Natalya Kasperskaya infowatch. Kasperskaya Natalya Ivanovna. Natalia Kasperskaya's company bought the German antivirus software manufacturer cynapspro

Natalia Kasperskaya is one of the most famous businesswomen in the world. As a child, she could not even imagine that she would reach such heights in life.

Kaspersky's wife has always been among the average

Natalya was born in an ordinary Soviet family, this happened in 1966. At that time, she was considered a late child, because her father was already 46, and her mother was 30 years old. The girl studied at a simple school, led an active lifestyle, participated in sports competitions, and led school concerts. When the question arose future career, then the parents transferred their daughter in advance to the physics and mathematics school at the Moscow Aviation Institute, after which Natalya Kasperskaya quickly entered the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering (MIEM) at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics. The girl tried to study diligently in order to earn a scholarship, but even then Natalya felt that dry mathematics was absolutely not what she wanted to do in life.

Natalya Kasperskaya owes her career to her husband

They met at the Holiday Home. They dated for a long time, and when the girl was 20 years old, the young people decided to get married. While still in her 5th year at the institute, Natalya gave birth to her first son, Maxim, but thanks to the help of her mother and grandmother, she did not devote herself entirely to raising the baby, but decided to finish her studies. The girl was assigned to the Central Research and Design Bureau, where she worked with microcircuits. This activity did not attract Natalia at all, so after giving birth to her second child, she happily went on maternity leave. After staying at home for six years, Natalya began to look for any opportunity to break out of four walls and came to work with her husband at the KAMI Scientific and Technical Center. At that time, Evgeny Kaspersky had already managed to make a name for himself by developing practically the first anti-virus program in Russia. Natalya first sold computer equipment, and then began to delve more and more into software products. After a while, it was she who officially patented her husband’s development, and in professional circles they began to talk more and more about the AVP antivirus. At first it was difficult, because this field of activity was new not only for Natalya, but also for the world of computer technology in Russia in general. Over time, Kaspersky’s wife realized that her strong point in life was sales.

In 1997, KAMI disbanded, and several leading programmers, including Evgeniy Kaspersky and his wife, decided to create their own laboratory, of which Natalya became the general director. This is how her career began to take off. Talking about her success, Natalya Kasperskaya emphasizes that in order to achieve any heights, you don’t have to wait for gifts from fate, because in everything you need to rely only on your own strength. You should never be afraid to take risks, go ahead, be cunning and dodge somewhere. This is the only way to build a career. Having been a rather reserved child in childhood, today this woman negotiates with the whole world. But once upon a time she was afraid to even think that she needed to offer her services herself, and also write to potential clients in a foreign language.

Natalya Kasperskaya is a happy mother and wife

The famous Kaspersky union lasted until 1998, after which the couple divorced. Natalya did not leave her business; on the contrary, she continues to work in the field of computer technology, promoting her projects ex-husband. Three years later, Natalya remarried to no less famous person- Igor Ashmanov. From him the woman had two more children - girls. Perhaps, having a marriage behind him business person, ex-wife Kaspersky tries to draw the line between family and career as clearly as possible. Natalya does not interfere in her husband’s affairs, and he does not interfere with his wife’s career. The couple tries to spend a lot of time together and relax as a family. Today Natalya has more opportunity and time to take care of children. In them she sees the meaning of her life. In general, according to Natalya, a woman should not initially put the goal of building a career first, because when you are already over forty and you suddenly remember about children, then, firstly, it will be too late, and secondly, it will be too late for you. you don’t want to change anything in your established life. Work is something that comes, because today you work in one company, and tomorrow you find yourself among the unemployed. This is a big blow for a career woman, because it seems that life is over. But if you come home and see happy children’s faces, then all problems are solved by themselves, because it is only for the sake of children that we make any plans for the future and try to achieve more.

She was born on February 5, 1966 in Moscow. As a child, Natalya loved animals and dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but chemistry at school absolutely did not work out. But with mathematics everything was fine in perfect order, and her parents - her mother, a design engineer, and her father, a candidate in physics and mathematics - predicted a great future for Natalya in the technical path. Even before entering the institute, Natalya proved herself to be a leader - she was engaged in active pioneering and social activities.

After listening to her parents, Kasperskaya entered the “Applied Mathematics” specialty at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering. In 1989 she received her diploma. She subsequently obtained a bachelor's degree from the UK Open University, majoring in Business.

