Brothers lead fast-growing tech company

It was only four years ago that Travis Taylor left the safety of a corporate job in Denver for a chance at something bigger in Whitefish. It was a calculated risk that’s paid off — big time.

Today, he’s the founder and chief executive officer of Glacier Payments — the fastest-growing private company in Montana.

Glacier Payments, which provides credit card processing services to merchants, has grown by 1,300 percent over the past three years to become a multimillion dollar company that’s left its mark on the industry.

Travis started the company in his kitchen in 2009. He soon brought on his younger brother, Chase Taylor, as chief operating officer.

“We literally built this around the kitchen table,” Travis said about launching the company.

It was a two-man operation for the first three years, with Travis and Chase on the ground and on the phone networking and building a client base.

It didn’t take long for the company to gain traction in the booming payment processing industry. Glacier Payments now operates on every continent except Antarctica.

“And if they were selling snow cones there and needed credit card processing, we would be there, too,” Travis jokes.

The company reached a major milestone this year when it was ranked on the prestigious Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Glacier Payments came in at No. 338 overall and No. 1 in the state.

“We’re proud to bring that nationally-recognized award back to Montana,” Chase said. “But the reality is we’re just getting started.”

Their office in Whitefish now houses six full-time employees. By the end of this year, they expect that number will jump to a dozen employees.

“We hit a milestone most companies could only dream of,” Travis said. “But we haven’t sat down and let it soak in. That’s just one of our goals.”

The brother-brother duo from the small town of Glasgow in eastern Montana hasn’t followed the traditional path to entrepreneurship. Neither holds a college degree, and Travis never even finished high school.

“I had good grades, but I just knew school wasn’t for me,” Travis said.

He worked at a credit processing company in Denver for 15 years before making the leap to business startup.

“I didn’t want to be an employee of someone anymore,” he said. “So I took the entrepreneurial skills that I grew up with and put them to work.”

Knowing he could start the technology business anywhere, he chose Whitefish as home base for its community feel.

“I wanted my kids to grow up in a small town,” he said.

There are some challenges to running a global company out of Whitefish, Travis admits.

“Living in a small town limits our reach to business owners,” he said. “We’re not going to hire 30 guys to knock on doors.”

But, there are plenty of advantages, too.

“If we were to have started this company in Los Angeles, San Diego, or Austin, it would be very difficult for us to go in and friend a banker,” Travis said. “We would be just one of 1,300 other businesses. It would be difficult to find a corporate attorney. Those are easy things to find here.”

The brother relationship, Travis says, has only been a benefit to the company’s success.

“I believe the relationship has added massive value to our growth,” he said. “We’re able to set our differences aside and focus on the company and our employees.”

Chase, the youngest of four brothers, notes that there’s a level of “trust, respect and loyalty” in the family partnership.

“Even before this, I idolized and respected Travis,” he said.

They have surrounded themselves with other young, creative thinkers, as well. All of their employees are in their 30s or younger.

“It’s nice to bring in random eclectic and talented people,” Travis said. “There is a lot of talent in this valley.”

The company only expects more growth in the coming years as the mobile payment market catches fire.

“Mobile is dominating the payment space,” Travis said. “Merchants aren’t tethered to some big clunky cash register anymore.”

“We live in a mobile high-tech world. Instead of writing a check at the farmers market we have the ability to give them a mobile device that hooks into their iPhone. Everyone is going to quicker, faster more convenient ways of taking payment. That’s what excites us.”

Learn more about Glacier Payments online at www.glacierpayments.com.