Gideon I. Gartner (March 13, 1935 – December 12, 2020) was an American businessman, entrepreneur, educator and philanthropist. Often referred to as the father of the modern analyst industry,
he is best known as the founder of
Gartner, Inc. (formerly Gartner Group Inc.) a
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 202 ...
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...
(IT) research and advisory company.
Early life and education
Gideon Isaiah Gartner was born on March 13, 1935 in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, to Eastern European Jewish
émigrés.
His father Abraham was an engineer, while his mother Pnina (née Bedri) was a musician and teacher. In 1938 the family moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and settled in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, where Abraham became a
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
[Gideon I. Gartner, Oral history interview by Jeffrey R. Yost, 12 August 2005, Aspen, Colorado. ] Gartner attended the
Yeshiva of Flatbush
The Yeshivah of Flatbush is a Modern Orthodox private Jewish day school located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. It educates students from age 2 to age 18 and includes an early childhood center, an elementary school and a secondary ...
and then
Midwood High School, graduating in 1952.
A gifted musician who excelled at both piano and the French horn, he was offered a musical scholarship to the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
, but was discouraged from pursuing music as a career choice.
Instead, Gartner chose to attend the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...
, graduating in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science in
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...
. He went on to earn his Master’s degree from the
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs ...
in 1960.
Speaking about his courses at MIT, he is noted to have said that most classes bored him except computer science and programming courses.
Career
Early career
Gartner began his career in operations research at
System Development Corporation
System Development Corporation (SDC) was a computer software company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1955, it is considered the first company of its kind.
History
SDC began as the systems engineering group for the SAGE air-defens ...
, a subcontractor to
Philco Corporation
Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased by Ford and, from 19 ...
. He worked in
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...
for the
U.S. military’s Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
control system and then in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C.
In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
for the
Defense Communications Agency
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA pro ...
.
In 1961 Philco sold the first large-scale transistorized computer to Israel’s
Ministry of Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
, and sent Gartner, with his background in Hebrew, to help program the computer and to market Philco to other Israel government agencies. While in Israel, Gartner was recruited by
International Business Machines (IBM) to lead its Systems Engineering staff serving emerging European and Mideast markets.
Gartner rose steadily at IBM, eventually moving to its
White Plains, New York
(Always Faithful)
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offices to become Manager of Market Information in the Data Processing Division, and a leading figure in the company’s department of
commercial analysis. In 1969, Gartner left IBM to form
Computer Decisions
''Computer Decisions'' was a computer industry monthly magazine published in the 1970sComputerHistory.org's collection of monthly issues begins with April 1970: and 1980s.
In 1989 InformationWeek noted the loss to the industry of this and anoth ...
, his first independent entrepreneurial venture. The new firm struggled in the recession of 1969-70 and was sold to a time-share company which subsequently failed.
Wall Street
In 1970, despite having no background in
security analysis
Security analysis is the analysis of tradeable financial instruments called securities. It deals with finding the proper value of individual securities (i.e., stocks and bonds). These are usually classified into debt securities, equities, or s ...
, Gartner was hired by
EF Hutton
EF Hutton was an American stock brokerage firm founded in 1904 by Edward Francis Hutton and his brother, Franklyn Laws Hutton. Later, it was led by well known Wall Street trader Gerald M. Loeb. Under their leadership, EF Hutton became one of ...
to cover IBM and the burgeoning computer industry. He thrived at Hutton, and in 1972 joined
Oppenheimer and Co. where he forged a national reputation as the top technology watcher on
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...
.
Gartner introduced a series of innovations to the practice of security analysis, some of which foreshadowed the research techniques and marketing theories that would distinguish his later firms. These included chart-and-audiotape programs to deliver his analysis to clients in a more rapid and digestible manner than was customary;
[Institutional Investor, October 1972, p. 64] “chunking” lengthy research into shorter pieces with bottom-line emphasis, bridging the gap between the massive generalizations at most
brokerage houses and the heavy technological data put out by
market research firms;
and distributing to clients a relentless flow of ancillary content in the form of daily short-takes and advice that became known as “sunflowers.”
Gartner also developed a reputation for going against the grain and accurately predicting computer trends and stock movements,
with Stock Market Innovators, an industry trade paper, noting that “a remarkable number of his long-term forecasts have proven prophetic.” Some of these forecasts extended to developments that would come to pass after his time as an active analyst had ended, as when Gartner described in highly specific terms the capabilities, features, and challenges of what would become mass-produced
personal computers
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
.
Gartner was voted the top individual technology analyst on Wall Street every year from 1972 through 1977 in
Institutional Investor
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked ...
Magazine’s annual poll of major banks, funds and other institutional investing firms.
In the 1977 joint exhibit sponsored by the
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM),
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
, and the
Boston Computer Museum, documented in the book “Wizards and Their Wonders: Portraits in Computing”, Gartner was honored as one of the preeminent “Communicator” stars in the IT industry. He rose to VP and head of the Oppenheimer Technology Group, and eventually became a partner.