Before moving into sales and management, Natalya worked for several years at the Central Research and Design Bureau of Moscow as an ordinary researcher. While still a student, she met the talented programmer Evgeniy Kaspersky, and when in 1994 the opportunity arose to go to work at the Kami Scientific and Technical Center - the one where Evgeniy began his career - Kasperskaya took the opportunity. In “Kami” she took up an unusual activity for herself. At first, Natalya worked as a sales manager in the computer equipment department, but soon she was transferred to manage the anti-virus development department, where Evgeny Kaspersky worked on AVP.

By 1997 - when Kaspersky's anti-virus product began to be sold, and things at the Kami Research and Development Center had completely deteriorated - Natalya raised the question of separating and creating her own company. At first Evgeny Kaspersky grumbled and did not want any changes - they say it would only interfere with work on the project. But Natalya still persuaded her husband.

In 1997, the Kaspersky Lab company appeared. Evgeniy acted according to the principle of “the idea ... of the initiator” - he threw all organizational responsibility onto Kaspersky and returned to software development. At first, Natalya Kasperskaya had a hard time. But she did it. And in 1998, the hired technical, commercial and financial directors came to her aid.

In 1998, the family of Natalia and Evgeniy fell apart under the pressure of everyday squabbles. This is for the company visibly had no effect. Until 2007, management and responsibility for Kaspersky Lab's activity in the market rested primarily on the shoulders of general director Natalia Kasperskaya. In 2007, as a major shareholder, she was elected to the post of head of the board of directors, while Evgeniy took the place of general director.

In 2004, in parallel with her work at the Laboratory, Natalya began to develop another area of ​​activity - the development of data protection systems in corporate intranet networks (DLP systems). After 3 years, Kasperskaya took the post of CEO of the company she founded, InfoWatch, a developer and distributor of such systems. Today this company has enormous potential for expansion into Western markets. In Russia, InfoWatch became the first in its field.

In Russia, the successful work of Natalya Kasperskaya was noted in 2008. She was ranked 4th in the top 10 most successful businesswomen in the country. By this time, Natalya already had many awards from foreign IT publications. In the same year, Kasperskaya was elected a member of the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade. By the way, in 2010 Natalya Kasperskaya received second place among the best top managers in the Russian IT industry.

In business, Natalia values ​​teamwork. As a leader, she knows how to listen to the opinions of experts before committing rash acts. At the same time, she does not accept all sorts of team building and other “nonsense” inspired from abroad. Work with Russian programmers requires a completely different approach, and Kasperskaya is aware of this. At the Laboratory, developers were never reprimanded for being late, but they had to complete their part of the job on time.

In her marriage to Evgeniy Kaspersky, Natalya became the mother of two children. After the divorce, she began to live with a prominent IT figure, Igor Ashmanov. By 2011, she became the mother of two more children. The last daughter was born, Masha, in March 2009. A month earlier, fans of Kaspersky Anti-Virus presented Natalya with a humorous list of possible names for a child, each of which was somehow related to the anti-virus field.

Natalya Kasperskaya knows two well foreign languages- German and English. He often goes on vacation to ski resorts, enjoys tourism and travel. Natalya plays the guitar well.

She is in no hurry - although her assistants plan her daily schedule literally minute by minute. He answers all questions simply - although in life and in business he solves problems of almost prohibitive complexity. Tall, with perfect posture, a calm smile and an even, deep voice, she involuntarily makes you want to imitate her - although you understand that copying here is most likely impossible.

Natalya Kasperskaya is the owner of the InfoWatch group of companies, co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, one of the richest women in Russia and the mother of five children. After college, not yet deciding on a career, she gave birth to two sons and started working part-time as a software saleswoman. Having felt the taste of entrepreneurship, it was she who saw the commercial potential in what her first husband, Evgeniy, was “sitting and coding,” and in 1997, she insisted on creating her own company. Thanks to this, literally every computer today has the famous antivirus. And his “godmother,” who over the course of a decade turned the startup into an international corporation with cosmic turnover, then managed to survive a dramatic divorce and a difficult division of shares in the business, resigned from the post of CEO... and started again from scratch. Or rather, from the development of a fundamentally different concept for her new company InfoWatch, which, according to Kasperskaya, “at the time of launch had only one name.”

