RightNow sold software over the internet from Bozeman, Montana, a long way from Silicon Valley. Greg Gianforte started the company in 1997 so businesses could handle customer questions online. Customers rented the software by subscription and never installed it, years before that became the standard way to buy business software. When RightNow filed to go public in the summer of 2004, many investors still doubted that renting software over the internet could work.

Answers Without a Phone Call

RightNow bet that companies would rather rent customer-service software than install it themselves. Its first product was a searchable knowledge base that let customers find answers without calling. It then added email handling, call-center tools and feedback surveys. From its office in the mountains it signed up government agencies and big consumer brands. Its success turned Bozeman into a small hub for software work.

From Bozeman to Redwood

RightNow priced its IPO at $7 a share in August 2004 and listed on Nasdaq. The timing proved good for a company that rented its software. Software-as-a-service took off over the following years, and RightNow's revenue grew steadily. It became one of the better-known names in customer-service software. Oracle agreed to buy RightNow in 2011 for about $1.5 billion and closed the deal in early 2012.

Cover: Boy Holding Hourglass and Chinese Fan, Unknown artist. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a boy holding an hourglass (right now).