In what is shaping up to be a classic David versus Goliath matchup, a small firm out of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania is positioning itself as The Google Challenger and from recent reviews, DuckDuckGo might just have what it takes to go toe to toe with the search big boys.

1. Search Engine
Optimization is a
strategy content
producers use to
improve the visibil-
ity of their articles
or photos or
videos on the web.
It involves editing a
website’s content,
HTML and associ-
ated coding and
using trending
terms and key-
words so that
search engines
easily find the
pages and index
them.
SEO
By Victor Amani
The Citizen Sub-Editor
Dar es Salaam. In the beginning there
was Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, and the
colossalinternetsearchmarketwastheirs
forthetaking.
These three behemoths successfully
leveraged their first-mover advantages to
gain a significant foothold in an industry
whose monetary value is an estimated
$780 billion (Sh1236 trillion) annually
worldwide, according to a 2011 McKinsey
report.
For a while it looked like there were no
challengers as a slew of search start-ups
cameinandwereeitherboughtoutorfal-
tered and faded into obscurity. AltaVista
became Yahoo Search in 2003. Ask.com
outsourced web crawling to Google two
years ago. Wikiseek, SearchMe and
Mugurdy?Gone,goneandgone.
Then along came Mr Gabriel Weinberg.
FouryearsagotheWashingtonD.Cnative
founded DuckDuckGo.com; a search
aggregator that Nathan Safran at Search
Engine Land calls “the biggest long-term
threattoGoogle.”
The website was ranked 21st in Time
magazine’s list of 50 Websites That Make
theWebGreatlastyearandislaudedasthe
searchenginefor“thosewholiketheirpri-
vacyandextrarelevancetosearchresults,”
by Eric Griffith at PC Magazine. Duck-
DuckGoisnotMrWeinberg’sfirstventure
intothemurkyworldoftechinvesting.
Whenhefoundedthesearchsitehewas
already a successful serial entrepreneur
who had built a social media firm from
scratch and had flipped it for a cool $10
million(Sh15.8billion).
That was in March 2006 before Face-
book opened its deep blue doors to the
wholeworld.MrWeinberg’scompanywas
called Opobox, Inc. and it was the basis of
what we now know as the Names-
database.com.
Last year the 33-year-old came to the
attentionofglobalmediawhenhiscompa-
ny ran a billboard that took a swipe at
Google’s privacy policy with the slogan
“GoogleTracksYou.WeDon’t.”Inaclassic
DavidvsGoliathmatchup,hissearchcom-
panyistheunderdogthathasgonestraight
forGoogle’sjugular.
In an exclusive interview with The Citi-
zen on Sunday via Skype this week, Mr
Weinbergtellsusaboutentrepreneurship,
about search and privacy and yes, about
takingonmightyGoogleinwhat’sshaping
uptobeahellofafight:
QUESTION: Tell us a bit about yourself and
your experiences as a serial entrepreneur.
Why start a search company when we have so
many already?
ANSWER:Ihadasuccessfulexitin2006
[fromOpoboxwhichwassoldtoClass-
mates.comfor$10million]soIhadalittle
timeandIstartedtinkeringwithabunch
ofthingsandthatsortofledto[internet]
search,sohereweare.
Did you always know you were going to be
putting together internet companies for a liv-
ing?
NoIdidn’t.IwasaPhysicsmajor[incol-
lege]andIthoughtIwouldendupmanag-
ingadrugstoreorsomething,butIgotinto
techanditsortofbecameathing.
Your single-phrase privacy policy,“Duck-
DuckGo does not collect or share personal
information,”is a bold position for a relative
upstart to take. Is it sustainable?
It is, because we only focus on search.
There are opt-in mechanisms at Duck-
DuckGo so if users desire more cus-
tomized search results they could always
shareabitmore.Butbydefaultoursearch
engine does not and will not collect any
personaldata.
Can search be truly anonymous? As con-
sumers get used to your site won’t they start
demanding more“tailored”search results and
does that not mean you would eventually have
to start tracking specific usage-patterns?
No,notnecessarily.Privacyandsearch
arenotmutuallyexclusive.Thedifference
betweenusandGoogleisthatwestarted
ourwebsitewithprivacyinmindsowe
aresimplybuildingonthat.Googledidn’t
setoutthatway.Wedon’tthinktheytake
privacyseriously.
Google has come under fire recently from
the EU; they want its all-or-nothing privacy
policy binned.This negative publicity, has it
driven more users your way?
We saw a spike in March when Google
announced their new privacy policy but
duringtherecentEuropeanUnionprivacy
issueweweren’tmentionedasanalterna-
tive.Maybesomedaywewill.Nonetheless,
we’reactuallystillgrowingprettyfast.
