Smarta @ Second Chance Tuesday

Smarta spent a month’s worth of business cards in networking heaven as UK web 2.0’s leading web and investor faces flocked to Second Chance Tuesday last night.

Charlie Muirhead of Orchestream, iGabriel, Nexagent fame, and all-round friend of the stars, was our choice pick with his brilliant new venture T5M. The online video service profiling ‘extraordinary individuals’ is still in beta but already boasts the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ray Winstone and Kate Bosworth.

T5M uses Microsoft’s Silverlight technology and is part of its Accelerator Programme, which looks to support leading edge technology start-ups. Others on the programme were out in force last night, with notable mentions for SportsDo.net, Rugged Logic and Miomi. Check them out.

The schmoozing was separated by a compelling interview with web trailblazer Niklas Zennström, who gave the inside track on his fascinating journey that began with Kazaa, which scored 300million downloads without ever turning profit, peaked with the incredible $2.6bn sale of Skype to eBay, and continues with TV site Joost.

Niklas imparted too much to list here but key lessons were: timing is everything with disruptive businesses; the right product has more power than any amount of marketing cash; and persistence pays. Can you believe it took a year to fund Skype?!

Look out for Ben Cohen’s round-up on More4 and check out the SCT website for future events.