Wow, that was effective story-telling. At first I agreed that accessing the US market was crucial; and then that growing the present market was crucial. It's e

Wow, that was effective story-telling. At first I agreed that accessing the US market was crucial; and then that growing the present market was crucial. It's easy to see explosive global growth like dropbox's being necessary; but usually growth is segment-by-segment, especially with geographically or socially based businesses (e.g. Airbnb began in US, craigslist began in SF, facebook began in Harvard). Melbourne doesn't seem as ideally placed as a world travel center... however, Australians and New Zealanders are disproportionately world-travellers. It's a great place to start. Lonely Planet actually started in Australia, and grew from there (they didn't even have Western European books for a long time, because not their target). They sold their last 25% stake for $67m - it's not "a billion dollars", but it's OK, and they made a difference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Planet#The_Wheelers.27_first_journey_and_publications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Planet#The_Wheelers.27_f... Bonus coincidence: their head office is in Melbourne.