I first attended a First Tuesday event way back in 1999 when I was running a small startup software company in the telecommunications space. I remember lots of eager, young things desperately networking and looking for funding. First Tuesday is still going after 10 years, trying to help young companies and entrepreneurs network and raise capital.

Unsurprisingly First Tuesday meet the first Tuesday of every month. The next event is in October 7th 2008 at Paul Allen’s The Hospital Club in London and at 7 other locations around Europe.

First Tuesday was launched on the first Tuesday of October 1998 at the Alphabet Bar in London by Julie Meyer and friends. Ten years later UK’s internet entrepreneurs are no longer languishing in the dot com doldrums, despite the credit crunch the most promising technology companies continues to secure funding. Last year 300 british technology companies secured over £525m in venture capital.

Driven by the surge of Web 2.0 sites and the widespread penetration of broadband, Britain’s dot economy is growing fast. Martin Stiksel from Last.fm commented,

“It’s a much healthier environment now than 10 years ago, when people often didn’t consider business models at all”.

The UK Internet Industry is today a profitable and growing – so celebrate with First Tuesday while making some great new connections!