Two More to Add to the 10 Most Influential

I'm doing a radio inverview on ABC tomorrow morning (too early - 6.20am!) about the Top 10 Most Influential Australian sites, and to date I've only made it to 7 (see previous post). Consequently, I've thought long and hard about three more to add. I've come up with 2.

RSVP.com.au - Acquired by Fairfax in mid-2005 for around $40m, RSVP is remarkable partly because it reportedly managed to generate a profit (EBIT) of around $4m last year. This puts it in the esteemed company of the other local classifieds that, unlike many foreign counterparts, actually make money. At the time of the acquisition it was reported (in Fairfax) that they did it with only 25 employees. Even more impressive, in the past 12 months their membership has grown from 600,000 to 800,000 members. RSVP makes it into the top ten partially because of the number of people exposed to it, partially because it is a local player who managed to beat foreign players seeking to establish locally (such as lavalife) and partially because they created the online dating scene in Australia.

Astrology.net - This one is a stretch, not due to its contribution but because it was started by Australians but in the US. However, the founders - David and Kelli Fox - are originally Sydney-siders who moved to California in 1994 to follow the dotcom dream. Astrology.net became the biggest astrology site on the internet, a remarkable achievement. They sold out in 1999 for the princely sum of...US$1m - and 3% of acquirer ivillage.com. At one point that 3% was worth $60m but hey, we were all billionaires once! If only they had actually started the business here, they would have been in the top 3 on my list.

So, to recap the ammended list:
1. Looksmart
2. Hitwise
3. Ninemsn
4. The Banks
5. Qantas
6. SMH/The Age (reluctantly)
7. Seek
8. RSVP
9. Astrology.net (a stretch)
10. Still waiting - hopefully a brand new, global winner the likes of which we haven't seen since Looksmart.