The NextWomen Europe Theme
Alicia Navarro is CEO & Founder of Skimlinks.com, the leading content monetization solution for online publishers. Launched in 2008, Skimlinks has received significant international critical acclaim, and won over thousands of publishers who now easily earn an incremental revenue stream from Skimlinks.
It works by aggregating 23 affiliate networks and 17,500 active merchant programs into one Skimlinks account, and then automating the process of creating and maintaining affiliate links, plus providing additional tools to help content creators make more money from their content without affecting the user experience or compromising editorial integrity.
Alicia evolved the business over many years, starting with a social decision-making tool called Skimbit.com, evolving it first into a white-label service, then finally after building Skimlinks as an internal monetization tool, launched it as a stand-alone commercial platform to help other businesses monetize their editorial and user-generated content. The ability to make tough intuitive decisions to guide her company to success makes her a well-regarded entrepreneur in the tech startup community.
Prior to Skimlinks, Alicia worked for 10 years in web and mobile application product management for the likes of IBM, Vodafone, Optus and Fairfax Media. She has a Bachelors in Information Technology from the University of Technology, Sydney, and was the winner of the University Medal for graduating at the top of her Computing Sciences faculty.
Alicia was the first founder to pitch at a The NextWomen Pitch Event, in December 2008!
We spoke to Alicia about the differences in building a business in the UK and the US; the European startups she most admires; and the heart-breaking decision which turned out to be the best she ever made.
TNW: What’s new with Skimlinks, and what’s next? What’s at the top of your mind with regard to your business?
AN: Skimlinks evolves as a company very quickly. There is never a dull moment in our office! Recently we launched a clever extension to our SkimWords product aimed at fashion websites, helping them make extra revenue on their fashion-related content.
We like to keep future product releases under wraps but we are particularly interested in new ways of approaching attribution, moving away from the last-click model that affiliate marketing traditionally uses.
TNW: You have pivoted your business model. Tell us about that process. What is your advice for entrepreneurs who are considering doing the same?
AN: We actually pivoted twice: once from a B2C social shopping site (like Pinterest) into a B2B white-label version of that social shopping site; and again into a content monetization technology that helps publishers earn commissions for the sales their content drives. The final pivot was driven by desperation at the worst point in the financial crisis, where we looked at what was the most exciting element of what we had built as a business over 2 years and dumped everything else. It was heart-breaking but ultimately the best decision I ever made.
My advice to entrepreneurs: you need a good gut instinct. I’m not a fan of overly data-driven decisions because you can twist data to tell any story you like.
TNW: What do you see as the key differences between building a business in Europe and the US?
AN: For a B2B business, London specifically is great because most of the main companies you’d want to sell to are there, so you can visit them personally via the Tube, and leverage their US parent companies to win international business.
However, the scale of business is an order of magnitude greater in the US, so unless your business is inherently local, the US must feature in your growth roadmap.
TNW: Where do you see the opportunities in Europe?
AN: I think Europe is a great base for B2B companies as well as more tech oriented companies. It is unusual for B2C social web companies to start in Europe, mainly because the market is so fragmented from a language and culture perspective; the biggest successes are normally international B2B companies.
TNW: Please give us three examples of up-and-coming European Startups you admire, and why.
AN: I am a huge fan of Editd, although they have been around almost as long as we have, so are more than ‘up-and-coming’. Smart team, great product, awesome successes. Similarly I think TagMan and PHG – both companies also invested in by one of my VCs, Greycroft – are superb British companies that are now international and absolutely killing it.
TNW: At The NextWeb’s April European conference in Amsterdam, Neelie Kroes stated, “I have a European Dream, too. That Europe becomes a place where entrepreneurs and innovators start and stay – before growing globally.” To underscore her strong commitment to make Europe a leader in the tech world, she gave her personal e-mail address to the crowd and asked that they contact her with ideas on how Europe can do more to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. We’ll be interviewing Neelie later this month. What is your suggestion for fostering innovation and entrepreneurialism in Europe?
AN: I think the UK is doing a great job at the moment of implementing policies which encourage entrepreneurship and company bases in the UK.
Policies like R&D tax credits, Entrepreneur’s Relief, and EMI option schemes are three of the best examples of government initiatives that directly influence my decision to stay based in the UK.
The rest of Europe can no doubt employ similar schemes to encourage and retain local entrepreneurs.
TNW: How have you formed your team; your original team and later additions? Do you use headhunters etc.?
AN: We have an internal HR Manager who has been incredible for us in both managing our hiring process as well as focusing on team initiatives that boost retention and job satisfaction. After about 20 people, I think internal HR becomes indispensible. We still do use recruiters and headhunters on occasion, but it is usually a last resort after we exhaust our own contacts and direct recruitment efforts.
Hiring is the most important thing that we do, but it is also closely coupled with a passionate attention to caring for employees after they are hired: to help them feel fulfilled, taken care of, feel well communicated to and feel that they are developing career-wise.
It is without a doubt the hardest part of the job, which most early stage entrepreneurs don’t think about.
TNW: How would you have grown the business without funding?
AN: Our kind of company is difficult to grow without funding as it requires a long-term investment in difficult technology, a lot of experimental R&D, and a focus on customer development rather than short-term revenue returns. We’d have had to focus on a smaller subset of functionality if we were to do without external funding.
TNW: How do you update your skills?
AN: My co-founder and I invest in a CEO Coach, a great leadership consultant who develops our skills as leaders and teaches us new skills in working together and with our team. I also spend a lot of my spare time socialising with other CEOs, swapping tales of what works and what doesn’t, so we can learn vicariously from each other.
Published with permission from The NextWomen
