It was a painful, yet familiar, story for executives around the table. Kevin, a top manager at a Montana technology firm, had recently made a job offer to Mark, a promising programmer from Salt Lake City. Mark sold his house, packed up his wife and kids, and moved to Missoula on a Saturday to begin the new position on Monday…

Conversations about entrepreneurship often focus on Silicon Valley, Boston or other major metropolitan areas, yet Missoula and Bozeman, Montana enjoy some of the highest levels of entrepreneurship in the nation in terms of startup and high-growth companies, as well as spinoff activities, according to a report funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.Missoula and Bozeman rank 9th and 12th highest in startup rates among 394 areas in the U.S., and the proportion of high-growth firms is particularly high in Bozeman, higher than Denver (9th in the nation) and almost compatible with Washington, D.C. (1st in the nation), according to the report.