This study examines the relationship between 21 ‘internet-specific strategies‘ and the performance of internet-trading ventures. ‘Internet-specific strategies‘ are defined as business strategies specifically relevant in the internet-trading context. They were proposed mostly by practitioner-oriented exploratory literature, based on case studies of leading dotcoms. Does the application of such strategies increase performance for the bulk of the new ventures (dot.coms and new divisions of large companies) trading on the internet? The results of a large survey of 406 internet ventures in the UK were quite controversial. Despite the fact that we have found statistically significant correlations between the majority of ‘internet-specific strategies‘ and venture performance in at least one industrial sector, the coefficients were weak and the regression model proved statistically insignificant. This raises questions over the validity of practitioner-led theories about internet business. Business on the internet might be just business.