Fast Cash.

LATIN TRADE tips to getting rich quick on the Internet--not all of which will get you arrested.

THE CONCEPT

1 Like any good Hollywood producer, would-be wealthy websters should always have handy a few "blue sky" projects. After all, a good idea can fetch big bucks. Canadian telecom company Nortel paid US$3.25 billion each for Xros in Sunnyvale, California, and Otera, in Boca Raton, Florida. Neither of the Internet technology companies had revenue or a product.

THE DOMAIN NAME GAME

2 Are you good at naming kids, pets and barnyard animals? Then why not try your hand at dot-coms? It only costs $70 to register a domain name and your moniker could be worth fortune untold. Business.com sold for $7.5 million, according to market researcher e-companies.

Take heed those who prefer the steal-a-name game, in which participants register the online names of famous companies and shake them down for cash when they arrive to a given country. Interactive Press, based in Hermosillo, Mexico, reportedly tried to sell yahoo.com.mx to Yahoo! for $300,000. It got nothing when Mexican authorities simply awarded the U.S. portal its domain name.

THE BUSINESS PLAN

3 Some writing is required but, for your trouble, you get to give yourself a huge salary. Include optimistic forecasts and plenty of jargon: that's how you impress potential Internet investors with your digital savvy. If you need tech talk to get your OODBMS into gear, try http://whatis.com, a wonderful reference for technical vocabulary.

SEED FINANCING

4 If you are actually going to start the company, then someone else must pay for it. This round of financing is often called "friends and family" because they are the ones called upon to cough up the money, usually about $3 million to $5 million. If your loved ones know you too well or your friends are gold-diggers, too, you can always post your business plan at www.angeltips.com, a site that matches web entrepreneurs and web financiers.

VENTURE CAPITAL

5 While this phase sounds like you're getting dangerously close to actual work, what it really implies is that professional get-rich-quick types, known as venture capitalists, are going to share in your haul. As in the subsequent steps, your original 100% is starting to dilute--in this case probably toward 25% or less. However, the company is now worth $15 million or $20 million, And don't worry, nothing has really happened yet, except that now you are hiring public relations firms like Burson-Marsteller, Edelman or Hill & Knowlton to build "momentum."

TAKEOVER TIME

6 "Momentum" is the key to being taken over by someone who really wants to work. Generate enough high-powered deals with other web startups ["I'll put a link to your site if you put a link to mine..."] and you might generate enough buzz to be bought out. Be careful, though. Venture capitalists are true professionals at turning a profit. Witness how Banco Santander Central Hispano recently paid some $529 million for 75% of Patagon.com--all the investors' shares but none belonging to the workers and top management. The latter must now work until Santander buys them out or the company goes public.

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS

7 Now you're getting close to big money as investment funds join the march to Wall Street. However, keep an eye on those venture capitalists. Because of their inside position with the large funds that are now plowing $50 million to $60 million for a spot on the ground floor when this baby takes off, the VCs can oust a site's management if there isn't enough "momentum" being generated. For example, key executives of e-commerce website Espanol.com recently got promoted "out of the way" for lack of buzz building.

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING

8 Issuing stock on Nasdaq where the shares zoom five to 100 times then initial offering price in mere minutes, would hint that payday has arrived Alas, most money movers required that management stay put for 12 to 24 months before employees are "vested" meaning that they receive all of their shares. By that time, may be you'll actually believe in the project and wish to postpone cashing in shares worth millions of dollars. Just kidding Take the money and run.