How is your growth trajectory; is it steady,
rapid? What kind of traffic are you seeing
right now?
We’ve grown at a rate of around 500 per
cent year on year over the last four years.
There is also greater uptake – on average
our website currently gets around 45 mil-
liondirectpageviewspermonth.
I read somewhere that the geniuses behind
sites like eHow have figured out how to SEO-
trick Google into ranking their articles ahead
of better-researched pieces. Is DuckDuckGo
susceptible to that or are you opening up
search and making it truly random again?
This is a problem that affects all search
enginesandinsomecaseswehaveactual-
ly had to ban some of these content farms.
But they’re always finding workarounds
andnewonespopupallthetime.Theonly
thingDuckDuckGocanreallydoisjustget
moreaggressivebutyeah,Idothinkweare
openingupsearch.
Your competitors are mostly billion-dollar
outfits with patent portfolios that make most
companies jealous. I read that your team is
about 15 people. Isn’t taking the search
giants (Google, Bing) head on too ambitious?
Ifyousticktosearchyouabsolutelycan
beat them. If we started doing smart-
phones [like Google has done with the
Android OS and with the recent acquisi-
tion of Motorola Mobility] and all that
then it becomes an issue. We couldn’t
compete with Google on that. But our
focusing exclusively on search means we
cantakethemon.
Your“15 minutes”philosophy on meetings:
Tell us more about that. Has it made you
more effective? Is it something more
entrepreneurs should adopt?
Well,I’mnowdoingworkinghourssoit
is useful. It forces people to cut through
the bullshit and just get to the point. So
yeah,I’dsayitisprobablyworthit.
Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in
more chaotic markets like Africa and India,
where the regulatory nightmare is enough to
send most people back into their caves?
Stay focused and stay local - that’s my
advice for aspiring technology
entrepreneurs in Africa and elsewhere.
Focus on your key markets. Silicon Valley
is not always useful although it could help
you become profitable a bit faster. I’d
rather advise them to make use of [local]
technology hubs and incubators and to
pushforcollectiveprogress.
So you’re a fan of keeping the tech busi-
ness local?
Yeah, I like keeping DuckDuckGo in the
local [Valley Forge] community and you
know, giving back. I don’t have a grudge
against guys who go big but I like staying
small. There’s [a sense of] freedom that
comeswithbeingasmalltechnologycom-
panyandthatisalwaysimportant.
Have you ever worked in Silicon Valley? If
yes,why did you get out? Would it not have
been easier to start tech companies out
there?
I worked for a venture capital firm out
there for like one summer. I didn’t stay in
Silicon Valley [in Northern California]
because I prefer the East Coast culture to
the West Coast. I like the pace in Philadel-
phia. It’s not judgement on the Valley
though; ultimately it’s just a personal
choice.
Have you ever been to Africa? To Tanzania?
Do you have any plans to do a DuckDuckGo
Africa project?
I’veneverbeentoTanzaniaoranywhere
near it [chuckles], but we have employees
in a bunch of places all over the world. We
havenotsetupsatelliteofficesoutsidethe
United States though, because the regula-
tions out there are annoying. But if a pro-
grammer from Tanzania wants to write
codeforusthatwouldbebrilliant.
Concern over how much personal data Google collects have pushed internet users to seek out search alternativesPRIVACY
In what is shaping up to be a classic David versus Goliath
matchup, a small firm out of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania is
positioning itself as The Google Challenger and from
recent reviews DuckDuckGo might just have what it takes
“The difference
between us and
Google is that we
started our web-
site with privacy in
mind so we are
simply building on
that. Google didn’t
set out that way.
We don’t think
they take privacy
seriously.”
DUCKDUCKGO
FOUNDER GABRIEL
WEINBERG.
THECITIZENONSUNDAY 4 November 2012 9peopleinthenews
Born in DC in 1979
Grew up near Atlanta
MIT graduate with a Bachelor’s in Physics
and a Master’s in Technology and Policy
Founded NamesDatabase in 2003, cashed
out three years later.
Founded DuckDuckGo in 2008 to rave
reviews
Angel investor in Philly start-ups
Writing a book to help web upstarts gain
traction in competitive markets
Believes in 15-minute meetings, max.
Thinks blogging makes you thick-skinned,
good for entrepreneurs.
Says good start-ups elicit emotions (posi-
tive and negative) from users.
QUICK FACTS: GABE WEINBERG
New(ish) kid on the search block
Coding Away: The Valley Forge serial investor advises tech entrepreneurs to invest in critical skills and useful networks early on in their careers. It is the
only way to ensure survival in the ultra-competitive technology field, he says. PHOTO | GABRIEL WEINBERG