Skimlinks is an online company that maximises the ability for publishers to earn revenue from their content. Skimlinks’ CEO Alicia Navarro is one of the few female tech entrepreneurs in the UK, a characteristic that she has found beneficial in catching attention and earning trust from clients.
When the recession led to extremely hard times for Alicia, she created skimbit.com in Australia, a website that acted as a decision marketing tool. Alicia, and Skimlinks co-founder Jon Stepniewski, were forced to reconsider their business strategy in order to launch into the European tech market and in 2008, they launched Skimlinks.com.
By removing the administration and technical complexities from the online publishing process, Alicia hoped to provide publishers with the revenue and recognition they deserved for their role. By adding a ‘Skimlink’ code to their online template, publishers of blogs, forums and applications, are able to monitor and monetise customer activity.
Alicia has a Bachelor in Information and Technology and achieved the University Medal for Computing Science at the University of Technology, Sydney. Before launching skimlinks.com, Alicia worked for over 10 years designing and launching internet and mobile-based applications in Australia and the UK. Companies included Vodafone, IBM and Optus.
Despite its relatively short existence, Skimlinks has managed to achieve a startling number of accolades. Alicia was named in Management Today’s ’35 Women Under 35’, which focused on entrepreneurial women who thrived despite the economic difficulties. Skimlinks was winner of the A4U Awards and reached the finals of the Startup Awards.
Skimlinks has already raised around $2 million. By securing clients before the launch, Skimlinks were fortunate enough to have backing before their idea had materialised. Now, their major investors include NESTA, The Accelerator Group and Sussex Place Adventures. Despite major competition from a merged US company who have backing from Google Ventures, Alicia is determined that her upcoming move to fiercely promote Skimlinks in Silicon Valley combined with their establishment in the UK, will soon make them the front runner in aiding publishing revenue.
Under the management of Alicia Navarro, Skimlinks is sure to rapidly expand and fill a niche market to provide online publishers with the income they deserve.
Written by Emma McWhinney
