Avoiding the fate of the dotbombs: lessons from three surviving dotcom start‐ups

This paper reports on research that investigates how three start‐up dotcoms, founded at the height of the Internet boom avoided joining the many dotbombs of the subsequent crash of the Internet economy. The paper describes how the companies made use of Internet‐based information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their business operations. It draws lessons from their experiences that might be applied more generally to other dotcom start‐ups. These centre on the need to use the technology to manage business processes to meet the clearly definable needs of a targeted niche of customers. The desirability of suitable in‐house ICT expertise is stressed.