Interview: Philippe Courtot, CEO of Qualys

"I really understood, deep down, how it would transform our lives for the better," he says. And his bank balance. Since that time Courtot, a physicist who studied in Paris, has started and sold a number of successful high-tech businesses. But it wasn't until the turn of the century that he began to formulate ideas for a business that would use the internet to deliver its product. Unfortunately, many of his contacts in the venture-capital (VC) community were rapidly retreating from internet businesses as the dot.com bubble spectacularly burst. Nonetheless, he persevered. ...