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Entrepreneurs 2000-2002: The 'where are they now?' file
In 2000 silicon.com ran a special report entitled European Entrepreneur 2000. It was the tail end of the dot-com bubble but there were still weekly stories of start-ups and 25-year-old millionaires...

By Tony Hallett

Published: Friday 12 April 2002

Here we follow up some of the characters we spoke to back then. Did they succeed? What are they up to now? (First in a series of three.)

Charlie Muirhead
2000: Founder iGabriel
2002: Founder and CEO Nexagent
Start-ups' base: UK

When we spoke to Charlie Muirhead in September 2000 he was heavily involved in angel investment network company iGabriel while still keeping an eye on his first start-up, networking QoS venture Orchestream, as one of its directors.

Muirhead back then said of iGabriel: "It's a network of high worth individuals. We have 30 people from all different walks of life but all people that an entrepreneur might want to know."

The company has five start-ups in its portfolio at the moment, four of which are doing well.

Two years on from our last chat and Muirhead is only 26-years-old and on the verge of launching a third company.

silicon.com will be publishing a full profile of the company and interview with Muirhead on its launch.

Pierre Chappaz
2000: Founder and CEO Kelkoo
2002: Founder and CEO Kelkoo
Start-up base: France

Pierre Chappaz was one year into his Kelkoo.com venture when we spoke to him two years ago. The company had just launched into the UK with its commerce search engine website that enables users to source products from cars to wine, compare prices between manufacturers and link to vendor sites to make purchases.

Chappaz said: "I forecast in 2000 we would feature as the number one retail destination in Europe other than Amazon and it's come true. We have 2.5 million unique users and are profitable in six countries."

Chappaz said Kelkoo is still losing cash in some countries such as Spain, which he said is a harder market, but added: "Whatever happens we will be completely profitable in the fourth quarter this year."

Kelkoo will keep its CEO for some time to come. Chappaz said: "I'm totally focused on our business because we have got a model that works, so why try to reinvent the wheel? I want to show observers that a net company in Europe can become big and profitable."

Daniele de Winter - MIA
2000: Founder and CEO ecura.com
2002: missing, presumed lost
Start-up base: Germany

As the only woman to feature on the silicon.com European Entrepreneur 2000 website, Daniele de Winter was on the 'most wanted' list this time around.

When she last spoke to us in 2000, Winter said her idea for a health and beauty online shop was being scrapped after she had observed the financial problems many similar web companies had run into. Winter said others had underestimated the massive monthly financial burn spent getting companies up and running and acquiring customers through marketing.

She also reckoned industry forecasts on both the uptake of consumer internet shopping and the health and beauty industry on the net were overestimated.

To that end, Winter and ecura appear to have gone missing in action. Winter said in 2000 that she was on the verge of launching a new start-up project and that investors were pleased with the idea, so if anyone knows where she might be please email us at editorial@silicon.com.