Interim CEO: Funnelback Enterprise Search - a CSIRO Company

Interim CEO on a SHort Term Appointment with a Clear Goal

Jason was appointed Interim CEO (6 Months) of CSIRO-owned Funnelback, an enterprise search company.  To perform the role effectively Jason based himself in Canberra for six months.

The search engine, which started life as 'P@noptic' (pre Google) before being spun off as a separate company called Funnelback in 2006, is an "industrial strength" enterprise search product. It boasts the ability to search across content "assets" like the internet, intranet, databases, shared network drives, and electronic document management and portal systems. It was jointly developed by the CSIRO and the Australian National University.

Funnelback's customer base includes prominent organizations such as the Australian Securities Exchange, Oxfam, Westpac, the ABC, and various Australian state and federal government departments.

Jason Bresnehan's role primarily involved preparing the company as an attractive target for mergers and acquisitions (M&A). After a rapid assessment of the company's core business and product and service offerings, Jason restructured the marketing functions, merged the R&D and Support functions, prepared detailed financial models, and implemented a robust Board reporting discipline for monthly board meetings. He also represented the company at the 2007 Search Engine Room Conference in Sydney.

Jason further organized and optimized historical financials and conducted an M&A opportunity search, which included considering Microsoft due to ongoing negotiations with CSIRO regarding a wireless patent infringement*, as well as other potential acquirers. In 2009, Squiz successfully acquired Funnelback from CSIRO.

*Microsoft and CSIRO are linked in the context of wireless technology because CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, is credited with inventing the core technology behind Wi-Fi. They subsequently engaged in legal battles with major tech companies like Microsoft over patent infringement, ultimately reaching settlements where Microsoft paid royalties to CSIRO for using the technology in their products; essentially, Microsoft had to pay CSIRO for using the wireless technology developed by their researchers.