Last year, we experienced a lot of firsts – first official entry into the startup world, first presentation and launch of SocialWish at the DEMO conference, and first encounter with some of the challenges that entrepreneurs and startups face. Through our participation at various events, we discovered that other startups faced similar challenges and it was comforting to learn that we were not alone. We then quickly realized the benefit of a startup community, a group of people who have walked in your shoes and can lend advice and support, and in seeking such a community we experienced another first – the birth of the Third Tuesday Tech Event one year ago this month.

Meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, the Third Tuesday Tech Event brings together entrepreneurs, startups and idea people to network and share their knowledge. Participants come from diverse backgrounds and industries, with different missions and levels of experience. But all share the same interest – the desire to connect with like-minded people, find support and advice, and offer feedback and support to others.

It’s not a big event. You won’t find 50 participants attending or even 25, but that’s just how we like it. We purposely aim to gather 15 people or less in order to create a more intimate and personal experience. When attending larger events, we would find that by the end, we would end up speaking to about that number of people anyway. Plus, larger events don’t really lend themselves well to having a ”real” conversation, where you can really get to know each other. Nor do the people attending these large events always come with the intention of actually listening to other people’s issues and helping them.

When we started the Third Tuesday Tech Event, we weren’t sure how it was going to be received and if others had the same interest as us, but every month we meet new people who prove us right. Just as with our decision to create SocialWish, we’re happy we have taken the leap to create this event. We thank everyone that has attended, shared their stories and advice, and helped us build the event into the support group and startup community that it is today. We’re excited to celebrate its 1st birthday and look forward to more Third Tuesdays ahead!

For more information about the Third Tuesday Tech Event, please see the following:

• http://thirdtuesday.eventbrite.com
• http://facebook.com/socialwish
• Check the #3rdTuesday hashtag on http://twitter.com

If you would like to receive notifications about the Third Tuesday Tech Event, you can subscribe via http://thirdtuesday.eventbrite.com or send us an email with subject “Subscribe to Third Tuesday” to founder@socialwish.com