In 1999, Philippe Courtot had a vision
for a business that would use the Internet
to deliver its product instead of software
installed on a computer, but with the dotcom bubble burst, venture capitalists
were running in fear from Internet businesses.
Despite pressure to develop enterprise software, Courtot stood his
ground with his idea, and instead of
securing funds from venture capitalists, he used his own money to form
Qualys Inc. and the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
Nearly a decade after his original
vision, Courtot has seen his share of
success. He has more than 3,000 customers throughout 85 countries, and
on top of that, 25 percent of the
Fortune 1,000 companies use his services. While a lot of people were skeptical when he first started, they’re giving
him the respect he’s earned by realizing that having software in your
Internet browser is more effective than
having it on your hard drive. The numbers back him up, as well, as he grew
Qualys’ revenue by 40 percent last
year, and it has achieved gross margins
of 80 percent.
As he looks toward the future,
Courtot shows no signs of slowing
down. This chairman and CEO has
been quoted comparing himself to
Picasso in that the famous painter was
painting until his last day on earth, and
he’ll continue to work in that same
regard.
HOW TO REACH: Qualys Inc. (650) 801-6100 or
www.qualys.com