Representation of Gianforte company unfair and dishonest

The continued unfair and dishonest bashing of RightNow Technologies, as a way to try to undercut Greg Gianforte, needs to stop. This has created huge buzz in the technology and business communities. The bashing is being perceived as anti-business, and, in our view, it is damaging to the business climate in Montana. Democrats, the Bullock campaign, and much of the media are at fault.

Gianforte’s successful business career and the creation of an outstanding tech company in Bozeman is an amazing story against all odds. It is probably the biggest tech success story ever.

We are hopeful we can shed some perspective based on the facts. We have worked in the technology field for over 25 years — one of us as a businessman and one as a lawyer.

Led by Gianforte, RightNow became the leading in-the-cloud customer service company in the U.S., creating a large number of high-paying jobs in Montana, opening sales and service offices to support its customers worldwide, and attracting many Montanans and others to move to Montana. It did not become successful by outsourcing jobs (sending U.S. jobs overseas) as many other tech companies have done.

Gianforte started the company in Bozeman in 1997 with zero employees and little initial capital. When acquired by Oracle 15 years later, RightNow had grown to about 1,100 employees with over 500 in Montana. They also had several thousand customers all over the world in every imaginable industry. An amazing outcome against long odds. What was difficult?

• A miniscule percentage of technology startups exit for more than $1 billion. Those that achieve this incredible wealth creation milestone are called unicorns. A $1b plus exit for a Montana-based company needs a new name because it is even more rare than a unicorn sighting.

• RightNow competed in the customer management space. There were and are dozens and dozens of companies worldwide competing in this space. It is quite large and there have been a wide range of successful outcomes. Only RightNow was built in a rural and lower income state where almost 100 percent of the customers were out of state.

• Montana has very few computer science graduates and experienced software engineers. Montana had almost no experienced software sales, marketing and business development talent before RightNow. RightNow is the only company that created this at any scale in Montana. Bozeman is now the main Montana location for a growing technology industry built around the RightNow ecosystem of talent and experience. More that two dozen companies have been founded or are significantly supported by former RightNow employees.

We are proud Montanans. However, we know Montana is remote and cold in the winter. Do a simple Google search of flying to and from Bozeman on direct flights from any major city. Then compare that to San Jose, San Francisco or Seattle. It’s daunting to think of the challenge the RightNow team faced in simple air travel to sell and support customers. Google the average daily temperatures in winter months in Bozeman compared to the leading software cities in America. Google the number of available job openings in software companies in Bozeman versus the leading software cities. It’s extremely difficult to recruit talent and build software companies in the leading software cities of America. This management team did it in Bozeman — against all odds.

Montana is one of America’s lower-income states. Montana is in desperate need of better-paying jobs and a robust and growing economy. Montana needs to improve its business climate, not hurt it with selfish political smears. We also need strong growth after the last decade of the worst growth rate in America’s history.

Montana’s incumbent state politicians have not gotten the job done. Greg Gianforte would be terrific for Montana and is a one-in-lifetime candidate, in our view. He has special knowledge, skills and drive that would translate well into multiple aspects of State government. He should be elected as Montana’s next Governor.

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Jack Manning was born and raised in Montana. He and his law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, represented RightNow Technologies from 1997, the year of its inception, through the sale to Oracle in 2012. He represents and has represented scores of the top tech companies in Montana. He lives and works in Missoula.

John Connors is a Miles City native and 1984 graduate of the University of Montana. He has worked for more than 25 years in the technology industry including a 16 year career at Microsoft where he was eventually the Chief Financial Officer. The last decade he has been a principal in Ignition Partners, a venture capital firm with offices in Bellevue, Washington, and Silicon Valley. He owns a ranch in Custer County and property in Flathead County and spends considerable time in Montana.