepreneur Bill Gross, has also run into trouble. Almost all of the public companies in its portfolio have stumbled recently, some down as much as 90 percent since the technology-stock meltdown in April. Not surprisingly, Idealabs has delayed its own initial public offering until the market is more receptive.