The Founder’s Journey from start to post-earnout: An Evening with Andrew Preston

Andrew Preston and Daniel Johnston started Publons in 2012, with a dream to give academics credit for the peer review they perform. This mission goes to the very heart of scientific endeavour, and how as a society we gain and validate knowledge.

Since being accepted into the first Lightning Lab cohort in 2013, Publons has gone on to build the largest database of academic peer reviews in the world.

In 2017 Publons was acquired by Clarivate Analytics, a spin-out from Thomson Reuters, in which the founders agreed to work for the new company for a further three years. During that time, Andrew became the product director in Clarivate of the group that acquired his startup, overseeing the development
of the next generation product for a $240m line of business.

Andrew has now left Clarivate and is back in New Zealand to plan his next move.

Come to our session to learn the firsthand lessons of building a global EdTech startup from Wellington.