Venture funds quickly drying up.

A great idea isn't the only ingredient in the recipe for a successful Internet startup, banking executives told the audience at a recent e-commerce event.

A thriving e-business must also have a management team with the stamina to turn an innovative concept into a moneymaking proposition and a business plan detailing revenue sources and profit projections, executives said.

"You need to be able to show that you'll be able to make progress in bite sizes that are fundable," said Chetan Dave, a partner at Chase Capital Partners, the private equity arm of Chase Manhattan.

When Internet companies were the darlings of Wall Street, start-up companies had little difficulty raising the venture capital necessary to put their ideas in motion. As one Internet executive put it "anybody who could get out of bed and put his sandals on could raise $4 million."

Since the Nasdaq took a tumble this spring, venture capitalists are taking a more sober and, many would argue, more realistic approach to investing.

Although the exuberance over Internet real estate ventures has died. down over the past few months, there are still companies looking for good investments. Chase Capital Partners began investing in real estate ventures about three years ago and, since late 1997, has pumped $600 million into real estate. In April, Cohen & Steers Capital Partners established a $26 million venture capital fund for real estate investment, said Jeff Kaplan, a partner with Cohen & Steers.

"In today's environment you need to be proven to get some customers," Kaplan said.

While some investors, like Rethinklab which is an initiative of APC Realty Advisors, are looking for start-up companies to fund, others are looking to fund more established companies. Michael Franco, a principal of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, said the company began considering technology and telecommunications investments about a year ago and typically fund companies seeking their second or third round of funding. Some initiatives Morgan Stanley Dean Witter has funded are Buzzsaw.com and Constellation Real Technologies, with typical investments ranging from $5 to $10 million, Franco said.

With the excitement surrounding the Internet, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of ideas for potential new e-businesses. Because of the high volume of ideas, however, it has become difficult for entrepreneurs to convince investors that their ideas are unique. For this reason, investors are better off approaching a "rich uncle" that a traditional venture capitalist.

"There have been so many business plans proposed that you'd have to have one hell of an idea to raise venture capital," Dave said. "It's not realistic for an ides that's already put been put there to get funding today."

For entrepreneurs who are uncertain whether their idea is a winner Michael Lehrman, managing director of Rethinklab, suggested putting it to the "elevator pitch" test. He told prospective e-business owners to imagine themselves in an elevator with a venture capitalist.

"If you can't explain what you do and differentiate yourself in a minute-long elevator ride, then you're probably not going to make it," Lehrman said.