"By her own admission, Novitsky is hooked on startups. A 42-year-old tech-industry veteran, she craves the passion and excitement that come with building a new company -- even if that means doing everyday chores like watching the front door. About every six months, she takes a new, practically full-time job at one of MDV's portfolio companies. All told, she has helped a half-dozen companies evolve from ideas on PowerPoint slides into full-fledged enterprises."

"That's a rare -- and welcome -- contrast to the way that VCs and entrepreneurs usually interact, notes David Kahn, the founder of InLeague, an online payroll and benefits-management company based in San Bruno, California. "So many venture capitalists see entrepreneurs as people to be tolerated. But Donna doesn't treat me like a big baby," says Kahn, 49, who worked side by side with Novitsky for 10 months last year. During that time, she helped InLeague get its strategy right, first as vice president of marketing and then as interim CEO."

"Even so, she had already won over Nageen Sharma, 40, president and CEO of oneRev. Sharma says that he was initially skeptical of the venture-partner idea: "My perception of VCs had been that they get into your life and tell you what to do. They change things that they don't understand." But after about five minutes of working with Novitsky, Sharma decided that he was ready for a venture partner."