M.C.: Natalya, today Marie Claire celebrates its 20th anniversary in Russia - and during the same years you created the first big business, then changed course and built their own grandiose career. When you started around information technologies there was no such excitement as there is now, this industry has not yet been called a “dream job” and a “portal to the future.” How and when did you realize that you wanted to work in IT?

Natalya Kasperskaya: I think this happened two or three years after we founded Kaspersky Lab. That is, around the beginning of the 2000s, when it became clear that it had already survived both the first and second crises, and we were in the middle of the third. In general, difficulties of various levels and crises are normal at the beginning of a startup. Then I began to understand that I was here for a long time, that I would do this all my life. In fact, I remained in the field of information security - although I later left Kaspersky Lab.

Luck and stubbornness

When asked about secrets successful business, you say that it is important to catch “subtle signals of luck”...

I wouldn't say very thin. (Laughs.) They are quite specific. Probably, in companies, as in people’s lives, a lot also depends on luck. If you want, from the location of the stars. You can study some business methods for a long time and try to apply them, but if “the stars don’t align,” it’s unlikely that everything will be easy.

You don't want to say that you read horoscopes at work, do you?

No, I don't read at all. (Laughs.) And I don’t believe in horoscopes - I think it’s complete nonsense. But luck certainly exists, and it is determined by clear factors. For example, it is important at what point you enter the market. That's right - this is at the moment of initial market growth. It’s good if the country has a very good personnel situation. And there are opportunities that no one has yet discovered, but you have already found them. But the question is: how many people do we know who get to the right point? There are very few of them; enchanting career rises are rare. In the IT world, this is Bill Gates and his Microsoft, Steve Jobs and his Apple, Brin and Page and Google. Note that Gates and Jobs are the same age, they started at the same time and in a situation where there was already a need for computers for the population, but normal means did not exist. Computers at that time were too complex, cumbersome, and inconvenient to use. In fact, both of them, albeit in different ways, came to offer the public private computers for home use. And as a result, megacorporations with multibillion-dollar turnover were born. Another example: Dell figured out how to efficiently assemble and came up with a unique model for selling computers directly, thereby dramatically lowering the price of PCs and making them even more affordable. And I also found a place in the market - it took off. Google, which, by the way, was not the first in search engines (there were already four or five search engines), came up with an algorithm that was head and shoulders above anything existing on the market. And thanks to this they were able to take off.
To summarize, we can say that the secret of a huge business is when you do something very what people need, which is currently being implemented either insufficiently well or not being implemented at all. I like this comparison: as if you were swimming along a river and fell into a rapid - you will be carried further without your will, and you just need to paddle so that you don’t get thrown out of the stream.

What if the flow doesn’t carry?

Then you are struggling somewhere in a creek, trying to row out, but the wave throws you back, and everything moves extremely difficult and slow. For example, InfoWatch is such a difficult child, we were not immediately able to fit into the rapids. We had to flounder near the shore for a long time - either crises hit us, then the market stopped growing and we had to spend a lot of effort on its development, then suddenly new competitors appeared out of nowhere.

So it's not just luck that's needed?

Well, you must have stubbornness, of course.

Which success are you most proud of?

You know, InfoWatch has grown almost three and a half times over the past three years. And the project was really very difficult, a constant struggle from the first day. I took it in 2007 and started to figure it out almost from scratch. A year later, I began to understand something in business - and then there was a crisis, sales fell by 60%. Let's release new version- does not work. We have to roll back to the old one and at the same time completely rebuild the entire development. And then everything continues in the same spirit! I pulled out one wheel and the others got stuck. The fact that the project is now moving and even flying is a colossal achievement.

Money and risk

I often communicate with Marie Claire readers - many of them have already succeeded in business, others dream of it. How to understand whether this is “your” occupation or “not yours”?

And here you don’t need to understand. If a person has this tendency, it will definitely manifest itself. To do this, at least two qualities must come together - the love of money and the love of risk. If this is the case, most likely the person has the makings of an entrepreneur. We can talk about other features, but these two are the main ones.

Well, everyone probably loves money, but most would like to protect themselves from risks...

