The first Web site Koper made was a map of downtown Detroit with the parcels of property on it. The parcels were “hot links,” and by clicking on them, brought up information from the city’s Tax Assessor’s Office about the owner and cost of the parcel. This was to put this information online, so that real estate companies, businesses, and high-net-worth individuals could get this information; it would “make a market” for buyers and sellers; this would attract money, investment, and development into the city; and this would help make the social, economic, political and physical problems better. In the late ‘90’s, putting maps online really hadn’t been invented yet, and this was a fairly revolutionary application of the technology.

Around that time, Koper made www.detroitskyscrapers.com. Detroit was world famous for its massive social, economic, racial, and political problems. Koper discovered after moving to Detroit that there were a lot of great things about the city that didn’t get publicized as much. He recognized the city’s beautiful stock of buildings and architecture was a treasure; it was rare, special and valuable; it could be the basis for attracting money, investment, residents and businesses into the city which would help resolve the other social, economic and political problems; and that this new thing called the Internet was a way to publicize the good things about the city that the large, traditional media outlets weren’t doing. Detroit skyscrapers profiled the tallest buildings in Detroit, was viewed by many people all over the world, and won multiple awards.

For several years, Koper ran web4000.com, a small business that designed Web sites for businesses in the area. Also in the late ‘90’s, he took Crain’s Book of Lists; looked at the lists of the largest private firms, largest law firms, largest general contractors, etc. in metro Detroit; contacted the ones that didn’t have Web sites; offered design their Web sites; and veteran, good, experienced, 55-year-old, senior managers basic said: “No. We don’t need a Web site. This Internet will never amount to anything.”

In the early ‘00’s, Koper realized that many of the people who were moving into Detroit were younger, single professionals. Again, as a vehicle to attract more people, home buyers, investment and businesses; grow the human capital in the city; and fix the city’s social, economic and political issues, he created www.de-twa.com as an introduction and guide to Detroit geared towards twenty-something college graduates. This was years before Richard Florida coined the term “creative class” or Model D started using the Web to promote the city and attract young professionals.

In the early ‘00’s, Koper got a job working on an IT team for a computer company at Ford. He worked for several years utilizing the intranet to increase communication within the company; worked on a team with analysts, project managers, DBA, and programmers to apply technology and automate business processes; and developed Web applications. These applications include an online document repository application, online job posting application, excess dealer inventory swap application, online equipment reservation application, and online class reservation application.

For the last 10+ years, Koper has attended the meetings of and joined and read the listservs of many technical and business groups in southeast Michigan. This has been to keep his hand on the pulse of the latest technology developments, learn from the gurus who are really passionate about it, and be plugged into the cyber-entrepreneur and entrepreneurial communities. These groups include Metro Detroit Linux User's Group (MDLUG), Washtenaw Linux User's Group (WASHLUG), SE Michigan PHP Users Group (SEMPUG), Detroit Perl Mongers User’s Group, New Enterprise Forum, Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest (GLEQ), Detroitnet.org, Ann Arbor SPARK/IT Zone, Great Lakes Interactive Marketing Assoc., New Media Friday, Ann Arbor Perl Mongers, SE Michigan After Effects User's Group, Open City, and more.

At Marygrove College in the mid-‘00’s, Koper helped eMarket the College with a focus on increasing visibility, applications, enrollment, and revenue. He created a large, colorful, attractive representation of the College in cyber-space – mapped “meat space” to cyber-space – to fully reflect everything the College did and offered. When people go to buy something expensive, most people begin by researching online – the top of the “sales funnel” - and most prospective students’ college application processes begin by surfing college Web sites. He added many hundreds of photographs so that the site was a lot more graphic and informative; did a lot of SEO; and increased page views from 1.2 million/year to 2.5 million/year. Among other things, he put out a monthly eNewsletter; advocated for good technology solutions within the organization; and educated other, less-technical employees about how to use PC and Web applications to carry out operations faster, more accurately, and more cheaply.

Work-flow.biz is the culmination of all of these years of work in the business world and with technology. It applies the strengths of networks, databases, and computers to how businesses operate and some of the shortcomings of human nature. It is abstracted away from any one business process, so that all businesses can use it for all business processes. It allows people to communicate and coordinate work tasks more efficiently, especially when they are spread out, and allows organizations be more effective and business to be more profitable. It is a lightweight, clear, easy-to-use framework for carrying out work – for carrying out commerce.