Dave Ingram

Co-founder and CEO of www.brownbook.net, the free worldwide business directory that anyone can edit, currently listing over 35 million businesses worldwide.

I'm also a principle of Hothouse Ventures which provides seed and early stage capital for smart startups and entrepreneurs in Europe.

>What inspired Brownbook<

Brownbook was inspired by www.wikipedia.org, www.craigslist.com, www.wikinomics.com and www.thelongtail.com

>Resume<

I started selling e-commerce systems back in 1995 before anyone else, then created a range of e-commerce products for www.scoot.com when it first floated on FTSE and NASDAQ, I've managed global e-commerce products for Infobank, before helping Sony develop their sales process for a range of digital asset management products.  I've consulted for UK blue-chips helping them monetize their online products, and helped take a startup out of a garage in Redditch to 30 people in Oxford and LA.

In 2008 I co-founded Brownbook.net with long-time colleague Marc Lyne (www.linkedin.com/in/marclyne) and now growing it out across the globe.

>Other lives<

Aside from my main businesses I put together an extreme sports recreation concept for Extreme Sports Channel, set up a wakeboarding lake in Milton Keynes and spent a year playing a lead part in a London West End musical.

~Leisure~

I play squash to keep fit, and I wakeboard at www.princesclub.com/. I've competed in two wakeboard world championships where I placed 3rd and 4th in my division and in the winter I kayak at Shepperton weir, Hurley weir, and Sunbury weir when it rains.

~Family~

I'm married to beautiful woman and we have a wonderful young daughter plus two dogs.  We have a barn conversion in the UK's beautiful Test Valley (great fly fishing, not that I've ever tried it), and we're currently living just on the edge of London with the Thames at the end of our garden (just perfect for Pimms on the decking! Which I have tried. Several times)

You can also find me here www.linkedin.com/in/davidingram, and on the Brownbook blog here http://blog.brownbook.net, plus of course Twitter here www.twitter.com/daveingram