Great Plains Software, Inc. was an accounting software company located in Fargo, North Dakota, whose products focused on small to medium-sized businesses.

[7] Doug Burgum, a future governor of North Dakota and U.S. presidential candidate, joined the company in March 1983 as a shareholder.

[7] He provided seed capital for the company and bought out the other investors in early 1984 and became its new president.

[10] It earned about $300 million in annual sales and a 1997 IPO, after using the Internet to help it expand beyond North Dakota.

[11] In 1999 the company acquired Match Data Systems, a development team in the Philippines.