Apart from not wanting to work for someone else, the three HSG graduates Claudio Hintermann, Eliano Ramelli and Thomas Köberl had no plan when they founded the software company Abacus in 1985. Later joined by Daniel Senn, the group shrugged their shoulders when the New Economy hype wanted to make them millionaires, and repeatedly took on the author­ities and large corporations. They focused on their employees, and on good food, good wine, great parties and culture. And, of course, on programming the best software.

In the second half of the 1980s, ­numerous companies were ­developing business software in ­Switzerland. Many went under. Even multinational companies like Microsoft and SAP tried to conquer the Swiss SME market, only to meet with failure.