BBC's Online Dragon Discusses the Rise of Entrepreneurship in the UK

Julie Meyer, Ariadne Capital

Full Seminar Details

Julie will give an overview of how the UK has become and is becoming an "Entrepreneur Country". She will chart the rise of global leaders out of the UK, the emergence of "Individual Capitalism", and why "Entrepreneurs Backing Entrepreneurs" is the only model of "early stage venture capital" which works in the "hot kitchen" which is a start-up.

Julie Meyer's Biography

Julie Meyer is one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe. With over 20 years investment and advisory experience helping start-up businesses, she is the well known founder & CEO of Ariadne Capital, founder of Entrepreneur Country, co-founder of First Tuesday, dragon on BBC's Online Dragons Den and weekly columnist in London's City AM.

Through these intertwining roles of entrepreneur, advisor, investor and industry commentator, Julie has set her mission to build a growth story for the UK and Europe. This passion and entrepreneurial flair is what has earned her awards as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow and in the Wall Street Journal's Top 30 Most Influential Women in Europe.

American by birth and European in spirit, Julie has added a flourishing media career to her business commitments, recently joining BBC's Online Dragon's Den http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/thedragons/julie.shtml. In addition to her weekly column for London's City A.M. http://www.cityam.com/ and regular contributions to Business Week, Computing, FT Digital Business, Spectator Business, Julie is also a regular industry commentator on the BBC and CNBC.

She is Chief Executive of Ariadne Capital, the investment and advisory firm she founded in August 2000. Ariadne backs entrepreneurs in the media (music, broadcast, publishing, advertising, gaming), mobile internet and communications, and internet sectors.

Most recently Julie founded Entrepreneur Country. Managed by Ariadne Capital, Entrepreneur Country is a dedicated community for leading and emerging entrepreneurs, investors, the media and corporate partners who service the start-up industry across the UK and Europe (www.entrepreneurcountry.net).

From 1998 to 1999, Julie was part of the team at NewMedia Investors, which became early stage investment firm Spark Ventures in October 1999. During this time she took her first steps in the entrepreneurial arena founding First Tuesday, the largest global network of entrepreneurs, which many credit for igniting the Internet generation in Europe. It was sold for $50million in cash in and shares in July 2000.

As a personal project, Julie is also currently setting up an association for teenage girls to help them find their unique contribution to the world and create a virtuous circle of investment in women.