Everyone knows the usual rules don't apply when you're talking about investing in Internet companies. How else could so many companies built around almost identical technologies survive? It's hard to tell which ones will win in the end -- though most bank on a company's ability to build a brand.

Set rules or not, somebody's doing something right. Three companies founded within the last five years now have mind-blowing stock prices. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past five years, their names are on the tip of your tongue by now. There's Yahoo! (worth close to $35 billion), Amazon.com Inc. ($21.4 billion), and online auction mogul eBay ($19 billion). These companies that have launched a million dreams and thousands of millionaires, and compelling, if short-lived metaphors: flip through The New York Times or Wall Street Journal for snippets like: "Amazon-like aggressiveness" and "iVillage's go-for-broke approach." (iVillage was rewarded with a moonshot IPO on March 19, which saw the stock go from an initial price of $24 to $95, before closing at 80. ) In each case, venture capitalists have seen their investments grow more than 500-fold. Even if these investments go bust one day, they have made their mark as some of the best investments in stock market history.

Guidelines for investors -- and startup-ready MBAs:

1. Tolerate big-time losses for the first few years. Just about every Internet startup expects to post losses early on -- and plunge money into marketing and product development with an eye towards rapid revenue growth. Venture Capitalists look for entrepreneurs that target wide markets. Such enterprises are more likely to go public at an inflated price because investors are so optimistic about the possibilities for the Internet.

2. Look for entrepreneurs who have pioneered niches. When five more upstarts jump on the bandwagon, learn to discern between the ones playing catch-up and the ones building viable brands. Most important -- look for quality product. First-to-market doesn't always equal success.

3. Education does not mean everything. Bill Gates and Mike Dell dropped out of college -- and they seem to be doing just fine. Don't shun a company if the CEO has no MBA.