As the government's reviewer of information security, Nick Coleman used to be called by around 1,000 people a week all wanting to sell him technology solutions. "My instinct was surely there can't be that many people who want to see me, but it transpired there truly were 1,000 people," he says.

Thinking there must be a more efficient way to sell IT products and services, Coleman founded Technology Den, a portal that brings together providers, end-users and venture capitalists to discuss, share and solve business challenges, such as IT security, cloud computing and business continuity. "It's a way of connecting real problems to effective solutions in the market," he explains. "It is basically speed dating for business."

Businesses can search the website's directory as well as attend events where providers are given 10 minutes to present their "speed pitch". Coleman says: "With 20-30 decision makers sitting around the table, in a 10-minute pitch a vendor effectively does 20-30 sales calls at once. End-users can review products without the normal sales pressure while VCs see it as an efficient way of getting their investments in front of clients."

Founded last year, Technology Den already has directors from companies representing over £5bn of technology spend. The annual £250 subscription fee has been an added draw. "Vendors told us they didn't want to spend £20,000 going to a show in the possibility they might bump into a client," explains Coleman.

The key challenge has been to make sure vendors present an effective 10-minute pitch. "Some take a one-hour presentation and try to consolidate it into 10 minutes," he says. "The 10-minute pitch needs to be a hard sell, which many people are resistant to, so we plan to roll out a pitching school later this year."