Gartner, Inc.
While working at
Oppenheimer and Co. in the late 1970s, Gartner realized that his investor insights would be valuable to computer manufacturers and end users too. He joined David L. Stein, an industry veteran, to form
Gartner Group
Gartner, Inc is a technological research and consulting firm based in Stamford, Connecticut that conducts research on technology and shares this research both through private consulting as well as executive programs and conferences. Its clients ...
in 1979. Amongst other things the company analyzed residual value of used computers.
Analysts for the group were noted to have gone through a stringent selection process with an inquisition themed group interview. He is known to have emphasized that analysts write concise reports filled with provocative views rather than dissertations. In his words, "If what you’re writing about isn’t controversial, don't write about it."
He would serve as the group's CEO and chairman through April 1991.
At the time, other advisory firms usually sold to only computer hardware, software, and services vendors. Exceptions at that time included Dataquest (selling a service for investors), and Input Corp. (selling a service for users). Gartner sold to vendors, plus users (generally large enterprises and other organizations, such as government agencies), plus investors and consulting firms.
Investors were among the first targets, as Gartner had just resigned as partner of Oppenheimer & Co., but at Oppenheimer he had also begun servicing a group of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of large corporations, which became the base for Gartner's enterprise activities. As Gartner Group's coverage of IBM was deep (IBM was the primary industry vendor at the time), other vendors desired to be tied into Gartner’s research network. Thus, the market Gartner addressed was unusually broad, and each constituency provided insights and information which benefited others, arguably creating market advantage. Very soon the group became the preferred place a corporate client went when it had any question about the IT industry.
Gartner's
venture capital financing
Venture capital financing is a type of funding by venture capital. It is private equity capital that can be provided at various stages or funding rounds. Common funding rounds include early-stage seed funding in high-potential, growth companies ...
was unique among advisory firms at the time. Gartner Group was initially financed by
Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners (Bessemer) is an American venture capital firm. The firm has over $19 billion under management and invests globally, with offices in San Francisco, Redwood City, New York City, Boston, Israel, India, and London.
Besseme ...
and E.M.
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has over ...
, with Bank Paribas joining a year later. This led to the firm being the first in its field to raise public capital in a 1986 offering, supporting its growth. Raising capital from venture firms allowed Gartner to build a nationwide sales organization, the first of its kind in the industry.
Gartner instituted a sales measurement and compensation scheme, based upon how IBM had measured its rental sales, but novel when applied to consulting/advisory firms: since Gartner Group sold annual renewable contracts and recorded "Contract Value", it based progress reporting and compensation (commission for sales personnel and bonus for analysts and managers), on the growth of appropriate Contract Value (CV) during a period of time; this was called Net Contract Value Increase (NCVI). Uniquely, compared with all prior consulting and advisory models, all variable compensation was based upon growth and not on revenue from renewals, an important factor in developing a strong growth culture.
Having come from
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...
, Gartner adopted the idea of employing senior industry people, who were in fact "peers" of their prospective clients. This was a departure from the current industry practice at the time, where analysts were relatively young and relatively inexperienced albeit bright. Instead of focusing primarily on market research, Gartner emphasized a basket of "values" including : G2 (competitive intelligence and analysis), quantitative methods for clients to analyze residual values and obsolescence metrics of IT hardware, saving money within the IT organization, and IT education within clients’ staffs.
Gartner developed a disciplined "research process", which was documented in a Research Notebook, used in regular training programs at the firm. Process highlights called for analysts to "scan" all sources of input, be trained in recognizing "patterns", develop "new ideas" from these patterns, and "document" the results in brief one-page "research notes". General industry practice at the time was to publish relatively long reports. Gartner research "gimmicks" were introduced, such as the "stalking horse", a research collaborative tool whereby analysts were compelled to graphically present and defend their logic at research meetings. Thus, the "horse" became the company mascot. Intensive research meetings for all researchers were conducted at least weekly, and provided additional training and other benefits. Other innovations were introduced, in areas such as research-hiring interview methods, conferences including the breakthrough Symposium, inquiry systems to connect clients with internal analysts. All the above contributed to an unusually strong and acknowledged
organizational culture
Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...
.
Gartner Group was ranked among the fastest growing private firms in the U.S. (by ''
Inc. Magazine'') until it
went public in 1986, whereupon it was listed for several years among the best small companies in America (by ''
Business Week
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'', e.g. #9 overall, and #1 in profitability, in 1987). Gartner was sold to
Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...
in 1988, and Gartner signed a contract to remain as CEO until April 1991. In 1990, Gartner led a successful
leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...
of the firm financed by
Information Partners, a
private equity fund
A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity ...
owned by
Bain Capital
Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...
and
Dun & Bradstreet
The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...
.