And entrepreneurship is generally a story about risk. First of all. You do something new, go to market with it, and the probability of failure of a new product is above 90%. This must be understood. How, for example, does the venture capital market work? Companies create new products, go to venture capitalists and ask them for funding. Capitalists look at these companies very carefully, select business projects and invest money in those they consider the best. As a result, the average ratio for a good venture capitalist is this: only one company out of ten takes off, makes a breakthrough, and actually brings in a lot of money. Three or four, depending on luck, go smoothly, and the rest simply disappear. That is, only half of the “living” companies remain in the portfolio, of which three or four have to be constantly supported, and only one takes off. But this one pays for the costs of all the others. And we note that only a tenth of all applicants end up in the portfolio of a venture capitalist - there is a very careful selection. And risky investors (who invest according to the principle of the three “Fs” - “family, friends, fools”) have an even lower success rate – 1:15.

That is, first of all, you need a strong nervous system. And what else?

Anyone who is afraid of risk should not even try. And also, if a person starts his own business, he must understand it well. Although history knows different cases. For example, when a person began to engage agriculture, being a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. (Laughs.) He simply became interested, he delved into all the processes, spent a lot of time on it, did not give in to difficulties - and everything worked out for him.

Strength and Balance

In your opinion, is there such a thing as “women’s business”?

I think yes: women are more open to people than men, are able to feel and hear them better, and are more relationship-oriented. Although this rule is not for everyone - and among women there are those who ruin everything in any relationship.

Does the emphasis on relationships help or hinder more?

It's not always the same. When you need to be tough, it may be more difficult for a woman. When you need to improve relationships, it’s easier. I think, as always, there needs to be a balance. If a woman knows that she has a soft character, it is better to have a partner who will take the hard line. Or find an assistant, for example, a strong security chief - risks need to be reduced. This rule works not only for women, but for any manager. You need to understand your weak sides and select as assistants people who have these strengths.

Do you have any effective communication techniques?

I am not sure. It seems to me that as a woman, first of all, I have the ability to listen. It’s difficult when your subordinates’ points of view differ greatly and you need to somehow bring them together. Because I am categorically against violent measures. You cannot order a person to do something against his will. It will be ineffective and will end badly. So, we need to convince you. If this doesn't work, I suggest: let's try your own way and we'll see. Very often a person tries, then comes and admits: okay, let’s do it your way. (Laughs.) However, I often turn out to be wrong. And this is also good - it gives me the opportunity to learn.

Threats and defense

How to keep up with new technologies today? How do you yourself feel about new gadgets?

We are engaged in protection and in this sense we are in the rearguard of information technology. Defense always comes "after". Let's say a new gadget appears on the market. At first everyone is delighted, and then it turns out that the new super technology has dual-use capabilities - for espionage, for stealing information, or it runs new Trojan programs that are not recognized by current antiviruses. That’s why I don’t like new gadgets - I think they are a priori unsafe, we just don’t know these threats yet. So my husband and I discussed whether it was worth buying a new car. But I don’t want it - it has built-in Wi-Fi, the ability to remotely control it, like in all modern cars. Now a car, like a computer, is susceptible to computer viruses. So I’ll sit in my car until it breaks down (laughs).

Your business works to protect information, but today the trend is exactly the opposite: people tell everything about themselves, it’s as if a person doesn’t exist if he doesn’t broadcast on social networks 24 hours a day...

Yes unfortunately. And such people then become victims of their talkativeness. Recently, a certain company announced that it had allegedly released a tool that could identify credit rating person. I don’t know how accurately this can be determined from a face, but from posts in social network establishing the level of solvency of the subject is not difficult. The task is purely technical, and the more he talks about himself, the more more information for all those curious, including, of course, scammers. The less privacy, the more risks.

Even if I write on Facebook, it goes through the control of PR specialists. Our marketing service is in charge of posting posts, and I provide relevant content. I see the social network as another communication channel - like your magazine, for example.

There is an article circulating on the Internet that Silicon Valley gurus allegedly do not buy electronic gadgets for their children and generally send them to schools where they write with chalk on a blackboard. How do you raise your children in this regard?

I think this is very correct - I would also ban all electronics in schools, at least in the lower grades. For example, my daughter’s paper diaries were canceled in the second grade, which means someone is writing her homework assignments for her. in electronic format, the child gets used to not having to remember anything and does not rely on his memory. Modern children are already distracted, there are too many distractions. Our eldest daughter is 11 years old, she has a computer, tablet, and smartphone. I wouldn’t buy this either, but here I have a disagreement with my husband - he believes that the child should be raised in the style of modern information technology. Indeed, it is very difficult to limit this: if you don’t buy anything, children will still find access to the Internet. Moreover, the forbidden fruit is sweet, and the child may think that it is there, under lock and key, that there is a magic door to a shining world where there are no dangers.

