Aviate joins Yahoo

http://getaviate.com/team.html

Congrats to the team. Great Product and team.

When a company raises funding, either seed or a series A round with a venture firm, they become tied into a giant loose web of relationships which provides things like introductions, heads up on quality candidates, and general interest queries. This is further enhanced by the somewhat astonishing mobility of talent from company to company.

So when a company says "Hmm, we really need to get into X" they can tap that network to see who is out there doing that and how well they are doing it.

Sometimes an investor wants to 'close out' their investment and they will approach a friend on another board or a friend of a friend looking for "ideas", other times people just meet at a social event and decide they should work together. Large firms have a group that is nominally called something like 'Corporate Development' which is code for acquiring companies to fill gaps or needs.

During times of scarcity when folks are looking for talent, under capitalized companies are seen as a good place to 'pick up an entire team' of engineers.

The classic way to connect into this 'web' is to go through the process once, which is start a company (or join one), connect with the funding folks at company and social functions, and have an idea of what you're trying to achieve. An 'agenda' if you will.

The screenshot is here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BdU892zCAAEXy-q.png:large