Elias Shams didn't know when he started his technology company in March that just seven months later he would get a shot at raising millions of dollars.

Alain and Patrick Hanash just got business cards for the technology company they started in June, and they, too, are poised to raise millions of dollars.

Things are moving fast for the technology entrepreneurs.

Speed doesn't kill.

It gets money to grow from institutional investors.

More investment than ever is being made in privately held technology companies. Entrepreneurs are getting private equity sooner and getting products and services to market faster than ever.

On Wednesday and Thursday, regional tech companies at the Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair in the District will try to convince venture capitalists to sink money into their companies. Because there are so many tech companies in the region, the Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair hosts only small, private tech businesses.

``With the money coming into this area, it will be a record year. There's just a lot of cash available,'' said Warren Martin, managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers' D.C./Metroplex Technology Practice.

The private investment of venture capitalists seeking an equity stake in technology companies continues to be a major source of funds fueling the growth of those companies.

The venture fair is a dash for cash held annually since 1990. It provides an example of the investment frenzy by venture capitalists in small technology companies.

Investment in companies nationwide by venture capitalists has grown quickly.

Auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP will report today venture capital firms invested $9.04 billion nationally during the third quarter, a record for quarterly investment by venture capitalists.

Technology companies got a $8.1 billion share of that, according to the firm's Money Tree Report, and $638 million went to companies in Maryland, Virginia and the District during the third quarter.

MONEY TO GROW ON

Mr. Shams, Alain Hanash, Patrick Hanash and chief executives from 70 other regional companies could walk away from the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association's annual event with a combined $750 million, organizers estimate.

Mr. Shams, 36, wants up to $7 million to fund research and development and hire a sales force at Telezoo.com. The fledgling Georgetown company sells telecommunications products through a Web portal, a Web site that provides links to other sites.

Patrick Hanash, 31, and his brother, Alain, 29, hope to raise up to $20 million for Multicity.com, a McLean company that supports global chat rooms by providing language translation.

Odds are both businesses will attract some - if not all - the money they hope to get.

In return, the entrepreneurs will cede ownership of a percentage of their companies. No problem, the entrepreneurs say, because it's the cost of doing business. Private equity fuels the growth of small companies hoping to become the next America Online Inc.

WHAT IT TAKES

In fact, AOL started as a small company in search of financial backing from venture capitalists. That company got $5 million after a venture capital event sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association in the late 1980s before growing into a publicly held, $4.7 billion dollar corporation.

Not all companies that attend the event will get venture capital, but those that do are recognized as the most likely to succeed. And the new breed of chief executives who run the tech companies are as impressive as any group of CEOs that came before, investors say, a trend that boosts investor confidence.

``They're younger, smarter and raising amazing amounts of money,'' said Marc Benson, general partner of Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds. ``But it's still very difficult to take a company with no revenue, no customers and limited products and build something of value.''

Mr. Shams, a former engineer at Yurie Systems, a Maryland company that developed technology to speed transmission of data, is not forecasting a single dollar worth of revenue this year for Telezoo.com.

The Hanash brothers project modest 1999 revenues of $180,000 for Multicity.com.

But it's the potential that intrigues venture capitalists.

Investors feel they can increase the likelihood a technology company will be successful by providing the capital executives need to add people, speed development and reduce the time it takes to get products and services to market.

But private equity investment ups the ante.

Entrepreneurs want results.

Venture capitalists want results yesterday.

``Companies know they need to make progress quicker,'' said Gene Riechers, managing director of FBR Technology Venture Partners LP. ``So there's more importance on getting a strong management team quicker and more emphasis on building all parts of the company at the same time, not one piece at a time.''

PICKING THE WINNERS

Mr. Riechers, who manages a $150 million venture fund that is an arm of investment banker Friedman, Billings, Ramsey and Co. Inc. in Arlington, said he will invest $2 million to $5 million ``in the right company. But we don't go with a quota. We want to meet as many good companies as we can and invest in the best.''

