Last week there were a few more than usual, but the fortunes of those attending the third-annual Vegas Venture Forum had nothing to do with blackjack tables or poker rooms. Executives of more than a dozen companies gathered at the Green Valley Ranch resort in hopes of striking it rich with potential investors.

John Kohlhaas, chief executive of Moondoggie Technologies, presented the company's business plan for manufacturing and marketing a digital computer monitor. Those monitors include a double-sided screen and new technology that reduces glare and increases brightness in sunlight.

Kohlhaas, who runs the company from his home on the Legacy Golf Course in Henderson, moved Moondoggie here from Irvin, Calif. The company received $2.7 million in startup funding a year ago and was looking for $5 million at the venture forum to fund initial production and marketing for a product launch.

"We're ready," he said. "We've had some good conversations with a couple of people here."

Shawn Harris, president of SkyWire Media, had similar hopes for his Summerlin-based company. While not presenting at the forum, SkyWire was making the rounds, talking to investors about the company, which conducts marketing campaigns through mobile phone text messages.

SkyWire has singled out the real estate industry as a prime market, looking to replace the paper fliers found on for-sale signs with text-messaged information about listings. Harris emphasized that the service is not cell phone junk mail, but an opt-in service for consumers looking for tailored market information.

Potential financiers pointed out, however, that deals will be made not just with companies touting great ideas but companies best positioning themselves to succeed, primarily with a strong management group.

"It requires a lot of confidence in the management," said James O'Shaughnessy Houssels, a Las Vegas-based investor. "You've got to see the fire in their eyes. You have to know that they are going to pursue this to the bitter end."

Investors also make it very clear that taking a venture investment does, in fact, come with certain strings attached. Not the least of which is the fact that company founders are not likely to dictate where the influx of capital is spent.

Steve Singer of Vegas Valley Angels pointed to a company his organization invested in recently. The founder had financed the company with personal debt, and once an outside investment came in he sought to use some of that influx of cash to pay off that debt. The idea was not met with support from his new partners.

"We invest to make companies grow," he told a crowd at the forum. "We're not investing for past mistakes."

Investors also discussed a sometimes controversial aspect of venture funding in which those investors claim seats on the board as investors. While company founders at times see the demand as an intrusion, investors describe it as a means of bringing in new expertise.

"Raising money is one element," said Scott Bulloch of SPB Partners. "Then you've got to take the business where it needs to be. A board allows you to surround yourself with people who have the knowledge of how to get the business there."

Singer agreed.

"The directors we have to offer are one of our most valuable assets," he said.

Bulloch also conceded that it's a way for investors to ensure that there are no fundamental changes in the business plan that attracted them in the first place.

"We want to make sure that the deal we bought into is the deal we get to participate in," he said.

The investors at the forum also said they are less concerned about the type of business or the industry than the viability of the concept.

"We're not looking for market sector," said Ric Cesped of Sierra Angels. "We're looking for good businesses."

Singer agreed.

"We look at all types of companies," he said, "provided the product is unique."

Bulloch said the only criteria his organization operates under is geographic.

"We love Las Vegas and things in Vegas," he said. "We're focused on what's going on in Southern Nevada."