And what do you do?

Banning gadgets completely is wrong. It’s better to increase employment – ​​for example, here eldest daughter does dancing, music, English, drawing, sculpting... And of course, explain: “You go on the Internet, people meet there different people, including bad ones. There’s no need to make contact, and you certainly shouldn’t let yourself be pulled into something.” In my opinion, information security should be taught from kindergarten so that you can already develop immunity to school. It's like knowing the rules of the road. It can be explained by at different levels: The fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood is also about the fact that you don’t need to get to know just anyone.

Family and career

How do you manage to simultaneously take care of children, business, and at the same time keep up with new technologies, trends, etc.?

I don’t study new products personally - there is a special analytical department for this. And then my task as a leader is to understand what is worth doing. We are trying quite a lot of different technologies, studying startups - we bought a couple of companies this way.

How is your day and week going?

It’s very simple: there is a secretary who does the planning, taking into account my requirements. For example, do not schedule several complex meetings on one day, and if there are many of them, then it is advisable to schedule them in one place. Twice a week I set aside time to write texts and read email. I read mail every day and in the evening. I try to spend weekends with the children at the dacha - this is a must. If these days they invite you somewhere for business, as a rule, I refuse. Well, then how it goes. It’s clear that I can’t make it everywhere.

You and your husband are in the same business. Do you manage to leave work problems at home?

Not always - production meetings also occur at home from time to time. And it’s good if it all ends without a fight! (Laughs.) But somehow Igor and I manage to maintain a balance. This is part of life, your own enterprise - like another child. True, I have not one, but a group of companies. That means there are still children to take care of.

What, even for the sake of business, are you not willing to sacrifice?

Family, children are sacred. Although you don’t understand this right away. I have two “lots” of children - two sons are already adults, and when they grew up, I took less care of them. I spent a lot of time on Kaspersky Lab. Now I regret that I didn’t give my children what I could have.

You are one of the richest women in Russia. What is money for you?

A resource with which you can do many different useful things.

And for yourself personally?

Well, of course, I can’t say that I wear bast shoes. There are such businessmen, very greedy, who do not spend on themselves at all - I am not one of them. But I think that we need to satisfy basic needs, ensure a certain standard of living for ourselves and our family, and spend the rest on business entertainment - new products, companies, technologies.

Let's say you have a favorite clothing brand?

I have an interesting attitude towards brands in general - because I know how to build them. You can take something and make a brand out of it. That's why I don't remember them and don't tremble before them. I choose clothes from what I like. I can remember: this was what I felt comfortable with. But next time I might buy something completely different.

What would you say today to girls who would like to repeat your success?

I'm afraid to give abstract advice. This is a kind of deceit, and quite harmful. Life is multifaceted, people are different, situations are different. Perhaps the only advice I like to repeat is that modern women are often carried away by their careers and do not think about children, family, and put it off “for later.” And this is a mistake. No matter how much you pursue your career, it will still end someday. It's better to have loved ones next to you. The joyful patter of children outside the door when you come home from work - nothing can be better than this!

Natalya Kasperskaya: dossier

Natalia Kasperskaya
Age: 51 years old
Family: husband, two sons and three daughters
Education: Faculty of Applied Mathematics MIEM; UK Open University Business School
Career: from seller of accessories and software to CEO of Kaspersky Lab., then president of the InfoWatch group of companies
Hobby: playing guitar, amateur song
Sport: skiing, snowboarding, fitness
Cloth: the one you like – regardless of the brand
Trips: regular business trips around the world

Perhaps Evgeny Kaspersky would have remained a talented, but little-known programmer, if not for his ex-wife Natalya. It was she who established the successful sale of her husband’s IT developments. And while the business began to flourish, the Kaspersky family fell apart. But Natalya and Evgeniy managed to maintain their relationship and are still co-owners of Kaspersky Lab.
A business woman told why she hid her divorce from the creator of an antivirus, how she copes with four children and what she dreams about. A business woman told why she hid her divorce from the creator of an antivirus, how she copes with four children and what she dreams about.

Divorce is not a hindrance to business

Natalya, the company was founded in 1997, and two years later you divorced Evgeniy Kaspersky, with whom you lived for almost 10 years and gave birth to two sons...

