Is depression on its way?

While hundreds of start-ups have imploded over the past 12 months, and dozens more, including big name brands such as Amazon.com and Yahoo, are struggling, some of you can still afford to smile.

Not that it's all good news. Some readers have e-mailed to tell us how they got their fingers burnt in the dot.com gold rush.

Find out how others have fared by reading below:

Your comments:

THE CHEQUE'S IN THE POST
At our dot.com, we still haven't been paid our January or February salaries. And on top of that, there has been a retrenchment every 15 days. And on top of that, there has been failure in terms of commitment from the company side. Who's responsible for this all?
Ali

IT'S NO JOKE
In January 2000 I joined AirTreks.com. We fought for funding but it never came. We saw silly ideas with no chance of a profit get millions, while we struggled with our angel investors to keep us afloat. Now a year later we are profitable. We like to joke that we are the dot.com nobody wanted. Trouble is now anything dot.com gets a bad rap. We made the cut without big help, but that doesn't mean anything now.
Cat Leppo

"IT MEANS NOTHING TO ME"
In 1996 I started a dot.com and I tried to build it on tested business methods, not on sand. The boom meant nothing to me and this bust is having the same effect as I have a small but loyal band of customers. There is nothing wrong with dot.com, just the idiots and sheep who follow them in every boom bust cycle.
Bob Wilcox

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE
I moved from print to an online IT magazine site. We had West End offices and the MD drove a Porsche. When pay rises never materialised, we were placated with talk of shares that would make us all rich. But no one below board level got a look in. We plebs got the last laugh: from �40 per share last year, they are currently standing at 80p. I'll stick to the printed page from now on.
Craig Hinton

SWEET AND SOUR
I worked for a US start-up. It promised to be a "new kid on the block" backed by $25m. I was amazed at how the managers ran the company. It was like kids in a sweet shop. They failed to realise we had to secure a foothold and build a customer base. After having a burn rate of over $2m a month the company went from 100 employees to just over 30. It is now in the its death throes.
Mark Terrington

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Yesterday's myth was anything goes on the web. Today's myth is that nothing works on the web. Both are wrong. The web is little more than a new arena for some very old ideas. As an obscure dot.com which is quietly making a respectable living, I'm living testimony to the fact that with a good idea, good planning, a solid business plan and some hard work, anything is possible. Take one factor out of the equation and all that's left is a gamble.
Dave Collins

BOOTY CALL
I bought lots of dot.com names in the hope of working on them as projects. I've got too many and don't have enough time to work on them. Lots of dot.coms with lots of renewal fees. Anyone want 020.com? It's a London thing.
Stuart

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
I started my dot.com with my own money. When the market went phut, everyone re-awoke to the fact that a business has to be profitable. Now my business model is based on a more stringent financial policy, and we are thankful for it. Well done the boom - get rid of the idiots!
Nikolai K

WISE BEYOND YOUR YEARS
It seems only two people in North America did not fall for the dot.com hype - Warren Buffett and my wife, the web designer. When we had opportunities to invest in two hot stocks, her response was: "No way! The economy still follows the same old laws." We took our money elsewhere, and we are doing just fine.
Rob McDowell

I THINK IT'S CALLED SCHADENFREUDE
I jumped off the band wagon 18 months ago and was nearly sick when I saw the stock options I left behind go through the roof. Needless to say, I feel a lot better about it now!
Jon

GO EAST MY SON
In Israel, web start-ups are everywhere, and I have worked for many of them. Of those I have been to in the last four years, very few are still going, and one has gone bust and restarted 3 times. They finally sacked most of their staff and out-sourced their programming needs to India!
Michael Jacobs

YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO BE FLAKY
I set up snow-forecast.com last year with two friends. We believe we have a winning formula and will thrive through this so-called depression. Why? Because we built the business without any loans or venture capital. Our large number of users and our low-risk infrastructure mean that we are a good prospect for online advertisers.
Nick Russill

AWAITING TAKE-OFF
Last year there was major recruitment drive at my dot.com for web developers, brand strategists, designers, etc.). In January we saw a US office close and 30% of the workforce made redundant due to the dot.com slow down. In fact, in my view, it never really took off - it was all speculation
Adrian Manic

CAN I GET SOME REST NOW?
Three of us started a small web development company on a shoestring, just as the market began to collapse. We've had many sleepless nights over the last year. We struggled to survive at first, but we knuckled down and built up the business by proving our expertise. We also only take on what we're confident we can deliver. As a result we're now attracting repeat business, lots of interest and many new business leads. The market still isn't particularly buoyant - but our tenacity is starting to pay dividends.
Owen Upton