I can see I've got some work to do - I built up <$50 on Paradise into about $150, but I lost quite a bit of that on Inter... still after all was said and done I've still been able to cash out enough to cover any deposits I've made to date, and still have money left in a few accounts...
On Party at one point I got down to under $10 left, and built that up to about $50... still nothing like the stories here, though...
Chris Ferguson building up $1 into $20K is the kind of story you want to hear, though, proving that just a small win (like a freeroll) is worthwhile.
But to anyone reading this thread, if you want to take part in the grand 'bank-roll buillding' experiment, then why not take the Noble Poker survey, and see what you can build $5 into (my account has $17 now, mainly from playing the Limit Omaha Hi/Lo SnGs, but I'm sure that others can do better than that)