Following Australian Startups and Tech Trends

Background: I have undertaken this report to explore, learn and analyse the local online search and directories market to understand the developments that are taking place in this area. There are more than 18 players, from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large corporations trying to get some share of this market. The main focus of this report is on Sensis and its competitors and how it can reinvent itself in a rapidly changing local market. Note: This report can be downloaded as a PDF from here . Introduction: Australia’s online search and directories market is rapidly growing and to this date, there are 18 players in this market segment , worth $235 million as reported last year (2007). It is expected to reach $532 million by 2010. Sensis, (owned by Telstra) is a dominant player in the directories market and Google in search. The online search market only represents a portion of the much larger local online advertising market. The local online advertising marke

In our ongoing series of interviews where we are interviewing CEOs, Media Personalities, Philanthropists and VCs, today we bring our interview with Ross Hill, Founder of HatchThat . HatchThat is a blog that interviews entrepreneurs. Ross's other startup Yabble will also be launched sometime soon. Let us explore what Ross has to say about his startups and also about Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Australia. • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I'm 20 and was accepted to RMIT 's Entrepreneurship program straight out of High School. I'm in the final year now, but have had a web design business for 6 years. I'm interested in social media and where that is going to take us in the future. More recently I have started developing my own websites including an entrepreneurial interviews blog at HatchThat.com , a CD cover search engine at CoverHunt.com , and the latest which hasn't been launched yet at Yabble.com.au . • What is the name of

Today we are showcasing another venture from Sydney, Australia, RAYV Founded by Anil Sabharwal, RAYV - a local business directory with recommendations , targeted towards Sydney customers, allows consumers to find, review, and talk about local businesses. It's a cross between a web-based social community an online business directory and a recommendation engine. We explored a bit further about RAYV from one of the founders - Anil Sabharwal. This is what he has to say in his interview with us: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I’ve always had a passion for technology. It started with hardware – computers, video game consoles, mobile phones – but as of late my real interest has been the digital space. There is so much information in the world today but it’s all useless if it can’t be filtered and delive red in a meaningful manner. To me, the Internet represents both our greatest opportunity and our biggest challenge – and this is what drives me day an