Every economic cycle tends to produce a new crop of entrepreneurs who started out with a pocketful of ideas and end up on the list of L.A.’s super rich.

In the late 1990s, dot-coms were a primary path to fabulous fame and fortune. There is Bill Gross, founder of Idealab in Pasadena, an incubator that has spawned more than 30 Internet companies that hawk everything from cars to toys to pet supplies. The 41-year-old Gross has an estimated personal net worth today of more than $1.4 billion.

There is also Sky Dayton, the 20-something whiz kid who co-founded EarthLink Network Inc., and then last year established the Santa Monica-based incubator eCompanies.

But the fizzle has gone out of the dot-com business, and the next round of self-made moguls will likely be making it in computer software applications, wireless technologies and Web sites that provide consumers with something they can’t get elsewhere and don’t need banner ads to make ends meet.

“A lot of people think the new activity is going to be in a bunch of mergers of dot-coms, but that is all wrong,” said Leib Orlanski, an attorney at the law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart who works with angel investors and startup companies. “A lot of dot-coms are weak. Their business models are defective, and if you merge a bunch of sick cats and dogs together, you’re just going to get a bunch of sick cats and dogs.”

According to L.A. venture capitalists and other investors, the next big opportunities will be in:

– Fiber-optic switching systems to transmit information faster over the Internet.

– “Bluetooth technology” to create wireless networks within offices and for cell phones and Palm Pilots. For example, wireless computer keyboards and mouses, as well as telephone headsets.

– Web sites rich in unique content that will not rely on selling advertising to make money.

– Application service providers that lease or download specialized software programs over the Internet to large companies.

While there are several companies that fit these models, investors are particularly impressed with a handful of Southern California companies that are ahead of the curve.

One is eLabor.com Inc., a Camarillo-based company that has received nearly $25 million in venture capital funding and is getting ready to merge with another undisclosed software company. When eLabor goes public in the near future, its co-founder, president and chief executive Michael Edell is poised to make a bundle.

Operating in the past under the name jeTech Data Systems, eLabor changed its name last fall to better fit its new image. The company used to ship and install workforce management software that helped Fortune 500 companies manage time cards, scheduling and projects. Now all of these programs can be downloaded from eLabor.com’s Web site at a fraction of the original cost.

In the past, employers with 1,000 workers might have had to spend as much as $200,000 to install various labor-management software, as well as have servers and information technology personnel on staff.

Now with eLabor.com going online, the software can be downloaded onto any computer and costs anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000 a month, said company spokesman Serge Jonnaert.

Being a privately held company, eLabor does not publicly disclose its financial results, but company officials said its annual revenues have grown an average of 100 percent a year for the last six years.

While some companies are offering specialized, downloadable software programs over the Internet, other growing firms are ready to make big bucks with unique Web content.

“I think companies that own content whether it be educational, entertainment or informational are going to be good new areas of investment,” said Brad Jones, managing director of Redpoint Ventures, a Brentwood venture capital firm that specializes in investing in Internet-related operations.

One such company drawing interest from investors is GameColony.com, a site started by two Russian brothers in late 1999 with $625,000 in initial funding. Their Web site, launched nearly five months ago, allows people from around the world to play chess or checkers with each other. Other games to be offered soon are backgammon, gin, hearts and euchre. Someone living in Moscow could sit at a computer and challenge someone sitting at a computer in Los Angeles.

“Every site wants to both retain users, entertain them and have them stick around their site,” said Leonard Shneyderman, 29, president and CEO of GameColony.com, which has offices in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach.

Already GameColony.com has entered into strategic partnerships with a Brazilian Internet service provider that serves 97 Brazilian cities, and with an Australian search engine. It has also entered into partnership with several U.S. Web sites.

The company, which claims to have archived chess games dating back to 1452, will make money by charging consumers $1 to enter chess and card tournaments. The firm keeps 3 to 10 percent, with the remainder going to a jackpot for prizes. Already the site has 80,000 unique visitors a day.

Shneyderman, who is keeping his overhead costs low by hiring computer programmers working out of Russia, is hoping his company will be merged or acquired by another big company next year.

He’s hoping to strike it rich in the process, pointing out that Lycos Inc. paid $207 million in stock to acquire Gamesville.com, a similar site.

While Shneyderman and his brother, Boris, are calculating their next chess move, two other men are plotting their new Web strategy.

Attorneys Barak Lurie and Jerry Bregman are about to launch Rightpro.com, a West Los Angeles-based Web site that will list detailed information about various professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and financial planners, who register by paying a one-time $125 fee. In addition, they have developed a soon-to-be patented software program that will tell businesses why they are succeeding and failing, based on client feedback.

They project that in four years their sales will total $1 billion. They are hoping to launch an initial public offering in the near future.

Do they think they will be L.A’s next Internet millionaires, or billionaires?

“We want to change the world,” said Lurie, 36. “Those who change the world make a lot of money.”