CEO/Chairman at WinWeb International
United Kingdom
- Current
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- CEO/Chairman at WinWeb International
- Past
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- CEO/Chairman at Nacamar Group PLC
- General Manager at ECS Marketing
- Managing Director at tsvk - Control Systems
- Education
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- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Recommended
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5 people have recommended Stefan - Connections
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44
connections
- Industry
- Information Technology and Services
- Websites
Stefan Töpfer’s Summary
I have been a personal and small business guy for three decades now. I ran my first business when I was still at university and have been doing it ever since.
In 1994 I started WinWeb to do what we do now, use the internet to help very small business, one to five people businesses, the story of my life is to be too early.
So in 1995 I ran Nacamar Group PLC (today Tiscali), one of the biggest ISPs in Europe at the time, which I sold in August 1999 at the peak of the DotCom boom, it was a crazy time.
In 2000 I went back to transform WinWeb (with my own money, no Bank and no VC) and we developed the On-demand Small Business Infrastructure. It is my believe that very small business needs a infrastructure, consisting of on-demand (SaaS) software, live services, expert advice in a timely fashion and all this supported by 24/7 live support.
In November 2005 we finished our development and received full accreditation by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for our on-demand accounting software, the first such accreditation to date.
We now have over 200'000 users and will release our US version within the days (July, 01.2007).
I rant about small business on my business blog (www.sme-blog.com), my ambition is to drastically decrease the mortality rate of small business in the first 12 month, which is almost a horrendous 60 %. Yet Government, often tax advisors and other so called experts are unable to change that, something I find completely unacceptable.
Over the years I have been a key-note speaker at different Business Start-Up and Small Business events, my usual subject is Small Business Infrastructure. I have always enjoyed meeting other entrepreneurs and discuss their plans for the future - you never stop learning.
On a more personal note I love traveling, nature & travel photography, diving and boating. You can follow my families travel on my travel blog (world-signia.com).
Stefan Töpfer’s Specialties:
Small Business Infrastructure, Small Business Planning, Small Business Failure Survival, Business Start-Up, Personal Business, Sole-Trader, Home Business, Mobile Business, Entrepreneur-ship, Self-Employed, DIYPreneurs, HobbyPreneurs, Small Office, On-demand Software for Small Business, On-demand Business Services, ISP/ Telco Infrastructure, VoIP - Voice over IP Services, Web Services and Software for Small Business, Accounting Software for Small Business, Blogging.
Stefan Töpfer’s Experience
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CEO/Chairman
WinWeb International
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
May 1994 — Present (14 years 1 month)
The buck stops here!
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CEO/Chairman
Nacamar Group PLC
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Internet industry)
March 1995 — August 1999 (4 years 6 months)
I tried to steer this very fast growing business. Looking back on it, it was an unbelievable ride. The fact is that IMO we had more success with no money at the time, then the current owner (Tiscali) has had with all the funding - we had passion and vision for our business. But to be fair, I took it as far as I could.
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General Manager
ECS Marketing
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Import and Export industry)
March 1992 — February 1994 (2 years)
We exported and imported industrial goods.
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Managing Director
tsvk - Control Systems
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Hardware industry)
1988 — 1992 (4 years)
Design and building of industrial computer control systems and early internet applications (email, etc).
Stefan Töpfer’s Education
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Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Physics 1980 — 1985
I left before finishing my degree, after my first business partner died unexpectedly, to keep our company going. Job prospects were not so good at the time.
Additional Information
Stefan Töpfer’s Websites:
Stefan Töpfer’s Interests:
Small Business Issues, New Technology, Nanotechnology, Theoretical Physics, Diving, Nature & Travel Photography, Travel, Boating (motor & sail)
Stefan Töpfer’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