Soundview Technologies
Gartner, who had retained contact with his Wall Street clients, initiated a new financial service for Gartner Group via a new partnership with
Dillon, Read & Co., which distributed its reports and
personal services to
Dillon, Read & Co. investment client organizations. Gartner Group severed the Dillon Read relationship and became an independent
broker-dealer
In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and ...
in 1984, named Gartner Securities Corp., and spun this business out to its shareholders just before its first public offering in 1986, providing its analysis, investment advice and banking services, to all institutional investors. Its name was changed in 1988 to
SoundView Technology Group
Soundview Technology Group is an American technology-focused firm known primarily for its equity research on technology and other growth-oriented companies. The securities and investment banking company was integrated into Charles Schwab in 2003 ...
, when Gartner was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi. Soundview was unique in that it combined accepted Wall Street research and distribution methods, with the intimate (albeit "arms length") relationship with Gartner analysts, and arguably became the leading technology research boutique on Wall Street. But it merged in 2000 with Wit Capital, and was eventually sold (early 2004) to
Charles Schwab & Co., and thereafter completely absorbed into Schwab and UBS.
GiGa Information Group
Giga Information Group was founded by Gartner in 1995.
He raised more than $15 million in several tranches to develop the company; he was Chairman and CEO until late 1999. In less than four years from first shipment (April 1, 1996 to December 1999), this innovative firm became the fastest growing technology advisory consulting company in history, generating a
run rate from zero to over $65 million, with more than 1,200 enterprise clients.
Three primary innovations were introduced to the advisory business through Giga: its offering of a single comprehensive IT Advisory service (compared with the typical multiple services of other advisory firms), an external cadre of experts to supplement the strategic nature of analysts on staff, and a set of web functions which stressed objectivity of analysis, and allowed on-line research by clients (called “The Knowledge Salon”).
Giga went public in 1998, but its stock languished during and after the technology stock market meltdown of 2000. In February 2003 the company was sold to
Forrester Research
Forrester is a research and advisory company that offers a variety of services including research, consulting, and events.
Forrester has nine North America locations: Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York, New York; San Francisco, California; McLe ...
.
Personal life
Gartner lived in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...
and
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 202 ...
, and was involved in business ventures, athletics, and classical music. His music background includes a lifetime of piano practice, as well as performing on the French Horn, having been a member of the London School Symphony Orchestra, and the
Brooklyn Philharmonic
There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence ...
(then called the Brooklyn Philharmonia). He was on the board of the Opera Orchestra of N.Y, was a trustee of the Music Associates of Aspen (the
Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.
It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, the ...
), was a fellow of the
Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...
, and was on the National Councils or equivalent, of the
Aspen Art Museum
Founded in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in Aspen, Colorado. AAM exhibitions include drawings, paintings, sculptures
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in thr ...
, and the Anderson Ranch.
He served on the Library Committee of the M.I.T. Corporation and was a Sustaining Fellow Life Member of M.I.T. He was a past member of the board of the Society for Information Management where he was Special Appointee to the President. He was a Director's Circle member of the
Charles Babbage Institute
The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...
and a member of the Board of Directors of the
IT History Society. In the 1977 joint exhibit sponsored by the ACM and
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
in Washington D.C. and the
Boston Computer Museum, documented in the book “Wizards and Their Wonders: Portraits in Computing”,
Gartner was honored as one of the 19 “Communicator” stars in the IT industry.
Gartner's professional activities have included speaking before major organizations worldwide. He has addressed graduate student groups at
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...
, M.I.T., Yale,
University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
, and Arizona State, among others. In 1985, Gartner taught a course at UCLA’s Graduate School of Management (GSM), which was formally rated by his students as their best course taken throughout GSM. Gartner has also written extensively, for example, the AMA journal, series of articles for Computer Decisions and Information Week magazines, and the forward and much of Chapter 7, in “The E-Marketplace…Strategies for success in B2B eCommerce”, by Warren Raisch (McGraw Hill, 2001).
He was an active
angel investor
An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownersh ...
in early-stage companies, and was a member of
New York Angels.
Gartner died on December 12, 2020 at his home in New York, of complications from
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...
. He was aged 85.
Notes
Sources
* Gartner Inc. annual reports
* Gideon I. Gartner
Oral history interviewby Jeffrey R. Yost, 12 August 2005, Aspen, Colorado.
Charles Babbage Institute
The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...
, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
*
Securities Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
documents
Gartner Group Records, 1981-2000 Charles Babbage Institute
The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...
, University of Minnesota. Collection of 57 linear feet documents Gideon Gartner's business activity with his companies Gartner Group, Giga, and
Soundview Technology Group
Soundview Technology Group is an American technology-focused firm known primarily for its equity research on technology and other growth-oriented companies. The securities and investment banking company was integrated into Charles Schwab in 2003 ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gartner, Gideon
1935 births
Living people
Computer systems engineers
American financial analysts
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
MIT School of Engineering alumni
Harvard Business School people
Angel investors
American people of Palestinian-Jewish descent
Gartner people