FILIPINO dotcoms are seeing a virtual shakeup-the roller coaster ride that has shaken their United States counterparts fiercely. It's not the swinging '60s this time where everyone gets a high, but more like a dance of death in the 21st century Internet revolution.

As Australian investment incubator Zvi Brooks recently put it, US dotcoms are undergoing a painful process separating the weed from the chaff. But the first stage of the Internet economy is described by pundits as undergoing corrections particularly during the Nasdaq crash in April. It is experiencing what may be an "agonizing refinement'' that has forced US dotcoms to slow down, Internet stocks to plummet and many a high-soaring US dotcom to make a crash landing. Brooks put it this way: It's easy to say that people get hurt, but transition is healthy, and may be right in the end.

Still, reality bites. All the helter-skelter in the US dotcom scene is unfolding before Filipino dotcoms' very eyes like a growing snowball rolling down their way, threatening to crush them to pieces.

Gulp.

Welcome to the new, exciting, albeit unnerving, Filipino dotcom economy.

A Filipino dotcom that started from rock bottom is Pinoymail, now touted to be the largest Filipino Internet-based e-mail service in terms of subscriber base with 340,000 users. It was founded in 1998 by former journalist Dominick NA Danao at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Venture capitalist Orlando Vea's holding firm, Newnet Holdings, bought a 90-percent stake in the company this year.

Amid the impression that nothing could rattle this dotcom pioneer anymore as he started during one of the worst times of the Philippine economy, Danao-currently Pinoymail's managing director-revealed that he is wary even in good times.

"Even in good times I am worried. Creating value for the customer and creating wealth for shareholders should be everybody's goal in the company. That is a continuous challenge. I am worried about the threats from outside-competition-and I am worried about threats from inside-complacency,'' he said. Danao even quoted Intel's Andy Grove: "Only the paranoid survive."

As for the recent threat for dotcoms, Danao describes the phenomenon as a "huge correction'' stemming from "huge mistakes'' investors made on many dotcoms that did not have any value propositions in the first place.

"Investors realized that they were so stupid investing in all-gloss, no-strong-bottom line companies that they pulled the plug. It is unfortunate that the whole situation went into extremes-from extreme exuberance on the Net to extreme pessimism,'' stressed Danao.

As for Simon H. Sandoval who put a startup software development company in the Philippines-Qliff Solutions (now Colibria Philippines)-he stressed that even if dotcom trends in the US would also apply in the Philippines, there are not as many dotcoms here as in the States, and that it has always been more difficult for a dotcom to get funding from venture capitalists in the Philippines.

"This scenario has naturally filtered many of the business ideas that would not survive the marketplace. Hence, I believe that Philippine start-ups and dotcoms that have made it this far have a good chance at succeeding,'' he said.

Sandoval said he does not believe that the end of dotcoms is nearing. However, he said, the rules have changed drastically.

"Naming one's company a dotcom and having an online presence are not enough anymore to have people throwing money at you,'' he said.

Sandoval added that as a dotcom, one needs a clear strategy of growth, earnings and features functionality that distinguish one from competition.

Sandoval's company is now a subsidiary of a dotcom company from Norway called Colibria. Since then, it has expanded from being a software development firm to mobile Internet space development.

In the case of MP3 Manila, 21-year-old CEO Nono Felipe believes that the country will be seeing more of these dotcoms in the coming months. Felipe is part of a five-man team which formed mp3manila.com which was bought by AJO.NET Holdings recently. The four other members of the core group are Armand Abaya, 20; Mark Escueta, 21; JR Ignacio, 19 and Jon-Jon Coronel, 20.

Felipe stressed that the question of a dotcom's sustainability will eventually have to be answered.

Felipe stressed that the future belongs to sustainable dotcoms.

"The real test is profitability. A dotcom with a clear path to profitability will own the future,'' he said confidently.

Felipe hopes, however, that Filipinos will be reeducated on the so-called "new economy.'' He added that the perceptions on this new economy can sometimes be so contorted that they're not "pleasing'' anymore.

"It's not true that anyone with a concept can hit it off. Is the concept good, sustainable, profitable and adaptable to changing times?,'' he asked.

Asked what he thinks the future of dotcoms in the Philippines will be, Danao predicted that venture capitalists, business angels and other investors will start looking for quality. Danao said that this is but proper and stressed that "they should be doing that as a matter of course.''