ARE YOU READY TO GROW?

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Venture capital, start-ups - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

After Y2K, Internet startups increasingly seem to float to the top of the business fishbowl, suffocated by a tack of cash flow and a stormy market. In the eyes of consulting firm Deloitte & Touche, however, the shakeout after the boom is far from destiny. In fact, the company's betting on it.

"In the last six to 22 months, we have changed our focus to startup companies," said Cathy Alber, a senior manager at Deloitte & Touche's Downtown Denver office. Growth Company Services "is an initiative that spans all of our service lines," Alber explained.

"We find, with a lot of startups, they have a core competency," she said. "Typically, the group of founders are focused (on that core competency) like a laser. However, for the venture capital community, they need to took like a 'real company'," with financial and human resources plans and a solid IT strategy.

Growth Company Services helps fill the gaps, she said.

Tech startups mulling an IPO, for example, should know that post-Y2K investors "have changed their focus from revenue growth to being...