Mining gems puts him on ground floor.(Brief Article)

A day before Kana Communications Inc. priced its initial public offering, Alberto Vilar sat in his midtown Manhattan office glancing sideways at the prospectus. He'd barely cracked it open and the pages of the offering document were still crisp, the spine uncreased. Mr. Vilar, 58, already knew its contents, having led the last two venture capital financings of the Silicon Valley company, a specialist in e-commerce infrastructure.

He predicted an easy sale. The following day, Sept. 22, Kana priced at $15 a share, and soared to $51.50 by the close of the first day of tra