Willem VanDooijeweert had one helluva ride on the Internet roller coaster. In December 1999, the 32-year-old former real estate manager earned six-figures (plus stock options worth $1 million) as vice president of real estate and business development for Kozmo.com in New York City. The online delivery service was rapidly expanding in major cities around the country. In a little over nine months, he set up 20 offices and warehouses. Then it ground to a halt. The dot-com ran short of cash and in August 2000 it laid off 250 employees, including VanDooijeweert. He didn't have a long job search though. Using his Internet experience to his advantage, he landed a higher-paying post three weeks later at Colliers ABR, an international real estate company in New York City. VanDooijeweert now runs a division that targets technology and Internet businesses as well as Old Economy firms that need properties in a hurry. VanDooijeweert's dot-com stint was the best thing that ever happened to his career. "You've got to live the entire life cycle of a company in a year," he says. "You learn a whole lot and get to leverage what you learned into opportunity.