We both understood that the company was very dear to us. At that time, the “Laboratory” was a little over a year old, it was just beginning to rise. The divorce of the two founders could be perceived negatively by the market and put its future in jeopardy. Kaspersky and I agreed not to tell anyone about the divorce (according to rumors, Evgeniy was the initiator of the breakup, as if he left the family after meeting another woman. - Note). For a whole year we, like two partisans, remained silent and formally remained husband and wife. There was no talk of dividing the business at all.

Was this a difficult decision for you?

The interests of the company have always been higher than my personal experiences. I perceived Kaspersky Lab as my child, I saw prospects for growth. And even though emotions sometimes went wild, I understood that Kaspersky and I found ourselves in a bond that could not be broken. Zhenya was an important link - a unique analyst, one of the world's top ten the best experts on information security. And the entire business part rested on me.

Kaspersky Lab

In 1989, a graduate of the “Higher Red Banner School of the KGB” (now the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics of the Academy of the FSB of the Russian Federation) Evgeny Kaspersky “cured” his computer from a virus using a program that he himself wrote. In 1991, his wife Natalya patented the AVP program (later Kaspersky Anti-Virus) in the All-Russian Authors Society. In 1997, the couple founded Kaspersky Lab. Two years later, the company increased its share in the Russian antivirus market from 5 to 50%. Kaspersky Lab's turnover in 2009 was $480 million. It employs more than 1,700 specialists. According to Finance magazine, Natalia Kasperskaya's net worth is estimated at $462 million.

They say that the success of Kaspersky Anti-Virus is your merit?

The fact is that if there were no anti-virus program that caught viruses well, there would be nothing to sell. My role as a leader was not the last, but I would not completely attribute the success to myself. Business is teamwork.

I don't care about ratings. I was disappointed in them. I think it would be interesting to rank entrepreneurs who built a business from scratch and calculate how much money they earned. Another issue is that such a rating is difficult to compile - the information is usually closed. For example, how much does Kaspersky Lab cost? $100 million or $5 billion? No one knows. This is a closed joint stock company whose shares are not for sale. Therefore, when I saw myself in the ranking of billionaires, I was very surprised. I would be glad to see my millions in some more tangible form.

Why didn't you change your last name?

I'm used to it. The divorce occurred two years after we stopped living together. By this time, I had acquired documents for this last name and decided that I would not change it. Besides, I was already known as Natalya Kasperskaya. To be honest, even at the age of 20, when I got married for the first time, I didn’t really want to change my maiden name. But Kaspersky said: “Then we are leaving the registry office!” And my second husband no longer persuaded me to change my last name.

You have two sons from your marriage with Kaspersky and two daughters were born in your marriage to Igor Ashmanov. How did you decide?
Natalya Kasperskaya with her sons Maxim and Ivan. Natalya Kasperskaya with her sons Maxim and Ivan.

I have a new family - what can I do without children? If I had gotten married for the second time earlier, I would have given birth to more, but I only have four. I have something to compare with, and I can say that raising children is easier now. Instead of diapers - diapers, instead of washing in a basin - washing machines, give birth to health! Besides, communication with a child is so pleasant! Especially until he insists on his own opinion, doesn’t stamp his foot on you, doesn’t run away for the night: “I’m spending the night with a girl tonight.” The first year is the best. Now the youngest Masha, she is a little over a year old, has gone. He twists out of his hands and runs away. That's it, my lafa is over.
“I won’t take my children to the Laboratory”

What do your sons do?

My eldest son Maxim is now graduating from the Faculty of Geography at Moscow State University, and I don’t see my drive in him. Until he sets clear goals for himself. And sometimes I get the feeling that his parents are more concerned about his future than he is. The younger one was simpler, he followed in our programmer footsteps. He got a job in one company, something didn’t work out there and he quickly left. I noticed that children successful people Quite often they are unscrupulous, inert: they have everything. I try to keep mine in good shape. I heard that wealthy Americans “throw their children out onto the street,” forcing them to earn their own money for education and housing.

Children of successful people are quite often unskillful and inert: they have everything. But I try to keep mine in good shape.

But are you not ready?

I am not sure. Although I say: once you graduate from university, don’t expect any support from us. Next - myself.

Are you a successful mother?

Wait and see. Both sons entered on their own. Vanya won the Olympiad without exams, and the eldest is also a good student. But what they will do in life - time will tell. Of course, I would like to have someone to delegate matters to. But I won’t take them to the “Laboratory” until they gain experience: after all, the surname obliges.

