The Money or the Box:  Lessons from LookSmart

The 2003 Warren Centre Innovation Lecture is to be delivered by Evan Thornley from LookSmart, the global leader in web directories. He will give his inside views by drawing on lessons learned when the leader of a startup company on Tuesday 3 June in Melbourne and Wednesday 4 June in Sydney. For details, visit the events section of this E-bulletin.

Evan Thornley will explain the challenges faced by an Australian company moving into Silicon Valley and will contribute to the wider debate on policy that successfully supports innovation. What’s more important – market size, venture capital sources, or people and location?

In short, should we focus on ‘the money’ (customers and exports) or ‘the box’ (technology and related IP).

Evan founded LookSmart in Australia in 1995 with the simple but ambitious goal of helping people find what they are looking for on the Internet. Today, Evan is Chairman and LookSmart is the global leader in web directories and search-targeted marketing. LookSmart is publicly listed in both the United States (NASDAQ: LOOK) and Australia (ASX: LOK). LookSmart helps more than 80,000 businesses harness the power of search targeted marketing to generate qualified leads. As the global leader in building, distributing, and creating revenue from web directories, LookSmart offers databases that are searched 60 million times a day worldwide.

In the US, the LookSmart network reaches 77 per cent of Internet users. In Australia, the LookSmart network reaches 80 per cent of Australian Internet users, making LookSmart Australia the number one network search provider in the country.

Before founding LookSmart in1995, Evan Thornley was consulting at McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, in their New York, Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne offices. He served clients in the media, telecommunications and consumer goods sectors, and was a leader in the global online advertising practice group. He holds degrees in commerce and law from the University of Melbourne.


The Centre would like to thank the sponsors of the 2003 Innovation lecture:

The Backing Australia's Ability Initiative
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources
Baldwin Shelston Waters
Macquarie Bank
PricewaterhouseCoopers

The Centre would also like to thank Australian Institute for Commercialisation for its support.

Evan Thornley - Leader and Initiator


 

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