The phenomenon isn't entirely new. John Doerr, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, notes that when he and his partners invested in Intuit, the business software maker, in the mid-1980s, "none of the money went into the company. It was all to buy founders' stock shares."

"We always prefer that the money be used to build the company," Mr. Doerr said. But the desire to own a piece of a hot company, he said, sometimes trumps that sentiment. Indeed, he said Kleiner Perkins was currently considering just such an investment in one enterprise.

Typically, the founders are the sole beneficiaries of these deals. Webroot, for instance, raised $108 million in venture capital last February. A large share of that money is being used to open offices around the globe, said Mike Irwin, Webroot's chief financial officer, and to expand the company's product offering.

But some of that $108 million -- Mr. Irwin would not say how much -- went directly to the company's two creators, Steve Thomas and Kristen Talley, who founded the company in 1997. They still own a share of Webroot but neither works for the company.

In eHarmony's case, 116 people benefited financially when the company, which was started in 1999, announced last December that it had raised $110 million. The word within the venture capital community is that less than $30 million of that sum went into the company coffers. Mr. Forgatch said that was inaccurate, but he would provide no specifics.

"It's not my place to talk about personal finances of 115 other people," he said.

Mr. Forgatch argues that the venture deal he helped to craft is good for the company, based in Pasadena, Calif., as well as for the people who benefited. And he may be right.

The transaction served as a kind of release valve that helped quiet the collective impulse among eHarmony insiders to see the company go public. An incremental payoff for their hard work, Mr. Forgatch said, "allows everyone to focus on the mission."