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November 16, 2007
Tech Influential: Russia's Serguei Beloussov
Charismatic, ambitious, visionary, stubborn, and humble are some of the founder traits that it takes to build an internationally successful tech venture out of Europe. And from what we saw yesterday, Serguei Beloussov, the Russian-born co-founder of eight year old SWSoft, has that and more.
The CEO of the server virtualization software company told a gathering of about 270 investors, entrepreneurs, and journalists last night that the software brands that belong to SWSoft (Acronis, Parrallels, and SWSoft) currently generate 'hundreds of millions' in sales each year, employ 1,300 people around the globe, are profitable, and achieving 130 percent growth year on year.
(For more see BusinessWeek's Jennifer Schenker-written profile of Beloussov and Russian tech here.)
The alarm:clock euro spoke to Beloussov, who hasn't spent more than two weeks in one place in the past couple of years, briefly about his venture capital experience.
SWSoft was intially self-funded and it was not Beloussov's first venture. He tried to raise VC in the US in 2001, yes that fateful September, but after three weeks he let it go. In hindsight, he said not raising VC at the point was a good thing. It made him build a lean, cash generating business.
It wasn't until 2005 when investors started approaching him that he eventually decided to sell a minority stake to Insight Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners to fund growth.
Beloussov also told us that the his company is only part of the way to achieving the technological vision he has had in mind since day one and he's agreed to disclose more to us in an upcoming interview.
His achievement was recognized last night at the second annual Audemars Piguet Changing Times Award, which is from the same team that runs the European Tech Tour.
It was held this time in Gland, in the Dinemec sound studio. There we learned that for all the buzz about digitization of everything, antique analogue amplifiers are still used in music recording, and that Pink, Phil Collins, Quincy Jones, as well as classical artists like Dimity Sitkovetsky have trecked to this tiny village near Geneva to put down tracks.
Disclosure: This reporter was invited as a guest to the gala dinner after the press conference catered by the Michelin-starred chef Philippe Rochat. But if the alarm:clock euro husband thinks that it lets him off the hook for the anniversary dinner at Rochat's restaurant at l'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, he is wrong.
Posted on November 16, 2007 08:29 AM | Posted to Being European | Permalink
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