Oral history with Gary Harpst

Abstract

Gary Harpst describes how he and two of his friends from Ohio started a company called TLB ("The Lord’s Business") to produce accounting software for one client and then produced an accounting package called Solomon for CP/M-based computers and later for IBM PCs and their MS/DOS clones. Harpst discusses the business philosophy and ethics of their business and how the three founders maintained their relationship and developed effective joint decision processes over a period of more than 25 years. He describes the strategy for selling to and through CPAs rather than directly to end users or through retail stores. After going through a major business drought, the company created Solomon IV and the business started to grow again. Finally, the three partners decided to sell the business to Great Plains rather than to rebuild the product for the Internet.