The pace of change and level of expectation venture capitalists have of tech CEOs came as a surprise to Patrick and Alain Hanash, founders of Multicity.com.

They are racing to put everything in place, and changes are happening at a breakneck pace.

Just 45 days ago they ran their new business from the basement of the home they share in McLean. They started the company with $15,000 of their own money.

By July 12, the brothers were searching for equity and made a pitch to a group of private investors. While they waited for a response, they got a call from Draper Atlantic, the East Coast arm of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Richards LP, which was interested in making an investment in their company.

Ten minutes after their pitch to Draper, the brothers had a proposal to invest $1 million in return for a percentage of their company, Patrick said. They accepted the deal.

They have had little time to sit back and reflect.

``We never expected that we would move this fast,'' Patrick said.

Mr. Shams is moving fast, too. His company has grown so quickly he has had to ask employees to work out of their homes while he searches for a larger office.

BACK FOR ANOTHER ROUND

Unlike Mr. Shams and the Hanash brothers, some technology company leaders who will be looking for money this week have been here before.

Jamey Harvey helped raise $1.5 million while at his former company, Laurel, Md.-based Digital Addiction, which invented the on-line card game, Sanctum.

Now Mr. Harvey, who left Digital Addiction, is among the technology CEOs hunting for private equity investment for his 45-day-old company, iKimbo Inc. The Silver Spring-based company is building a network intended to let people more easily conduct electronic-commerce, send E-mail or post messages among a group of Internet users.

``iKimbo is a pure Internet company, and we're in a much bigger hurry [than Digital Addiction was in],'' Mr. Harvey said. ``Speed to market is the key. Pressure comes from the market. Once you understand how important speed to market is, you put pressure on yourself.''

That's just what venture capitalists want to hear, and that maturity is more common now, investors say.

``Because of the competitiveness of the Internet, [tech executives] have to move very quickly. Many of them do, but we want them to move even faster,'' said Mr. Riechers, of FBR Technology Venture Partners.

While experience among tech executives is enticing, the main attraction to investors is potentially huge returns on investments in tech startups, and venture capitalists have high hopes for companies at this year's Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair.

CAPITALIZING

One way investors get paid off is by seeing a private company they are backing make an initial public offering and become publicly traded on the Nasdaq or New York stock exchanges.

The venture capitalist's shares in a company increase - or decrease - depending on its valuation in the public market.

``I wouldn't be so bold as to say any of them will go public in 2000, but I would expect two or three to go public,'' said Mr. Benson, whose Mid- Atlantic Venture Funds is a $58 million venture capital firm with headquarters in Delaware and an office in Reston.

Volatile prices for tech stocks on the publicly traded markets this year have not deterred venture capitalists, as indicated by the record investment during the third quarter.

``The softening of late isn't really going to change anything,'' Mr. Riechers said. ``The public market is mostly disconnected from the private equity market.''

Alexander Cheung, fund manager at Monument Internet Fund in Bethesda, agreed.

Monument Funds Group started its Monument Internet Fund one year ago because of a strong appetite for tech stocks by investors. Mr. Cheung has nursed the Internet Fund's portfolio built a fund with a $66 million valuation.

``The Internet economy is happening and people want to participate,'' he said. ``We believe it will continue to grow dramatically.''

Internet-related businesses already are expected to generate more than $507 billion in revenue this year, surpassing for the first time traditional industries such as airlines, according to a University of Texas study released two weeks ago. That equals about 6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health.

That's up from $301 billion in revenue last year.

``With the investment climate so strong, we are nurturing companies that otherwise would not have capital. If they didn't have capital, ideas wouldn't be developed,'' Mr. Cheung said.

But there's no sign private equity investment in technology will slow, and that's good news for entrepreneurs like Mr. Shams. With so many potential investors, he's confident one will take an interest in Telezoo.com., and he's confident he can be selective.

He's looking for someone with money and vision.

``We're looking for smart money,'' Mr. Shams said. ``We don't want a VC who just has money. I want money that can help us.''

Copyright 1999 News World Communications, Inc., Reprinted with permission of The Washington Times.