Dec. 1, 2005
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KEN RAMBERG
I thank you for having me.
HARI SREENIVASAN
Hey, so tell me, you know, in, in a nutshell, how does GoodSearch work?
KEN RAMBERG
Well, we're very excited about this new venture. GoodSearch is a search engine.
We actually have a wonderful partnership with Yahoo,
who powers our search engine.
KEN RAMBERG
And you, you would use it as you would normally use any other engine
when you're, when you're searching for virtually anything
on the Internet. The first time you go to the site, though,
you'll select a charity. Whether it's a, you know,
The National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, a local Venice family clinic,
or maybe even your, your local elementary school. And the site will,
will remember that charity and then each time you conduct a search on
the main search engine, part of the revenue that is generated from
the sponsored ads is shared then with the charity that, or school
that you've designated.
HARI SREENIVASAN
So, basically, the ads that we're seeing on the right side of the page here,
somebody's paying, what, Yahoo, for the lead generation fee?
KEN RAMBERG
That's exactly right.
HARI SREENIVASAN
Okay. And so, instead of it going directly to Yahoo, a portion of that
will go to the charity that I choose?
KEN RAMBERG
Exactly. Right. Fifty percent of the revenue from GoodSearch will go to the
charity or school that you've, that you've designated.
HARI SREENIVASAN
Okay. And just in the interest of full disclosure, we should tell
our folks that Yahoo is one of the partners of ABC News Now and so forth
but that has nothing to do with this. So when we're...
KEN RAMBERG
Right.
HARI SREENIVASAN
...when we're talking about, you know, the type of volume you're looking at,
how, how many people are using search engines? Or how much money is kind of
funneled through, just by, you know, what we're trying to take a small slice
of here at GoodSearch? What are you trying to do?
KEN RAMBERG
Right, and that's what's so exciting. You know, last year, there was about
$4 billion that was generated from the sponsored ads on search engines.
KEN RAMBERG
This year, the number's even, even greater. If we could just, if we could
just target a small percentage of that revenue to the, to the hundreds and
thousands of needy charities out there, I think we'll be able to really make
a big difference.
HARI SREENIVASAN
And what was the thing that made you want to do this in the first place?
KEN RAMBERG
Oh, you know, there were so many factors. One, I, I had a lot of experience
in the Internet space, starting a company called JobTrak back in 1988,
which eventually merged with Monster.com. Then the passing of my mother to
cancer really got us involved with a number of, of charitable organizations
that, that were in great need of funding. And it, another interesting thing
is, with so much emphasis right now being placed on these major disasters,
the hurricanes, the, the earthquakes, the tsunami, one of our concerns is that
the, you know, the small and midsized charities aren't going to be able
to generate the, the funds that they need this year, compared to year's past.
HARI SREENIVASAN
Mm hmm. And what about...
KEN RAMBERG
And a service like GoodSearch, yeah?
HARI SREENIVASAN
Yeah?
KEN RAMBERG
Excuse me. A service like GoodSearch will allow these, these organizations
to get that funding.
HARI SREENIVASAN
And what about if I've got a charity that I like that might not be on your
list yet?
KEN RAMBERG
Right, well, we have over 900,000 charities and schools and churches and
synagogues on the list. But if it happens to not be there, there's a button
on the left side of the homepage that says, "Add My Charity."
KEN RAMBERG
We go ahead and verify that it is legitimate. And it'll be up and running in
a couple of days.
HARI SREENIVASAN
So we're seeing some of the charities here. The Susan Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation, the American Red Cross. These are the places that, are, are
these the sort of the top vote getters, so to speak?
KEN RAMBERG
Those are some of the top vote getters. But, again, what really gets me
excited is, are some of those smaller charities. Maybe your, maybe your high
school or, or your local, your local health clinic.
HARI SREENIVASAN
And then, you know, how, what's the sort of the, the ramp here? I mean, in a
year, two years, how much money do you hope to be generating to all of these
places?
KEN RAMBERG
I, I can't even fathom to guess right now. But you, that, that, that's part
of the excitement of launching a brand new venture, really.
HARI SREENIVASAN
And, you know, if, if you see that, you know, a month from now or two months
from now, there are particular charities that are always, I mean, are, are you
going to kind of have a "most clicked" or "by category" sort of sorting feature
for people?
KEN RAMBERG
Absolutely. You know, we want to make this site as transparent as possible.
So in, in the coming months, we'll also be able to program a system whereby
you'll, you'll be able to see how many clicks your charity has gotten.
You know, an estimated amount of revenue that will be targeted toward that
charity for the upcoming year. And also, maybe a list of the, you know, of
the top charity, top, top charities, you know, by searches.
HARI SREENIVASAN
All right, and, and also, do you sort this by, what, charities that are
established as 501c3s in the United States?
KEN RAMBERG
Exactly. Yes.
HARI SREENIVASAN
All right. And, and, if, if somebody just wanted to use this once, I mean,
is there kind of a toolbar yet that you can drag on and connect to your browser,
like a lot of the major search engines are doing right now?
KEN RAMBERG
Right, a toolbar is in the works. It should be up and running in about a week.
HARI SREENIVASAN
All right. Ken Ramberg from GoodSearch.com. Thanks so much for your time today.
KEN RAMBERG
Hey, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
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