They were laid off on a Friday from a company that built custom software for corporations around the country.

By the following Monday, they were in business for themselves building software for businesses and nonprofits in Missoula.

"That Friday it was looking like a catastrophe," said Marc Dousset, senior programmer and full partner at Axiom IT Solutions. "By Monday it was looking like an opportunity."

Computer programmers Dousset, Ryan Weisser, Jeffrey SongTee Heng, and Sven Soedal had never worked for themselves when their employer closed the Missoula branch in November of 2001. The news did not come as a shock, but did come with questions from people who were used to receiving regular paychecks and benefits.

"I had never been without a steady paycheck," Weisser said. "Even in college I had a job."

But the group was tired of putting in long hours for a company they did not have a stake in. They wanted to create something of their own. They had no experience running a company, no real idea of what they would do, and no desire to leave Missoula.

No problem: "As a team," Dousset said, "we felt we could handle anything."

What the group did have was contacts, access to equipment, experience, Weisser's empty basement and an open calendar.

Instead of moving to one of the technology hot spots in the country, the four decided to try to stay in Missoula.

Weisser was born in California, Heng in Singapore, Dousset in France and Soedal in Norway. They could have found work around the country as programmers in Seattle, Atlanta, Boston or Silicon Valley, but Missoula was where they had started families, where three of them had gone to school and where they wanted to stay. When the talk of starting a company began to take shape, no one needed to be convinced that Missoula was the place.

Heng joined the team in September 2002 when one of the original four partners stepped aside. He said he admired what his colleagues had done by establishing a computer software company dedicated to 40-hour work weeks, 20 days of vacation, and a commitment to staying in Missoula.

Joel Henry, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Montana, said he's seen a trend over the past five years of custom software firms based in the Missoula area and not obsessed with profits.

He can list eight companies between Hamilton and Missoula that have started in the past five years with similar missions.

"In other places, people wear beepers and work way more than 40 hours a week," Henry said. "I spent two summers in Silicon Valley and I can tell you there is a lot more focus on work and advancement of technology there. Here I see a lot more community service."

Coming up on the company's third year, Weisser said the greatest challenge is maintaining its commitment to a balanced life.

Axiom has established credibility for itself as being able to solve computer problems and create specialized software for everything from state bureaucracies to nonprofits such as the Missoula Childrens Theater. This credibility now means Weisser is turning down jobs to make sure growth does not outpace what the team believes is an acceptable workload.

It's a niche framed by a laid¬back quality of life and a growing demand and dependence on the speed of technology.

"As long as I can live in Missoula, have my season Griz tickets, and my season pass to Snowbowl, I'm happy," Weisser said.