We have entered the tech industry’s second major economic winter in less than a decade and no one knows for sure how long this one will last. That makes planning a recession survival strategy a tricky undertaking.

Nevertheless, Red Herring interviewed a number of entrepreneurs who survived the dot-com bust along with VCs, and industry analysts and came up with a recession survival guide for startups.

First the basics: Get lean. Eliminate resources that don’t add measurable value, and streamline the company’s organizational structure. Most successful telecom startups have already done that.

In the last 15 years the telecom market has faced a series of challenges: the rise and fall of fiber, Web 2.0, the massive dot-com crash, the rise of wireless, and unprecedented consolidation.

Re-establish relationships with company partners. Large companies are also getting lean, so in many cases the unit with which a startup does business may be in trouble. Help your vendor contacts make their survival cases.

Be more flexible about being acquired. A late-stage, VC-backed firm with a solid customer base will be far more attractive to large companies than an innovative early-stage startup with no real market.

“The question will be the valuation, but at this point everything’s for sale, it is just a matter of settling on a price,” said Gerald Wesel, who successfully weathered the last downturn as the CEO of Ellacoya, which has since been acquired by Arbor Networks. Mr. Wesel is currently an independent consultant. “Think a combination of cash and stock.” (Arbor Networks Grabs Ellacoya)

Back channel acquisition chatter goes on all the time said Jeff Fagnan, a partner with VC firm Atlas Venture, so startups interested in being acquired should make sure they are part of the ongoing discussion.

Startups should check with their VCs and establish whether their primary investors are willing to offer money as a necessary survival resource? Success here is unlikely but possible.

Altair Semiconductor, a VC-backed supplier of WiMAX chips based in Hod Hasharon, Israel, raised $22 million in a third funding round in late September 2008. (Israeli WiMAX Chip Maker Nets $22M)

In November 2008, WiChorus, a San Jose-based WiMAX gear supplier, was able to raise $18 million specifically as a hedge against possible recessionary ravages, according to its CEO Rehan Jalil. (WiChorus Nets $18M for WiMAX)

Make sure your product matches the needs of the market. In a recession cool products may garner attention but not much revenue. Large vendors and users are less likely to venture beyond the known.

“Startups should stick as closely as possible to the core direction of their vendor partners,” said Joe Nordgaard, director of wireless consulting firm Spectral Advantage.

Also, explore offshore and open source resources, and focus attention on current and past clients, said Shahid Khan, senior partner with IBB Consulting

“Get in front of as many prospects as you can. It’s a numbers game – the more people you meet the more opportunities you will identify and the more deals you’re going to close,” he said.

Of course if the recession lasts beyond the next 12 months, a new survival strategy may be needed to pre-empt massive fire sales.