You probably have nothing to dream about...

I'm not a dreamer at all. I have desires and goals. For example, now I really want to learn how to snowboard well.
DOSSIER:

Natalya Ivanovna Kasperskaya

Born on February 5, 1966 in Moscow.
In 1989 she graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering with a degree in applied mathematics.
In 1994, she headed her husband’s anti-virus project at KAMI.
In 1997, she became one of the founders and CEO of Kaspersky Lab.
In 2007, she took the chair of the chairman of the board of directors. In the same year, she registered the company InfoWatch.
Married for the second time. Husband is businessman Igor Ashmanov.
Mother of four children: from her first marriage - Maxim (21 years old) and Ivan (18 years old), from her second - Alexandra (4 years old) and Maria (1 year old).

The “godmother” of Kaspersky Labs, whose anti-virus programs are installed on almost every second computer today, was able to consider the potential of her husband-programmer and the prospects of the IT direction back in 1994. In order to preserve the business, Natalya Kasperskaya hid the divorce for a long time and until 2011 she remained the general director and co-owner of the Laboratory. I was able to build from scratch not only new family, but also new business– the InfoWatch group of companies, which allowed her to maintain her status as the most influential specialist in the IT world and become one of the richest women in Russia.

Dossier:

Details

Today it’s hard to figure out whether the success story of Natalya Ivanovna Kasperskaya’s business is a series of coincidences or carefully thought out steps that helped a caring wife and mother of five children become one of the most successful and richest women in Russia.

“Natalia’s biography is very similar to the path to embodiment” American dream" She was on maternity leave for several years and went back to work, where in six years she transformed from a modest computer equipment saleswoman into the head of a leading and promising company creating anti-virus programs,” her husband Evgeniy Kaspersky would later say.

And it all started with a frantic desire to help my talented programmer husband. Having felt the taste of entrepreneurship, Natalya insisted in 1997 on opening her own company, which with her light hand received her husband’s surname. And almost independently, having headed Kaspersky Lab, he takes the business to the global level.

Even after a dramatic divorce, an ideological split with her first husband and a difficult division of shares in the business, she found the strength to start all over again .

By investing in the company InfoWatch, which the businesswoman received as a share in the division of the business, Kasperskaya was able to make the company a leader in the IT field.

According to the owner, “at the time of launch in 2003, there was only one name,” and in 2015, according to Forbes, InfoWatch’s revenue exceeded 1 billion rubles.

Today (2017 - author's note) Natalya Kasperskaya is a co-owner of not only the InfoWatch Group of Companies, but also the joint companies with Igor Ashmanov Nanosemantika, Kribrum, the German company G Data Software AG, other high-tech companies, and peasant farming. "Green Lamb" Actively participates in grant, public and government projects. He is a laureate and winner of Russian and international competitions in various business categories. Included in more than 15 ratings of the most influential and successful people, including “ Richest women Russia", according to forbes.ru

Source: Forbes magazine

Childhood and adolescence: activist, athlete and diligent student

Natalya Ivanovna Kasperskaya, nee Shtutser, was born into a typical family of representatives of the “technical intelligentsia”. She became the late and only child of eternally busy engineers who worked in “closed” institutes.

However, her childhood and youth cannot be called standard and boring. An ordinary schoolgirl was unusually active.

“I was involved in social activities and was even a member of the district pioneer headquarters. In general, trips to Pioneer headquarters are one of the most vivid memories of childhood: we were always inventing something there, organizing performances, creating propaganda teams, traveling around the country,” N. Kasperskaya

Her interests also included the standard childhood hobbies of collecting stamps, badges, coins, singing in the school choir and creative activities such as drawing and writing poetry. There was also time for sports, including swimming, cross-country skiing, and professional basketball classes at the Youth Sports School.

Thinking about future profession, was faced with a choice between her dream and the opinion of her parents.

“I even seriously thought about choosing the profession of a veterinarian, but in high school I encountered completely insurmountable problems with chemistry. ...my parents are “techies”...naturally, they advised me to enroll in a technical university,” - N. Kasperskaya

That's why I graduated high school already within the walls of the Moscow Aviation Institute at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. Eventually higher education received from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics of the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering, receiving a diploma with honors.

