By IAIN DODSWORTH Published: 02 Jun 2011

HE may look like any other modest IT worker but Iain Dodsworth has just sold his company to Twitter – for £25 MILLION.

The 36-year-old married dad-of-two was unemployed when he set up TweetDeck less than three years ago.

His simple computer program allows users to split their PC desktop or smart phone screen into columns to keep on top of social network streams from sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace – and it is now used by millions worldwide.

Iain, who lives in a modest house in Crowborough, East Sussex, is part of a new generation of British tech entrepreneurs based in Old Street, east London.

The area has been dubbed Silicon Roundabout – a nod to hi-tech innovation hotspot Silicon Valley in California, home to Apple, Google and eBay.

Here, Iain explains how to succeed in the tech business while we offer an insight into booming Silicon Roundabout.

LAST week my company, TweetDeck, was bought by California-based social network Twitter.I still find it strange saying those words — it feels like I’m in a fairy tale. But I passionately believe that anyone can do the same.There are massive opportunities for people with great ideas.I started TweetDeck just under three years ago while sitting on my sofa struggling to keep up with the overwhelming stream of information — tweets — from Twitter.TweetDeck, a multi-column application for desktop computers and smart phones, was born and its popularity has snowballed ever since. We have come a long way from our humble beginnings with just one employee and one user — me — to our current position of 15 employees and millions of users.Every day I get excited hearing how someone is using the software for a new purpose. Actor Ben Stiller uses it a lot and even rings us up asking for changes. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have been filmed using it and Simon Pegg is a fan.

While I’m not saying starting a company is easy (it isn’t) or painless (it really isn’t!), there has never been a better time to be launching a company in the UK. The costs of office space and running a start-up are considerably lower than they used to be, especially for internet start-ups. You don’t need much investment to get things off the ground. Shared working space is becoming the norm, especially in areas where start-ups are swarming.We rented office space in the Silicon Roundabout from another company called Moo and there’s another suite called TechHub just next door.

These offices are packed with one and two-man companies. People stand around the kettle and talk about the problems they are having. Everyone has the same questions — how much of my company should I give up? What is the right price? It’s a very young crowd around here. There are lots of 23 and 24-year-olds — I’m quite old at 36. But trying to get your own idea off the ground has become a very real alternative career route to joining a big company and trying to work your way up. Just do it yourself instead.

I’ve not come across any problems as seen in The Social Network movie, with arguments over who invented what, but it could happen here. You’ve got lots of small companies with similar ideas sharing office space. The current Government is really supportive too — new initiatives have definitely helped to encourage entrepreneurs. David Cameron has targeted the Silicon Roundabout as the heart of a new Tech City after the London 2012 Olympics. Facebook, Google, Intel and Vodafone have all pledged to invest in the area.

It has also become socially acceptable to be an entrepreneur — you’re not dropping out of society. TV shows such as Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice are showing how “normal” people are becoming entrepreneurs in greater numbers, which in turn inspires more people to try. It is also becoming more acceptable to work at a start-up, which goes some way to solving the problems of finding and hiring talented employees. As more start-ups seek funding, this drives demand and new investors and investment funds are appearing to fill that gap.While not as mature as Silicon Valley, the new British and European start-up investment industry is here now and growing fast.

So now TweetDeck has been acquired, what’s next? As a part of Twitter, we will continue to build great products in London and be a part of its growing start-up culture. Being a part of Twitter itself is exciting because of the potential for it to become something more important than it first appeared to be. Things have changed so much for us in three years but it has been even more wonderful seeing how Twitter has quite literally changed the world in that time.

From the early years of tweeting about what someone had for breakfast, it seems unimaginable that we are now watching global events unfold, and in some cases being facilitated, on Twitter. Nobody really knew what to use Twitter for at the start. Now it has inspired the uprisings in the Middle East and brought issues with super-injunctions to light. Twitter has the potential to be the world’s main live news source. It has broken down the barrier between famous people and you and me. Who’d have thought you might get a reply back from Wayne Rooney or Rio Ferdinand?

I’m @iaindodsworth on Twitter — please feel free to tweet me.