Jones' contemplation of motherhood coincided with a need for a new project. A formerly high-powered tech executive, she had graced Forbes' cover three times before she was 30. But now the Internet boom was over.

So Jones developed and founded Extend Fertility, which charges $15,000 to freeze eggs for women 40 and under as a kind of biological insurance policy. The eggs can be implanted later, as ova quality drops dramatically after age 35 and is a chief cause of infertility.

Some experts have doubts about the procedure, and about marketing it to a target group —women in their 30s — that has strong emotions about fertility and might be easily exploited.

Several prominent fertility specialists think it gives women a sense of security about postponing child bearing until their 40s that isn't justified by the technology's limited history and significant failure rate. And with only about 100 babies born worldwide from frozen eggs, experts say that is too few to judge if the procedure causes health defects.

Jones said her success rate should be about 30 percent; critics say she shouldn't cite any rate since the company is so new it hasn't yet helped one woman conceive.

Even as she was launching her company this year, Jones froze a dozen of her own eggs, at a Stanford University clinic. "This is an issue I'm personally passionate about," she said.

One of her first clients, Cassandra McCarthy, defends Extend Fertility as she begins the medical process that will lead to having her eggs frozen.

"They told me I was entering at my own risk. I'm glad I have the choice," she said. "It takes some of the pressure off."

McCarthy, 34, had recently broken up with a long-term boyfriend when she read about Extend Fertility on the Internet. Other dating prospects were dim. McCarthy said she just isn't ready to be a mother.

However, the Association of Reproductive Medicine will issue a statement as early as this month calling the technology experimental and saying it shouldn't be marketed as biological insurance.

"I think it is totally unethical to offer this as a service at this point," said Michael Tucker, InVitro lab director at Shady Grove Fertility Center in Rockville, Md., an egg freezing pioneer. "People don't hear what you say, they hear what they want to hear and wind up paying for a service which they believe is much closer to certainty than it really is."

In the procedure, women take drugs to stimulate production of eggs, which are extracted from the ovaries, treated with a protectant and frozen in liquid nitrogen. When needed, they are chemically thawed, fertilized and implanted in the womb.

Freezing has been slow to find a place in the booming fertility market for several reasons. Eggs are very fragile and damage easily. They are mostly water and highly susceptible to freezer burn. Freezing also creates a coating around the egg that limited sperm penetration. That problem has been somewhat overcome by technology that allows the sperm to be injected directly into the egg.

Extend Fertility will use procedures developed at the University of Bologna, which has more babies born from frozen eggs than any other clinic — 51 children in 10 years. The clinic in Bologna, Italy, has a pregnancy rate of around 19 percent and a live birth rate of roughly 14 percent.

The Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Jacksonville has a much higher live-birth rate, of between 40 percent and 50 percent. The clinic has helped conceive 33 children in 6 years. Still, Dr. Kevin Winslow, the institute's director, said the rates are too low for commercial application. "The technology isn't ready for prime time," he said.

Jones says that she tells her clients the technology is experimental, but insists that shouldn't be an impediment to marketing. "Women should have options," said Jones.

Jones believes she can improve on Bologna's success rate, because she will be working with healthy young women instead of infertile couples. Sole owner of her company, she signed a deal to become the sole distributor of the solution used in Bologna to freeze eggs. Jones plans a central facility for egg storage and manufacture of the freezing solution, to ensure high standards.

Jones' strategy is to partner with existing fertility clinics, teaching them how to freeze and defrost eggs. She markets the service, and the money from customers is split. Her goal is to have 100 clients in 12 months.

So far, three clinics have signed up. Doctors at the Huntington Reproductive Center in Pasadena, Calif., said they were impressed with her background and personality. Moreover, the infertility business is highly competitive, and offering the new service can provide partner clinics with an edge.