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Among the many stories of once-loaded but now defunct dotcoms, it is easy to forget that most Web-based enterprises have humble beginnings. The Net is a godsend for entrepreneurs eager to exploit a gap in the market, and not all start out with a large cheque from a venture capitalist.

Hockey Heaven (www.hockeyheaven.co.uk) is a prime example. Launched in October 2000 by Deep Bassi, with just £40,000 of his personal savings, Hockey Heaven's website is a source of hockey news and information for hockey fans. It is also a commercial enterprise, sourcing top-quality hockey sticks and clothing from Asian manufacturers and distributes them globally from its small warehouse in Middlesex. Orders are taken via the internet, as well as by phone, mainly from hockey clubs. The split between website and offline is currently 60/40, with online sales rising faster than phone orders.

The company's unique selling point is its lack of a physical presence. Its website allows it to bypass the retailer and pass savings directly to the consumer. Its hockey sticks are identical to the products sold by UK retailers, but, rebranded, sell at 20-40 per cent less than in high street stores.

In December 2001 the firm recorded its highest monthly sales figures yet, £14,000, compared with £11,500 in November. Expansion abroad is also in the offing – Hockey Heaven has opened its first franchise in South Africa.

It is all a far cry from two years ago, when Bassi, a keen hockey player himself, was working for a large telecommunications company and dreaming of owning his own firm. "Then one day I was at a hockey match and found myself wondering why there are six million hockey players of all ages in the UK, but no all-encompassing place to go to buy goods or find information or news about the sport," he says. "I found that the hockey market is incredibly fragmented – perfect for an internet-based business."

Bassi approached all the main UK hockey brands with the idea of selling their products online but was continually rebuffed, so he decided to go it alone, sourcing, importing and selling his own branded products to consumers at low prices.

This is the first hurdle for Net-based firms, and one that many have found impossible to clear. It is much simpler to offer lower-cost goods to consumers than to find sufficient suppliers able to provide the right goods on a virtually instantaneous, piece-by-piece basis.

For Bassi, every sale is still like his first ones: a website order of a single glove and a £500 telephone order by the Mid-Surrey Ladies Club for some club shirts. Both orders came at the end of December 2000, just as he was despairing of ever getting an order. It is this fear – orders drying up forever – that keep company owners going.

"You never know what's around the corner," Bassi says. "The last thing I'm ever likely to get is complacent." Besides, he has another challenge a few years down the line: to buy the hockey brands that rebuffed his original ideas. Now that is a challenge.