December 2007 and I ‘m back in the bowels of the Adam Street private members’ club in London. Once again a very special group of people is crammed into a private room, supping imported Spanish beer from a free bar.

The value of the companies owned by the people squeezed into this tiny room is anyone’s guess. The Internet industry continues to grow steadily but there is a growing level of chatter about what 2008 has in store. Will the industry continue to grow or will there be a second correction? No one is using the word bubble tonight.

I ‘m standing at the back, again, getting slowly drunk with the event’s organiser, Robert Loch. He’s in his element: just over a month earlier, Microsoft invested $240 million for a 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook. The deal valued Facebook at around $15 billion. He’s won his bet with George Berkowski and will soon be £1, 000 richer. He plans to use the money to install a stripper pole at Mr Rong’s.

Standing next to us is Michael Smith. Michael is celebrating, too. The Receda Cube was eventually found, buried in woodland a hundred miles north of London, by amateur archaeologist Andy Darley. By the time Mr Darley came to the Mind Candy offices in Battersea to collect his prize money, more than fifty thousand players in ninety-two countries had joined in the search. The success of Perplex City has spurred Michael and Mind Candy to launch their next venture: a site called Moshi Monsters, which combines puzzles and virtual pets. It is already gearing up to be the interactive phenomenon of the 2008.

Alex Tew couldn ‘t make it tonight. Instead he’s at home, making arrangements for the Pixelotto prize draw. Standing at a little over $300, 000, the prize fund is slightly lower than the two million dollars that Alex was hoping to split between himself and the winner, but sales of pixels have slowed to a crawl and Alex has decided it’s time to make the draw, close the site and move on to his next idea. When the draw is eventually made a few weeks later, the winner will be one ‘K. Moguche’ from Kenya.

For probably the first time in history, someone in Africa will receive an email, sent from the UK, with instructions on how to claim a huge international lottery win.

Meanwhile, 5, 370 miles away in San Francisco, Richard Moross is in a business meeting, hoping to convince another social networking site to allow its users to create personalised Moo products. Products that now include stickers, note cards, postcards and greetings cards. Business is good, and it just keeps getting better.

Also doing some international networking, is Ruth ‘Mimi’ Fowler who has moved to London to buy a house with the proceeds of her book. She’ll be off back to New York in January though – to Sixth Avenue to be precise – for a meeting with Alison Benson at Pretty Matches who is taking a very careful first look at her recently completed screenplay.

As always, a microphone is being passed around and we ‘re watching and listening as a succession of young – mostly under forty – men – mostly men – rattle off their CVs and their future plans. Suddenly the microphone is thrust into my hand. I knock back the last of my beer and introduce myself.

‘My name’s Paul Carr and I’m writing a book about the dot com industry. So, be warned, if things get too messy later and we end up at the Gardening Club, there’s a very real chance you’ll all be in it.’

Big laugh.

Excellent.

Nothing to see here.

Acknowledgements…