Six Degrees of Separation: The Ms Have It –

Almost every completed venture capital deal is linked to a pre-existing relationship between the investor and someone who knew someone who knew a company that was looking for money. And with the economy struggling as of late, such relationships are undoubtedly more important than ever.

So VCJ has decided to show a few select VCs some relationships they probably didn’t even know they had. To do so, we’re pilfering the concept of Six Degrees of Separation (or Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, as it’s often referred to at parties), and debuting this month with Sequoia Capital’s M&M (Mike Moritz) and Detroit-bred rapper Eminem. In this case we only needed five.

Mike Moritz

A partner with Sequoia Capital since 1986, Moritz sits on the board of Yahoo! and is a former executive with Time Warner.

Terry Semel

Moritz was cited as the driving force behind enlisting Time Warner co-chair Terry Semel to take over as CEO of Yahoo!

Sylvia Rhone

While still at Time Warner, Semel scored a major coup by signing Sylvia Rhone as head of Elekra Records.

Doug Morris

When Rhone was signed by Elekra, it was a shock to industry insiders who had assumed she’s join her mentor Doug Morris at Universal Music Group.

Eminem

Morris is chief executive of Universal Music Group, parent company of Interscope Records. Last February, he persuaded Interscope artist Eminem to perform a duet with Elton John on the Grammy’s.