“They’ve turned profits into power,” said Rob Lalka, author of the book “The Venture Alchemists,” which came out this year and profiled many of the figures who are headed into the administration. 

Lalka, a professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, said several characteristics define the technologists surrounding Trump, including their wealth and skepticism of institutions and the heavily online personas they’ve created. And he said they have a shared history,…