Julie Meyer

Julie Marie Meyer MBE (born August 28, 1966) is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital, a venture capital firm, is a Managing Partner at the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs (ACE) Fund, Ariadne Ecosystem Economics™ Fund, and is founder of EntrepreneurCountry. Meyer was the co-founder of the networking club First Tuesday (1998-2000). In 2009, she appeared as a Dragon on the online version of BBC's Dragons' Den.

Meyer was born in Dearborn, Michigan. She grew up in the Sacramento, California area to father, Delbert "Del" Meyer, a pulmonologist who had a practice in Carmichael, California, and mother Lorna Starck. Meyer's father was also an entrepreneur who created and served as CEO of the largest organized pulmonary group in the U.S.

In 1988, Meyer graduated from Valparaiso University with a B.A. degree in English Literature and the Humanities. In 1997, she received an M.B.A. from INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires).

In 1988, when she was 21 years old, Meyer moved to Paris. Initially, she taught English to French executives in the tech industry. From 1993 to 1996, she worked at Cunningham Communication in marketing.

After completing her M.B.A. Meyer joined NewMedia Investors (later known as NewMedia Spark/Spark Ventures) from 1998 to 1999.

First Tuesday

In 1998, Meyers co-founded First Tuesday, a networking forum in an effort to build an online tech community that connected entrepreneurs and investors. First Tuesday was initially made up of informal social get-togethers in London but developed into a popular, early-internet networking entity with locations across 17 cities in Europe.

Meyer invested £35,000 and held a 22.5% shareholding stake when First Tuesday incorporated in February 2000. A short while later, in July 2000, along with co-founders investment banker Adam Gold, Mark Davies, journalists John Browning and Nick Denton, Meyer sold the networking forum First Tuesday to an Israeli company called Yazam for approximately £33 million, who later sold the company for a large loss.

Ariadne Capital

In August 2000, Meyer founded the investment firm Ariadne Capital. She named the company Ariadne after the Greek princess Ariadne who was known for aiding Theseus make his way through a labyrinth.

In September 2009, Meyer launched the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs (ACE) Fund. Shortly thereafter she became a guest on the online edition of the Dragons' Den TV series

In 2010, Meyer was selected as one of 26 business people tasked with advising the British government on its business policies to encourage entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom.

In 2010 and 2011, she was listed as one of the "1000 Most Influential People in London" by the London Evening Standard. She had early stage involvement in the startup companies Lastminute.com, Zopa and Skype. In 2011 Meyer appeared on ComputerWeekly's "50 most influential people in UK IT" list and was given Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) status for her contributions to entrepreneurship in England.

In 2012, Meyer was part of an advisory committee led by entrepreneur James Caan called StartUp Loans that was funded with £82.5 million, aimed at reaching young people interested in creating UK startups.

Meyer has participated in many roundtable discussions about women in business and encouraging more participation by women on boards of companies. She was opposed to Lord Davies' 25% quota threshold for women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies.

Her articles have appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Forbes, and The Independent. She was a weekly contributor for the London newspaper City A.M. and has appeared as a business commentator on several TV programs including the BBC Breakfast and Newsnight. Meyers writes a regular column on LinkedIn as part of the LinkedIn Influencer Program. Meyer writes a monthly column for British Airways' magazine, Business Life, where she visits a different city each month and reports on startup and business activity.

Meyers serves on the board of directors of INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires), the for profit humanitarian development firm Vestergaard Frandsen, Quill Content, and Group Silverline.

Entrepreneur Country

In 2012, Meyer published the book, Welcome to Entrepreneur Country. In September 2013, she founded the business networking company, EntrepreneurCountry, as a subsidiary of Ariadne Capital, provides methodology and marketplace where large, traditional enterprise businesses connect to exchange information for innovation in Europe and the UK.

In March 2016, Meyer's Wikipedia page became the subject of news articles focused on paid editing when a publicity firm named Lansons Communications that Meyer's company had hired in 2014 allowed an intern to post on their behalf to the entry's Talk page. The intern had written to request advice on how to update her page. Ariadne filed a £100,000 lawsuit over the issue.

Meyer has lived in the United Kingdom since July 1998, and is a permanent resident. She lives in Earls Court, London. She is a Lutheran, but attends Holy Trinity Brompton. She founded the non-profit, Dads and Daughters foundation, in honor of her father with the goal of highlighting the importance of fathers to women in business.

• 2000: EY Entrepreneur of the Year
• 2010: INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires), "50 Alumni who Changed the World"
• 2011: Wired 100
• 2011: Member of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Entrepreneurship
• 2014: University of Warwick, Hon LLD (Honorary Doctor of Laws)

• "EY Entrepreneur Of The Year: 2000 Award recipients. UK winners - Julie Meyer, First Tuesday" (PDF). Ernst & Young. 2000. Retrieved 23 March 2016. 
• "50 Alumni Who Changed the World". INSEAD. 14 May 2010. Archived from the original on 19 November 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2016. 
• "2nd annual Wired 100: Positions 79-50. 69: Julie Meyer. Founder and CEO, Ariadne Capital". Wired. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2016. 
• "Warwick honorary degrees for leading environmental lawyer, UN adviser and award winning US playwright, and Monash University's Vice-Chancellor: ulie Meyer MBE Hon LLD (Honorary Doctor of Laws)". University of Warwick. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2016. 

Book

• Meyer, Julie (2012). Welcome to Entrepreneur Country. New York: Constable & Robinson. ISBN 978-1-780-33896-5. OCLC 795120035. 

Talks

• Meyer, Julie (22 November 2011). "TEDxBrussels - Julie Meyer - Entrepreneurs 2061". TEDx Brussels. 
• Meyer, Julie (10 December 2012). "The Art of Entrepreneurship: Julie Meyer at TEDxSalford". TEDx Salford. 

Selected articles

• Meyers, Julie (9 December 2015). "London: The new hub for entrepreneurs". British Airways Business Life Magazine. Retrieved 30 March 2016.