A Brief History of NetFile

In 1998, two young entrepreneurs saw a need in California for a revolutionary new type of disclosure software.

At the time, most of the disclosure software available was DOS-based, intended to run in a single PC environment, and used single-user dead-end database systems like dBase and FoxPro for data storage.

What the founders of NetFile discovered, was that while the existing disclosure software packages could meet the disclosure needs of smaller committees, almost every large committee in California needed to maintain duplicate databases for fundraising or financial management purposes.

In July 1998, NetFile was launched. NetFile could do things that the competition simply could never do. It allowed access to committee data from anywhere on the Internet. It allowed for multiple users to enter and view data in the same account database at the same time. It allowed the committee to keep all of its disclosure, financial, and fundraising data within the same database. It was always fully upgraded to the latest version: users no longer had to worry if their software was out-of-date. NetFile was a quantum leap forward in disclosure software.

Even from the earliest days, NetFile was fully committed to electronic filing process. It was for this reason that Secretary of State Bill Jones turned to NetFile for his 1998 re-election campaign. On October 5th, 1998, NetFile e-filed the very first disclosure statement in California history on the behalf of the Jones committee. Electronic filing had officially "arrived" in California. Other clients, including several statewide ballot measure initiatives, also began using NetFile to submit their e-filings for the November 1998 election.

In addition to this early success, NetFile began to add high-profile clients at a rapid pace. Clients such as Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor instantly bolstered NetFile's status as a high-quality solutions provider for the disclosure community.

As the Secretary of State's office began to prepare for mandatory electronic filing under SB49, NetFile became one of the preeminent vendor participants in defining and shaping the current California electronic filing standard. As mandatory electronic filing drew closer, NetFile continued to build on its success, and became the clear electronic filing leader in the vendor community.

Then, in January 2000, mandatory electronic filing became a reality in California. Hundreds of committees flocked to NetFile as the vendor that could help them meet their electronic filing requirements. On the night of the first e-filing deadline, there were clients who signed up for NetFile service as late as 10PM and still e-filed their first campaign statements with the Secretary of State before midnight!

With this resounding success, NetFile drew the attention of Grassroots.com, an Internet startup poised to develop the most comprehensive and advanced political action and political information web portal on the planet. After a series of negotiations, NetFile agreed to be wholly acquired by Grassroots.com in April 2000.

Shortly thereafter, Grassroots.com launched the second NetFile product: NetLobbyist. The NetLobbyist product was designed from the ground up to be a fast and easy-to-use way for the California Lobbying community to meet their electronic and paper filing requirements under SB49. With the introduction of the NetLobbyist product, and the continued growth of the NetFile product, Grassroots.com was clearly the number one vendor in California for electronic filing.

With the significant changes in the New Economy landscape in the second and third quarters of 2000, Grassroots.com began to rebuild itself from within to become a top-tier provider of Web-delivered advocacy tools for political and membership organizations. Because of this shift in Grassroots.com's corporate focus, the NetFile product line became less important to its long-range plans. In April of 2001, Grassroots.com announced two major events: 1) the change of its name to Grassroots Enterprise, Inc. - to better reflect the company role as a software provider, and 2) that NetFile would resume independent operations under the direction of one of its founders, David Montgomery.

In the time since independent operations resumed, NetFile has continued to be the number one choice for disclosure software in California. NetFile has also continued in its role as a prominent participant in the development of the California paper and electronic filing processes by providing ideas and suggestions for the implementation of Proposition 34 requirements.