Name: Vladimir Volkov
Nationality: Russian
Date of Birth: 20.08.69
Place of Birth: Zvenigorod, Russia
Vlad set up the Web Detective Agency in Amsterdam two years ago, and has recently recruited Gus to help. With his history, Vlad can be suspicious of people’s intention, cynical and inclined to pessimism. This combined with a rather self-inflated view of himself can sometimes put people off him. But he is loyal, reliable and very down-to-earth. Gus finds him a bit tricky to deal with but manages to make Vlad smile from time to time. Read on to find out more about Vlad.
Vlad’s Story
Vladimir, or Vlad as he gets called, was one of first people in Russia to get involved in e-commerce. In 1998, he helped to set up the first e-commerce operation in Russia. His role was to build the site using a pirated version of Microsoft Merchant Server. Vlad had always had an interests in computers since completing his degree in Pure Maths and Statistics at Moscow University.
The site was a success story from the start, selling pre-pay mobile phones and the business was sold to a Chinese venture capitalist five years later. Unfortunately, his business partner, Boris managed to swindle him out of his share of the proceeds from the sale of the business. Boris, in Vlad’s eyes, will always be a мошенник (a ‘fraudster’).
The experience of being cheated out of many millions of roubles left Vlad rather dispairing of human nature. With no company, no job and no money, he went to America hoping to make his fortune in Silicon Valley. Despite a few good programming contracts with some big names including Google themselves, he never really settled. Ineke, who he met in America, originally from Utrecht in the Netherlands, was keen to return home and with few ties to the United States, Vlad went with her and now call Amsterdam home.
During his time in the States, he became interested in Web analytics, particularly the statistical side of the field, and was drawn to the certainty of numbers. With some encouragement from Ineke he founded the Web Detective Agency. Vlad sports a pony tail, enjoys heavy metal music, beers-of-the-world evenings out with his best friend Dimitri as well as Terry Pratchett novels.
