Kyle Hilligoss doesn't have an Ivy League MBA or a Rolodex of prestigious professors and moneyed fellow alums to tap for business contacts over scotch at the club. The 29-year-old business development manager at Digital Network Associates, which builds computer networks for midsize companies, has developed such customers as the NFL corporate headquarters, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Applied Graphics through sheer persistence.

Yet Hilligoss' biggest coup came by chance from an online fishing expedition. The 1994 Fordham graduate tried to make business contacts through his own alumni office but found its services awkward to use at the time. Then, in 1997, he spotted an ad in his alumni magazine for a Web-based "schmoozing" service called BranchOut.com. The site led him to a fellow Fordham graduate, and then to a multimillion-dollar business deal.

For people such as Hilligoss -- those seeking business partners, ambitious young businesspeople, or job seekers without easy entrée -- BranchOut.com works like a giant, virtual cocktail party. It allows users to mine a 35,000-person database and create multiple networking groups based on previous affiliations (high school, college, fraternity, etc.). That's how Hilligoss found the other Fordham alum who worked for a high-tech consultancy. The computer matched their backgrounds, which gave the two "an excuse to talk to each other." That eventually led to Hilligoss' blockbuster deal.

"BranchOut.com offered an online community that allowed me to reach out and network personally with people I have something in common with," says Hilligoss. In other words, it's a poor man's surrogate for the well-oiled, carefully maintained networking machines that come with the price of a high-power B-school degree.

MEETING AND GREETING. Ironically, BranchOut.com was founded by two people who would never need its services. Lee Newman and David Ronick, Brown University undergrads who met on the rugby field and hold MBAs from MIT and Harvard, respectively, had an epiphany about the commercial potential of group affiliation from tapping their own stellar connections. Harvard business school's network alone is 36,000 strong. That led to the birth of BranchOut.com in 1996.

Initially, it was open only to Ivy League grads. Then Fordham asked to participate and eventually helped bring on board the 25-university Jesuit network. Finally, Newman and Ronick opened it to the general public in October, 1998.

Of course, Ronick and Newman hardly invented the concept of meeting and greeting on the Net. Unlike many networking sites, it wasn't created by an association or for a specific interest group. Nor is it a Net placement venture devoted to active searches for potential clients, employers, or employees with such features as boards for posting jobs, résumés, and company descriptions. BranchOut.com sees itself as a cool alternative, where people who claim they're not actively looking for business or jobs can make contacts -- social or otherwise -- that might lead to something more. And, of course, there's that university cachet, which still lingers. BranchOut.com has 20 university partners that provide free advertising and the sponsorship of Stanley Kaplan -- the test-prep company.

"I've seen people [use the site to] network their way to new jobs. I've had a lot of people use it for social reasons, like organizing sports games. And I've witnessed a user ask for advice about whether Fiji is a good honeymoon spot," says Ronick.

How does the BranchOut.com work? First, you register for free by entering basic background information (name, gender, metropolitan area closest to you, E-mail address, etc.). For security reasons, you also create a user name and password, which can be changed as often as you like. Next, the system prompts you to define your personal networks by filling out a form for such telling information as where you went to high school, college, or grad school; your fraternity or sorority; where you worked; whether you served in the military; and your hobbies. The more you reveal about yourself, the more contacts BranchOut.com's database generates.

Once you've completed your profile, which you can edit at any time, it spits out the names (real or code) of members whose profiles overlap with yours -- your so-called personal network. Should you come across someone you'd like to contact, E-mail them, and start networking. Spamming isn't tolerated, and the site will squelch any future communication from anyone that tries. (This reporter found a total of 90 people with whom he shares at least one affinity -- including an acquaintance -- a fraternity brother.)

VALUABLE CONTACTS. Suzanne Immerman, now a manager of public affairs at NBC, first came across BranchOut.com during its infancy in 1997 and put out feelers in the nonprofit sector, where she was interested in working at the time. "I felt comfortable contacting someone on the network saying, 'I see that you work in such and such. I'm interested in that kind of work. Do you know of any jobs in the industry or your company? Or could you tell me about what your job is like?' " Though Immerman hasn't found a job through BranchOut.com, she made, she says, valuable contacts that she would not have found otherwise. "I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd seen online," she says.

Unfortunately, what's profitable for BranchOut.com users has yet to be for its owners, raising questions about the long-term viability of its business model. Says Ronick: "Revenue, at this point, is in the low six figures. But that puts us at a loss." So far, the company's revenues come from banner ad sales, sponsorship, and its fledgling placement service -- the outfit's main moneymaker. The company charges commission for each BranchOut.com user recruiters hire. But the number of hires is still "in the dozens." Sponsors pay a fee and get advertising and a link back to their site from BranchOut.com.

Patrick Burns, VP of Strategic Alliances at Career Central, an online résumé-matching service, isn't surprised at the company's weak financials. "BranchOut is an interesting play," he says. "It has built a nice community. But whether they can convert that community play into a profitable play remains to be seen."

Ronick says he isn't worried. His top priority for now is to ramp up membership and increase the number of links to job-related Web sites such as those with CareerMosaic and ExperienceOnline. Now, Ronick's and Newman's biggest challenge will be how to turn success stories like Kyle Hilligoss' into a financial success for the company -- and themselves.

By Nadav Enbar in New York
nadav_enbar@businessweek.com

To: MANAGEMENT