WASHINGTON, D.C.–In the spring of 2000, Laura Lukaczyk was hard at work putting together a new venture capital fund. By day, she consulted for venture giant New Enterprise Associates; by night, she honed her marketing and fundraising plans.

She launched Avansis Ventures in early summer. But by then, the Nasdaq market was in free fall, and the telecom bubble was about to blow.

“It was, like, four times my worst case scenario,” Lukaczyk recalls with a chuckle.

Easy to laugh now. Though relatively small at $10 million under management, Lukaczyk and her firm have a roster of interesting portfolio bets and plans for expansion.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s branding time for AdvaMed. The trade group, standard bearer for U.S. makers of medical devices and equipment, will soon roll out a print, outdoor and online campaign aimed at the wonk set here in Washington. The message? Their devices deliver good bang for the buck.

“We’re developing 25 patient case studies around medical technologies that have improved life and also have demonstrable savings associated with them,” says Stephen Ubl, AdvaMed’s chief executive.

One of the first profiles will be Michael Deaver, former communications adviser to Ronald Reagan and present owner of two artificial knees. “[Deaver] is going to talk about what those knees have meant to his everyday life,” Ubl says.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Forbes Beltway Index tracks the market progress of companies with close business ties to the U.S. federal government: the biggest contractors, government-sponsored enterprises and companies enjoying unique competitive advantages thanks to federal law.

Each Monday, we update price data for the index, in which we give equal weight to each of the component companies. With an equal-weighted index, all components have the same contribution to the index value. This contrasts with big indexes such as the Standard & Poor’s 500, which are weighted toward companies with the largest market capitalizations.

No matter how you feel about what goes on in Washington, our Forbes Beltway Index companies should be of investing interest. Why? For one, winning a government contract is no picnic. Assuming everyone plays by the rules, a company must show procurement officials that it has good products and services, deep technical expertise and, perhaps most important, the financial stability and discipline to carry out the contract. In many cases, companies must provide several years of audited financials before winning a bid.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation, litigation, lobbying and regulation: None of these Washington pastimes are pretty, but they all affect business and wealth profoundly. To help you assess that impact, we’ve created a Forbes.com section that draws together our insight into doers and doings in Washington. We call it Business in the Beltway.

The section may be new, but Forbes has kept a sharp eye on the Capital City since B.C. Forbes founded the company in 1917. Our Washington bureau, in operation for 50 years, now fields an editorial staff of six, led by veteran reporter and Forbes Senior Editor Janet Novack.

At Business in the Beltway, however, you’ll find much more than coverage from our D.C. bureau. Whenever one of our print or online reporters files a story with a Washington angle, we’ll post it at Business in the Beltway. We’ll also feature pertinent interviews conducted by our anchors on the Forbes.com Video Network.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – If you like a touch of irreverence in a chief executive, you’ll appreciate Essex Chief Executive Leonard Moodispaw. The company’s stock symbol, KEYW, pays tribute to his fondness for Key West and the music of singer Jimmy Buffett. According to his official bio, Moodispaw also “enjoys chocolate” and “is growing older but not up.”

Jimmy Buffett? Chocolate? Not exactly the sort of stuff you’d expect to hear about an executive in Essex’s line of work. Essex uses optical processing and proprietary digital algorithms to analyze signals, images and other big chunks of data for federal defense and intelligence outfits. The Columbia, Md., company can’t even reveal the identity of many of its customers, because the contracts are classified.

Speak with Essex brass about strategy, however, and Moodispaw’s line about not growing up starts to make more sense. Indeed, company execs see that youthful spirit as one of its most important assets in a tough intelligence-tech services market.

Full story at Forbes.com