100 to 91 90 to 81 80 to 71 70 to 61 60 to 51 50 to 41 40 to 31 30 to 21 20 to 11 10 to 1
34. Brownbook 34 of 100   Previous entry   Next entry
Founders Marc Lyne and David Ingram
Website www.brownbook.net
Why it made our list
Following many years in the directories industry, Marc and David realised crowd sourcing and user generated content had huge potential in their industry and could be utilised to tremendous effect. The self-titled ‘Wikipedia of the yellow pages industry’, Brownbook is an editable global business directory. Launched in May 2008, within its first few months it launched in four countries on web and mobile, and is still enjoying rapid growth in all sectors. Currently running with 34 million businesses listed in 240 countries, it’s fair to say the site, which allows businesses to enhance their listings with text, photos, videos and widgets, is worth looking up.
How do our winners measure up? Year started - 2007 22%, 2008 37%, 2009 36% 2010 5%. The Startups 100 were so busy launching their business in 2008 and 2009 they forgot all about the recession raging around them and now make up nearly three quarters of our list.