Mike Leo darts down the narrow hallway of Avenue A Inc.'s office on Olive Way, sidestepping stacks of cardboard boxes and twisting to avoid an oncoming pack of twentysomethings, all in search of a familiar face.

"Who are these people?" Leo jokes, "And why can't we find more of them?"

Leo is co-founder and vice president of strategic development for Avenue A, a Seattle-based start-up that manages and analyzes online advertising. Flush with a fresh $19 million in venture financing, Avenue A has hired about 100 people in the past six months and has another 64 positions left to fill.

Right now Leo's most important task isn't finding business—he claims the company has turned away seven of its last 10 potential clients and is developing a lengthy waiting list for its services. Ihe problem now is finding employees.

The company's 64 openings aren't just for the traditionally hard-to-find computer programmers. Nearly half of Avenue A's openings are for marketers, analysts, advertising specialists and salespeople.

"We are getting about 300 to 400 resumes a week," Leo said. "Of those resumes, we'll probably hire two people."

Internet start ups loaded with cash and moving at the hyperactive pace of Internet time are having an increasingly difficult time filling the nongeek positions on the company roster.

"It's the single biggest challenge we face," said Ann Gordon, CEO of eSociety, a Bellevue-based company that builds vertical portals for businesses.

"We have 30 openings. Some are for tech people, but we have lots of openings for business development, financial and marketing people as well," she said.

"A few years ago you just didn't find people that had e-commerce experience or had worked for an Internet start-up," Gordon said. "Now the key is finding people that have that experience and are looking to work for a second start up assignment."

Gordon also faces the challenge of finding a chief financial officer.

Two weeks ago she sent out a help wanted e-mail to everyone in her address book. The mass mailing turned up seven solid candidates, Gordon said.

"It's hard to find good executives anytime," said Janis Machala, managing partner with Paladin Partners, a Kirkland-based venture catalyst, who helps nascent companies in securing financing and hiring personnel.

The biggest needs are for CFOs that have taken a company public and have experience dealing with the rigors associated with an initial public offering.

"There is a shortage of those people," Machala said. "But on the other hand, there are a lot of people who have experience with Big Five firms that have experienced taking companies public from the accounting side."

Given the recent generosity of many venture capital firms, CFO candidates with some start ups can "pretty much write their own tickets," said Colleen Aylward, president of Devon James Associates Inc., a Bellevue-based recruiting firm.

Recruiter Colleen Aylward is helping Internet company Avenue A fill a long list of jobs.

Devon James Associates has helped staff Amazon.com and Visio, and is currently working with Avenue A and e Charge, another Seattle start up.

"Especially candidates who have done IPOs, they know what kind of grueling work = it is, they are well aware of the divorce rates. So the next time around they will demand much more in base salary and equity," Aylward said.

The typical CFO candidate will ask for a base salary of between $120,000 and $200,000, plus at least a 3 percent stake in a company, said Aylward.

But it's not just CFOs that are in demand. It's marketing specialists, business development people and product managers.

Product managers are also a rare breed these days said, Aylward said.

"They are getting harder to find because companies are asking that they have a knowledge of a specific technology," she said.

The problem isn't so much a shortage of experienced candidates but shortage of candidates with Internet experience.

Avenue A's and eSociety's stacks of resumes include a healthy dose of people with some work experience that are looking for an entry into the sexy and lucrative world of the Internet. But too much of the "wrong" experience isn't welcome.

"If we get a guy who has been with IBM for 20 years or any large corporation for five or more years, you have to wonder if the candidate is aggressive and progressive enough," Aylward said.

A few years ago a person who stayed with a company for only a year or two and moved on was branded a "job hopper." Now changing jobs every year or so is considered valuable experience.

"Internet years are like dog years," Aylward joked. "One year with an Internet com- pany is like five years with a manufacturer or in database sales."

Aggressive candidates are just what Avenue A is looking for, Leo said. Which is why instead of waiting for the right job candidates to come the company, Leo took the company to the candidates.

Last July, Leo led the now famous Avenue A pub crawl through Belltown and Fremont searching for candidates.

The company has also scouted local rock-climbing gyms and soccer fields in search of workers.

Avenue A employees receive a $1,500 bonus for each new hire they recommend.

The guerilla tactics, as Leo calls them, yielded a new vice president and several strong job candidates. "There really isn't anytime to wait for people to come to you," he said.

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