The company: Novus is a private investment partnership on the prowl for young companies that are starting to make their names in technology. It has ties throughout the Silicon Valley circuit of lenders and venture capitalists and often links entrepreneurs with other sources of capital when it decides to take a stake. Eventually, it enlists regional investment banks that can help take the company public. Novus alumni include Bryo Technologies (Symbol: BRYO), which makes database-query software, and HawkNet, a maker of network-management software, which was bought by BMC Software this year. Novus is a federally licensed small-business investment company, which means it's subject to scrutiny by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The goal: Novus managing general partner Dan Tompkins makes no bones about it: He's looking for the next Intel, and he's not kidding. As a young officer with Wells Fargo in 1969, Tompkins recommended that the bank take a 1% stake for $300,000 in a new venture of two former Fairchild Semiconductor engineers, Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce. That venture was Intel, of course, and the stake would now fetch more than $1 billion. What does he want to see? "Companies with the potential to grow very big, very fast," the kind that can push revenue to $50 million in three to five years from as little as $1 million, he says. "One that helps us make 20, 30, or 50 times our money when it goes public, instead of a mere 15% a year."

With ambitions like that, Novus won't sit idly by. It expects a board seat for its stake in your company, for starters. Novus doesn't want to run your business day to day. But once it latches onto an investment, it actively taps Novus' resources to help that company fulfill its expectations. Tompkins has deep roots in the Silicon Valley network and can often recommend additional team members. He can also scratch up additional capital through Silicon Valley or San Francisco banking contacts or help find a list of candidates should a merger seem attractive.

The typical deal: With a handful of computers, a modem, and a server he borrowed from a friend, Paul Wildrick started CyberState University in 1994 to offer certification courses over the Internet for Novell software. Novus' Tompkins soon caught wind of what Wildrick was up to and offered to take a stake in the company. But Wildrick wanted to remain on his own. It wasn't until last year, when enrollment hit 1,000 students and revenue topped $1.3 million, that Wildrick realized he had to hire more staff soon. "My mentality is very bootstrap," says Wildrick. "I've always thought you earn the money, and then you can spend it. Dan has helped me get used to the fact that with extra equipment and more personnel, we can grow faster." In June, Novus helped CyberState sell $2.2 million of debentures, which carry an 8% interest rate. They're convertible into 25% of CyberState's stock, if someone buys the company or it goes public. Novus took $1.4 million, and Tompkins found investors for the remaining $800,000. The new funds let Wildrick beef up his staff from 9 employees at the beginning of 1998 to 31. That's important since CyberState now offers 25 courses, up from 14 last year, and it plans to more than double its offerings to 60 in 1999. Enrollment is expected to quadruple for the second year in a row, to 16,000 in 1999, up from 4,000 this year and 1,000 in 1997. Revenue is also projected to soar -- from $3.2 million this year to $13 million in 1999.

The process: Novus' interest hinges on your idea, foremost, and a professional business plan to map things out. From there, expect to sit down with Tompkins and other Novus partners to present a detailed vision of your cutting-edge technology or innovation. Tompkins and his partners, many of whom have extensive technical backgrounds in everything from computer chips to local-area networks, will pore through your paperwork and review your management team. Novus will also grill your customers or prospective customers and run reference checks.

What works: In addition to a well thought-out business plan, a solid management team is key for Novus. "We want to see that you have the people to get your business up and running," says Tompkins. "Running a company is basically solving problems because everyone faces product glitches or sales that just don't happen. That's why you need a team to work together and sort things out."

What doesn't: Although he seeks people with vision, Tompkins says he's leery of autocrats. A tyrannical sort tends to quash creativity in the name of control in as many facets of a business as possible. Tompkins recalls encountering one software company -- not a Novus investment -- where the boss was so contentious that investors were turned off. Eventually, they withheld money until new management came in.

Parting advice: "We're looking for highly motivated people who can't be stopped, the kind that are self-starters and not beanbags," explains Tompkins. "They're the sort you'd say were almost a little crazy while at the same time maintaining the ability to get along with people."

By James A. Anderson in New York

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