SPS Commerce started in 1987 as St. Paul Software, more than two decades before it went public. A supplier that sold to big retailers had to swap orders, invoices and shipping notices in each retailer's exact format. SPS built those connections once and rented them out over the internet. By the end of 2009 it had over 11,000 customers paying monthly fees. When it filed to go public in 2010, it was selling software as a monthly service to the long tail of retail suppliers.

St. Paul Software

The company was incorporated in Minnesota on January 28, 1987, as St. Paul Software. In May 2001 it reincorporated in Delaware as SPS Commerce. It delivered its service, SPSCommerce.net, as software over the internet. Pre-built links to retailers let suppliers shorten supply cycles, hold less inventory and meet each retailer's rules. Each new connection made the network more useful, and about 24,000 more organizations had used SPS for other services.

Twelve Dollars in April

SPS Commerce priced its IPO at $12 a share in April 2010 and listed on the Nasdaq Global Market as SPSC. The offering came less than two years after the financial crisis. Retailers kept tightening their rules for suppliers, and the company kept adding retailers, suppliers and data services in the years that followed. SPS Commerce is still public on Nasdaq and still based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Cover: Wagon Park, Brandy Station, Virginia, Timothy O'Sullivan. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a wagon park (supply chains).