I had the pleasure of being invited to a dinner last night honouring the winners of this year’s NSW Pearcey Award – Lars and Jens Rasmussen.
For those that don’t already know who they are, these are the guys who invented the technology behind Google Maps and Wave. To put their achievements into perspective:
“Lars and Jens's development of Google Maps has positioned Australia as a global leader in online services. It resulted in Google establishing a significant research and development team in Sydney and the creation of many high tech jobs.” said Pearcey NSW co-chair Charles Lindop.
“Google Maps is now used by around 1/3 of all Google visitors and represents over 3% of all total global Google traffic. This values Google Maps as a multi-billion dollar enterprise.”
“It was a great entrepreneurial achievement; Lars and Jens bootstrapped their company Where 2 Technologies, attacking a major business opportunity with highly innovative technology, sold to Google, and then continued to build out the business. They then did it all again with Google Wave. What better example of entrepreneurship and innovation can you get?”
It was great to catch up with these guys, share stories and meet other entrepreneurs who have received recognition awards. As a former NSW Pearcey Award winner, I am truly humbled to be listed alongside these people!
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