First entrepreneurial experience, or “the stars aligned”

Further fate The future top manager is closely connected with Evgeniy Kaspersky, whom she met in 1987 while vacationing in a KGB sanatorium.

A whirlwind romance with joint joyful holidays, hikes, and kayaking logically ended with a wedding, but it had its own sad consequences. Evgeniy - student of the technical faculty High school KGB - was assigned to Chita, where the young wife was ready to go, like a Decembrist.

Thanks to the intervention of his mother-in-law, the Kaspersky family remained in Moscow, and Evgeniy began a career in the Ministry of Defense, where he became acquainted with computer viruses.

Until 1994, the young wife was raising two sons. But he begins to think about finding a job.

“I started doing business solely because of my own weakness. After six years spent at home with my children, I was tired of being confined to four walls. It was already impossible. I deliberately ran away from home. From everyday difficulties,” - N. Kasperskaya

According to the businesswoman herself, one of the main traits of her character was laziness. Therefore, she took the path of least resistance - in 1994 she got a job at the Kami company, where her husband worked at that time. Kaspersky was categorically against such a decision, as if he sensed what family cooperation could lead to. But she definitely decided to be close to her husband.

At first she sold computer accessories, and later software. Climb up career ladder She managed to become the head of the sales department thanks to the promotion and registration of an antivirus product (AVP) developed by her husband.

“It wasn't easy. I didn’t understand computers, I had no idea what sales was, I didn’t have financial and management skills. Of course, mistakes could not be avoided; for example, I tried to sell everything personally, which was wrong... Now I remember with emotion that time: people did not understand why they should buy software, if you can copy everything from your neighbor onto a floppy disk,” - N. Kasperskaya

How Kaspersky Lab was born

After a trip to Hanover and visiting the CeBIT exhibition, she invites her husband to start his own business. Unable to find support, she opened the Data Rescue Center company in 1995. However, the business quickly went bust.

Problems in the seemingly reliable, large and unsinkable company Kama forced Kaspersky to make a choice. And he agrees with his wife to become the first in own business, refusing the offer of an English company, where, despite the fame of the name, he would have been second.

The business history of Evgeniy Valentinovich Kaspersky is filled with bright moments and resembles rapidly changing kaleidoscope pictures. But it was his wife who played a special role in him.

Natalya took the main and decisive step at the moment of choosing the name of the company. Taught by her first unsuccessful entrepreneurial experience, she insisted on a sonorous name. Options like “Kasper and Co” evoked comic associations, while the name “Kaspersky Lab” immediately became recognizable in computer world.

The team of aspiring entrepreneurs mainly consisted of programmers who administrative work was absolutely uninteresting. Therefore, the woman had to take the reins into her own hands.

I got my job through connections, through family ties, simply by marrying a computer genius. Then, however, I had to work hard to turn my brilliant work into a business.

And as a businessman, everything worked out for her. Sales growth in the first years was 300%. The staff expanded from 6 to 600 people, international contracts appeared, and the Laboratory received worldwide recognition.

The leader clearly states the reasons for the startup’s success:

• The company successfully found itself at the origins of a new market, where the Kasperskys were pioneers.
• The idea came at the right time, when the growth in demand was simply incredible.
• The competitors wandered blindly, which put all participants on an equal footing.

In companies, as in people's lives, a lot also depends on luck. If you want, from the location of the stars. You can study some business methods for a long time, try to apply them, but if “the stars don’t align,” it’s unlikely that everything will be easy,” laughs N. Kasperskaya.

However, luck alone was not enough to manage a rapidly growing business. There was a catastrophic lack of knowledge, which pushed the woman to get a second education at the British Open University.

Divorce - failure of hopes or business partnership

The first crack in the relationship appeared immediately after the creation of a joint business. A career wives and radically different views on many things of the spouses played a key role in the Kaspersky breakup, which occurred in 1997.

They officially filed for divorce in 1998, hiding the true situation from others for more than a year.

“Our discrepancy was quite a big blow, ... we risked losing everything, but somehow we were able to hold on, separate the personal from the public, so to speak, from business, separate it,” - N. Kasperskaya

Natalya continues to manage her ex-husband’s business and in 2000 becomes the general director of the company. It was under her that the Laboratory’s turnover grew at a cosmic pace.

An ideological split with Kaspersky led to Natalya’s removal from the position of CEO in 2007 and a complete separation in 2011 after the sale of her remaining shares.