By Eli Haims and Elana Zeltser

Scott Becker ’05, who sold a company he co-founded to Google for $70 million last year, spoke to a nearly packed Rugby Auditorium March 14 at break. Later in the day, he met with students in the Emery Room for a lunch reception, Upper School Mathematics Department Chair Paula Evans said.  

Becker spoke to students about getting involved and succeeding in high stakes entrepreneurship. Becker founded Invite Media, a company which sells advertising space online, while in college at the University of Pennsylvania. At its peak, 80 million people per month were viewing the advertisements sold by the company.

He also said his experience during high school helped to prepare him for his business exploits. He said that computer science has been the most practical for his ventures, as most of them involve a great deal of programming. He believes that the true key to success is making connections and finding people willing to help out.

“Go and find mentors in whatever you want to do,” he said. “Reach out to people.”

He emphasized that creating a successful startup company is all about solving problems.

Becker said he failed at a number of ventures before Invite Media.”Luckily there is a long list online of other people failing,” Becker said.

Becker said he felt it was time for a new project and left Invite Media. He hopes to get more involved in the pharmaceutical industry. Since high school, he has been interested in biotechnology and curing cancer and plans on investing money to solve problems in that field.