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Vertical Search Trends What is it vertical search? It is search focused on a specific vertical. Vertical search engines mine data for one specific niche of the market place — for example, travel, jobs, hotels, music, movies, and even health care. As web sites and data proliferate, the task of locating specific information gets tougher. Vertical search engines provide an efficient way to get to that information.Verticals are very different from domain specific portals which are usually product placement vehicles for vendors. VSEs are more granular. They organize all niche-specific information and present it in a manner that is simple to use and easy to consume. Vertical search engines can also offer advertisers a more focused ad platform. Advertisers are able to target their messages more precisely to their audience versus a broad message with regular search engines. Thus, LookSmart has been changing its focus from a regular search engine to a search company focused on verticals — 181 verticals to be exact! Come hear from the next generation of search pioneers and how they plan to exploit this opportunity! Video Event Photos     Speakers Michael Yang, Founder, President and CEO, Become.com 
Michael Yang is passionate about developing services that help people. He co-founded mySimon.com, the first successful shopping bot, with his partner Yeogirl Yun. It was ultimately sold to CNET. Become.com is Michael’s latest venture. Using leading edge search technology, Become.com helps people make better shopping decisions. Since its launch in 2005, Become.com has been one of the fastest growing shopping sites, providing both highly relevant shopping research and comparison prices. Earlier in his career, Michael held positions at companies such as Xerox Corp., Intergraph Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Jazz Multimedia, Inc. Michael has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, MS degree in Computer Science from Columbia University and MBA degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Suranga Chandratillake, Founder & CTO, Blinkx  Suranga Chandratillake, founder and chief technology officer of blinkx, has more than seven years of frontline experience as a technology innovator. Suranga has out-innovated and pre-empted Google, Microsoft and Yahoo since blinkx’s inception. As blinkx’s CTO, Suranga has developed the world’s most comprehensive video search engine and world firsts including Smart Folders, integrated Web and desktop search, and desktop search for Mac.
Suranga received his MA in computer science from the University of Cambridge, England, specializing in distributed processing architectures. Gautam Godhwani, President, Simply Hired  Gautam Godhwani is a leading entrepreneur in the software and internet industry. Having founded three ventures in the last eight years, Gautam is well experienced in starting startups and finding great people to help grow them. Gautam is currently CEO and co-founder of Simply Hired, a search engine for jobs. Prior to Simply Hired, Gautam co-founded the India Community Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before that, he was CEO and co-founder of AtWeb, an Internet 1.0 company funded by Sequoia and acquired by Netscape/AOL in 1998.
Moderator Sapna Satagopan, Research Analyst, Jupiter Research  Sapna is a Research Analyst in the San Francisco office of JupiterResearch, she focuses on Online Search covering Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and the overall Search Experience.
Prior to joining JupiterResearch, Sapna Satagopan worked as a consultant in the IT management group of PricewaterhouseCoopers delivering a number of website solutions to clients. Sapna has been awarded an Honors degree in Linguistics from San Jose State University. She also holds a degree in Physics and an advanced diploma in Information Technologies from India.
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