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Graham Spencer, Joe Kraus, Ben Lutch, Mark Van Haren, Ryan McIntyre and Martin Reinfried

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THEN: Excite Founders (1993)
NOW: 3 Googlers, 2 Venture Capitalists/Entrepreneurs and 1 “Game” Guru

Six Stanford classmates -- Graham Spencer, Joe Kraus, Ben Lutch, Mark Van Haren, Ryan McIntyre and Martin Reinfried -- launched Architext Software in 1993. It went on to become the popular search engine Excite, which merged with @Home in 1999. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

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Spencer and Kraus went on to found enterprise social software company JotSpot in 2004, with Lutch later joining the team as VP of Operations. Google acquired Jotspot in 2006 and launched Google Sites in 2008 using the application-wiki technology. All three ex-Exciters currently work for Google.

Mark Van Haren has become Mark Wong-VanHaren after marriage. According to McIntyre, Wong-VanHaren now does work with Charles River Ventures and is also developing a secret startup.

McIntyre is a co-founder and managing director of Foundry Group, a venture capital firm. He does angel investing on the side, and began his venture capital career at Mobius Venture Capital in 2000.

When he isn’t traveling for work or pleasure, Reinfried splits his time between homes in San Francisco and Telluride. In 2001, he co-founded Shinteki, a company based on a Stanford underground phenomenon called “The Game,” in which teams traveling in cars use various clues, tools and code sheets to solve puzzles during a limited time period. The company runs custom private events as well as the annual Shinteki Decathlon.

http://www.alleyinsider.com/~~/f?id=48d83f04796c7a91009a6557

Excite Founders from left, Martin Reinfried, Ben Lutch, Ryan McIntyre, Joe Kraus, Mark Van Haren, Graham Spencer, at Kraus's wedding in Jackson Hole, Wyo., June 23, 2002.

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Photo courtesy of Martin Reinfried

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