Earlier this month saw the first of Dubai's Startup Grind events with a truly fantastic evening. The audience were joined by co-founders of the hugely popular local classifieds website dubizzle.com. With the recent boom of interest in startup's and entrepreneurs in Dubai the first event needed to be among the best - and it was. Special guests JC Butler and Sim Whatley joined Simon Hudson, chapter Director for Startup Grind Dubai and founder of ThinkTank. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBc6aL1Yr-k?rel=0&w=580&h=326] Thanks to the events sponsors - Groupon, iStyle, Purity, Reem & MAKE the setting for the fireside chat could not have been better. Displayed on the iMacs and Macbooks supplied by iStyle around MAKE cafe were live Tweets sent in from the audience using hashtag #thinkstartup. During the interview these questions were asked to the guests allowing people to find out the fine details of the duo's success story. Dubizzle.com started when JC & Sim moved to Dubai from the USA and saw a gap in the market for a classifieds website - 7 years on they are in 14 countries and growing by the day. For the audience it was a great opportunity to ask any questions regarding startups and initial seed capital for those who are looking at starting their own business. With a great following already and a growing community of entrepreneurs and new startups, Dubai is set to become a main player amongst other well known idea hubs. This was just the beginning of an exciting guest list of speakers that the Startup Grind Dubai chapter can expect to see. Startup Grind Dubai is brought to you by yours truely Simon Hudson from ThinkTank Middle-East. With a passion for new and creative ideas and a background in new media and small startups, I'm excited to bring what is needed to drive this local Chapter. Simon is the founder of ThinkTank, a record label for new and innovative startups in Dubai.