LONDON, England -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Darling of the internet boom and co-founder of one of the best known internet start-ups, Brent Hoberman, will give a keynote address at CAP Euro. Hoberman will share how his entrepreneurial vision in conjunction with the latest innovations in technology has proved successful. The brilliant young entrepreneur will speak at 12:30 pm on Saturday, January 26th at the Olympia Conference Centre, London.
"This is an incredible opportunity to hear from an internet entrepreneur from outside of online gambling that has created not only a massively successful business but also a brand," commented Lou Fabiano, found of CAP. "This is a session not to be missed and a great reason to get out of bed after the CAP Awards!"
Brent co-founded lastminute.com in April 1998 with Martha Lane Fox in the living room of his London flat, three years after Brent had drafted the initial idea when working as a strategy consultant. Brent was 29 and Martha was just 25.
The company floated when the dot-com bubble was at its peak - the IPO was in fact 40 times oversubscribed and the price increase during the process was a record for a UK company. lastminute.com was the UK's highest profile site and it remains number one Travel website in Europe 7 years on. lastminute.com was acquired by Travelocity's parent company Sabre Holdings Corporation on July 20, 2005.
As CEO, Brent is instrumental in maintaining and developing the Group's relationship with all the key stakeholders in the business including the financial community and our customers. His unique vision of technology ensures that the lastminute.com customer experience continually benefits from the latest innovations in technology.
Brent, now 36, was born in South Africa, educated at Eton and holds a MA in French and German literature from Oxford. His previous roles include business development at LineOne, five years consulting at Mars & Co and Spectrum Strategy Consultants where he specialized in media and telecoms. Brent was also Head of Business Development and founding member of QXL. His family have lived all over - New York, Lisbon, Paris, South of France -- but now he's firmly settled in Chelsea, where he lives with his wife, Genevieve, and two daughters, Jade and Celeste.
Brent believes his entrepreneurial streak comes from his grandfather who built a single clothes shop into a chain of 650 in South Africa and his passion for technology was inherited from his father who always said he should be involved in a start up. He also loves his gadgets. When asked what three things he can't live without he listed his blackberry; mobile phone and of course lastminute.com – he is still as obsessively passionate about the business as ever – he has sales figures emailed to him every 15minutes and even when holidaying he'll be combing through internet magazines on the beach or attached to his blackberry.