For me, the last few weeks have been delivered quite a few unexpected or unwelcome events; and a few nice surprises. The weather for one. Snow forced Heathrow (and CDG) to close down, leading to transport chaos across the UK and disruption for thousands. I arrived back from the US two days after I set...

My good friend Mike Sigal from Guidewire Group will host a networking session (he calls it "Cocktails") for investors, entrepreneurs and other worthy people in London 5th Feb together with NESTA and partners. Worth going along if you are in town. Good way to connect to folks back in the Valley: February...

Worth signing up for the Library House event in London on 20th November. Here's the agenda . Their blog is great too. Lots happening the week before for Enterprise Week . Check out all the events going on here .

Time to move on and take on the world... Here's what I'll be up to in the coming year: As of 1 st December I will be part of Microsoft Corporation’s DPE group (and hence departing Microsoft UK Partner Group) focussing on Emerging Business and building our Local Software Economy initiative. With...

If you want to review the criteria for selection and sign up for this program, check out the updated UK Startupzone site

Getting into London on Monday morning to attend The Online Opportunity event which featured our own Steve Ballmer was challenging: I had a flat tyre on my car, got a late train, and Victoria was closed due to a security alert. And it was raining. But it was worth it when I did get there... Brent Hoberman...

Real Business magazine and Microsoft have teamed up to find "the nation’s most intelligent users of software". These firms are harnessing software to radically improve performance, transforming their sector in the process. The 30 most innovative will be featured in a 13-page report in the November edition...

Alas the summer is over and the opportunities to put the roof down are reducing dramatically. Now it's down to business. Thought it useful to share what the Emerging Partners team is up to in the coming months... We're focused on supporting and 'incubating' the next generation of software companies...

"Someone needs what you know. Someone knows what you need." This is the rather clever motto of Horsesmouth - a recently launched e-mentoring solution where people volunteer their expertise and experience to someone else's benefit. The reception at 10 Downing Street on 24th July was part of the Prime...

Bit of a milestone for my mate Mr Drury and his team of star players in Wellington, NZ, last week. Listing on the stock exchange is Xero's first step towards world domination me thinks. Warm fuzzy feeling seeing this. They are a great bunch, it's a killer Web 2.0 app, and I can't wait to help them...

Last night I met up some folks at an Internet People dinner at Adam St club. I've heard good things . I felt like an imposter (and said as much) as I can't claim to know a fraction of what's going on 'on the scene' as the Web 2.0 entrepreneurs and the VC's out there in the thick of it. Or even our very...

Perhaps not something I thought I would be writing in the same sentence!! With BT in Redmond (Seattle) at the moment. Have to say, it's been a really great two days. The briefing session was really valuable. Though the highlight for me is getting new Nike Air trainers with a chip in that talks to my...

Wiki Wednesdays are a series of events that were started by Socialtext . They run in about 10 countries but are just starting to get some regular slots in London and are now organised by the community. If, like me, you are unsure of what a wiki actually is , a good explanation can be found here . Basically...

April 25, 2007 BT Business launches unique online software supermarket for UK businesses Creates new channel to market for ISVs and delivers wide ranging software to help small businesses thrive BT Business, in partnership with Microsoft, is bringing together specialist software developers and...

Overview: Software + Services Architect Forum The winds of change are blowing across the entire IT landscape driven primarily by the ubiquity of connectivity brought about by the Internet, broadband and lowering costs of hardware and storage. 40% of British consumers now have broadband and 47% of...

London Wiki Wednesday is at Microsoft tomorrow. Enjoy. I'll be in Edinburgh.

If there's one thing I've learned in recent months at Microsoft is........it's good to talk. The Partnering for the Future roundtable in Cambridge last Friday week ago was pretty good. More of that I think. Steve and I spend quite a significant amount of our time outside the hallowed walls of HQ in...

Take a look at some Windows Live screenshots . And if you haven't already seen it check out Office Live for v small businesses. Also worth checking out the stuff from the Canadian Live team on Steve's blog and I love the Vista Live Search gadget .

James often sends me links to interesting articles - this is one such piece about the investor community and Web 2.0 start ups. There certainly are a lot of them - have a look at this directory . Talking of finance, the guys at smartfundit.com are doing very well - this article highlights how they...

Recently my job has taken me to Rotherham, Leeds, London and Cambridge. How glamorous I hear you say. The meeting with the Music Factory guys was simply inspiring. I took a look at u-xplore . Wow. Andy describes this as as a solution that "helps connect the business community of today with the business...

Made reference to this in a previous post and thought it worthwhile signposting the recent SUNLive event where Andrew Marr raised the subject. Some really interesting presentations there on Web 2.0, innovation and even climate change. Also worth a look is the e-democracy stuff from Hansard . Talking...

Had breakfast with the marvellous Prof Stephen Coleman on Monday to discuss - amongst other things - the social impact of the web and his view of how technology can enable more citizen-centric v government-centric communications. Stephen participated recently in the lecture at the RSA on pro-social behaviour...

Good to see my mate Rod in the news recently talking about his latest venture: Xero is a SaaS accounting solution for SME's. Read more about their raison d'etre . So why SaaS? Craig in their Development team thinks it's the only way to go . Rod was also honoured by Microsoft once again this year as...

Interesting article yesterday in Finextra on Tower Group's view of Web 2.0 adoption in the financial services sector. Tower Group warns that "regulatory compliance represents a major challenge to the take-up of the technology, given that Web 2.0 tools are designed to break down walls and to allow freeform...

Kevin drew my attention to the interview in Forbes with Marc Benioff where his advice ranges from "Always pitch the bigger picture" to "Never take anything personally" and "Always be relevant" to the rather bizarre "Everyone loves chocolate" marketing strategy. As Easter approaches, I'm wondering how...