It's a mid-afternoon in October at Trilogy Software, Inc. in Austin, Texas, and Ellis M. Verosub '98 is getting down at an impromptu disco party in the company's conference room.

While the party lasts for only a few minutes, the event epitomizes Trilogy, a "work hard, play hard" software company where recent college graduates run the company.

Two years ago Trilogy offered 12 Harvard seniors jobs. One accepted.

Last year, 21 out of 24 of the College's brightest said "Yes," turning down offers from Goldman Sachs and Microsoft.

The students are drawn by an anti-corporate culture and held by the opportunities that come with being on the ground floor of a small company headed for the top.

"[Trilogy has] all the fun of a start-up company without living in a garage," Verosub says.

Taking Over the Block

Founded in 1989, Trilogy develops software that helps giants like Boeing, Xerox and IBM streamline their operations. In two years, its revenue has grown from $70 million to $150 million. Meanwhile, its workforce has tripled. The amazing growth has helped catapult Trilogy from recruiting leper to leader.

The draw of a smaller company, say recent Harvard graduates now at Trilogy, is the chance to do more substantial work while being recognized as an individual, not just another cog in the wheel of a larger firm.

Razvan Surdulescu '98 had two internships at Microsoft and was eventually offered a job with the Redmond, Wash., firm.

"[Microsoft] is so big and streamlined, it is difficult to feel like you have an impact," he said. "If I choose not to go to Microsoft, it'll still be successful."

Employees say they relish the opportunity for contact with the firm's executives, possible only because of the company's relatively small size of 600.

"I was always frustrated at Harvard that I had all these super-star professors and I couldn't get to them," said John R. Miri '98, a former Crimson business executive who had offers from JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Proctor & Gamble.

He turned them down in favor of a working environment that would give him free reign and the excitement of joining a new company.

"Oh, my goodness," Miri says. "This really could be a really serious house-hold name in a few years."