The Montana Mogul: RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte (Part 1)

Greg is a serial entrepreneur and author of Bootstrapping Your Business. He was awarded the 2003 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. His current company, RightNow, was founded in 1998, had an IPO in 2004, and has passed $100 million in revenue. SM: To start, let’s talk about your background. GG: I am an

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Pioneering Data On-Demand: Salary.com CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Kent Plunkett (Part 7)

SM: Did you enter the competency arena organically or through acquisitions? KP: We moved into the competency area by acquiring some libraries. The ITG Competency Group library is, in our view, the largest standalone productized library of competencies.

Top 20 Serial Entrepreneur Interviews

In the recap mode, here’s a list of the top 20 serial entrepreneurs I have spoken with: * Philippe Courtot – a very young 63-year old CEO of Qualys.

Pioneering Data On-Demand: Salary.com CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Kent Plunkett (Part 6)

SM: What are you using your IPO proceeds for? KP: We continue to favor a philosophy of growth with internally generated cash. We are using IPO proceeds mostly to acquire small companies that are good strategic fits with our product line. I am probably one of the few people you talk to who thinks going

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Pioneering Data On-Demand: Salary.com CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Kent Plunkett (Part 5)

SM: Aside from your on-demand aspect, how else do you differentiate from the consulting firms? KP: We do not charge on an hourly basis for customer service and the help desk. Our customers call us all the time and ask for help pricing a job – we try to help our customers with those problems.

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Pioneering Data On-Demand: Salary.com CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Kent Plunkett (Part 4)

SM: What was the competitive landscape like when you started? Besides consultants, was there anyone else in that space at the time? KP: Even today the competition is fairly scant. Back then there was no one doing it. We were alone in the consumer and enterprise business for a solid three or four years.

Pioneering Data On-Demand: Salary.com CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Kent Plunkett (Part 2)

SM: What was the genesis of Salary.com? KP: Right before I started Salary.com I was building software for What Color Is Your Parachute?, which is also in the career management space. There we ended our process with a recommendation as to what would be a good career fit for an individual. The goal was to

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Pioneering Data On-Demand: Salary.com CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Kent Plunkett (Part 1)

Kent Plunkett is the CEO of Salary.com. His efforts there earned him the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007. He has domain expertise in data on-demand and data syndication, with expertise leveraging this at all levels from the enterprise to the consumer. SM: Where do you come from? Give us some

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