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Petstore.com is doing just fine, however, though Baum admits they did postpone their initial public offering when the market tumbled in April. Unlike its more famous but dogged rival, Pets.com, he claims the privately run pet portal has plenty of capital.

Baum joined Petstore.com 10 weeks before he graduated, when they gave him $75,000 in salary and 50,000 stock options, taking the offer higher than the $140,000 tendered by a consulting firm. "I loved pets," he says. "There were dogs running around the office. It seemed like a cool thing. I was going to be director of marketing and do great commercials and advertising. It seemed fun and interesting, so why not?"

Diane Henry isn't getting ready to do her own start-up, but she's no slouch either. Earlier this year she ran the L.A. Marathon - in the rain - and in 1997 completed the New York Marathon. She just did a stint as editor of The Exchange, the school's weekly newspaper, putting in 15 to 20 hours a week. In July, she's planning to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with some Anderson friends. She's a pro at networking. For instance, one of her on-line buddies is Jimmy Carter (yes, that Jimmy Carter), whose books she helped promote during the four years she was a publicist at Random House.

The 28-year-old Harvard history grad is also working two days a week for one of the hottest Internet media companies to be launched since Oxygen.com - Spy magazine founder Kurt Andersen's new site, Inside.com. Talk about enterprising! She didn't know a single soul at the company. "This was total 'right place, right time,'" grins Henry.

All along, Henry knew she wanted to work in entertainment. Last summer, she interned in business development at Paramount, but found the experience disappointing. "Not that I thought I was going to work with Al Pacino," she offers. "But I had the problem that I came from an industry I loved."

By December, Henry was getting anxious. Then, one day, the self-described media junkie was reading The New York Times when a story caught her eye. Kurt Andersen was starting a new on-line venture combining journalism, entertainment and publishing. "I love Kurt Andersen! I couldn't believe that was all coming together," she recalls. Henry blindly sent her resume to CEO Deanna Brown. Three weeks later, Brown called, saying she was coming to L.A. and asking to meet her. Brown also needed someone to open Inside.com's L.A. office. Would Henry be interested? Henry's thought to herself: "This is a joke." It wasn't, of course. Inside.com debuted to major hoopla in early May, and Henry will work for them when she graduates. "I'm just finishing my agreement to work full-time. This is my ideal job."

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