Digital People Network was founded in 1997. It has to date run monthly events, however ‘Weathering the Storm’ was the first combined event. Rupert Hart, co-founder of Digital People with Doug Laughlen explains the rationale behind the partnership:
"...to continue to benefit our members we must continue to evolve. There is a flight to quality throughout e-business and the volunteer or non-profit network model no longer works so well. We decided it was time to bring in professional fulltime management. A partnership with Cartezia, who have done great things for our community in the past, is the perfect way to take Digital People Network forward. I have great hopes for further expanding Digital People’s unique richness of entrepreneur experience."
Cartezia was also founded in 1997 by Uday Phadke, the company’s CEO. He believes that ‘by combining Cartezia’s and Digital People’s networks of contacts and powerful industry knowledge, we can offer real benefit to entrepreneurs.’
The real question is to what extent this new partnership will tread on First Tuesday’s toes, particularly at a time when First Tuesday’s fortunes are down.