Getting Noticed
Many of you may remember Autodesk's Inventor ad campaign at SolidWorks World in New Orleans this February. The one where Autodesk splashed the number of Inventor users all across New Orleans. The CAD press and bloggers had a lot to say about the campaign. As I wrote earlier, "Bloggers and readers are commenting on Autodesk's stupidity on having such an ad campaign. What they do not seem to realise is that they are part of the ad campaign. The Inventor ads can be seen only to people going to the SolidWorks conference, but now thanks to the CAD press they are now visible to people all over the world, which is exactly the whole point of this seemingly stupid excercise."
I suspect something similar is going to happen at Autodesk University 2007. After being kicked out from AU, I have learnt that SpaceClaim is now going to have their own mini-event in a hotel close to AU. If the marketing and PR people at SpaceClaim play their cards properly, this can be far more effective than sitting in a booth in AU.
Many believe that SpaceClaim is a company which does not appear to be in the pink of health. If they don't generate a respectable number of sales soon, then going by Ralph Grabowski's financial analysis, they may need another round of funding (if there is one available). Common sense tells me that for sales to happen people need to first notice the product. What better place to get noticed and written about than Autodesk University, one of the most talked about events in the CAD world. And SpaceClaim, the company and the software, badly needs to get noticed. If they do something smart (or stupid) enough at AU or in its vincinity, it is bound to get noticed and written about.
A well known CEO of a well known CAD software company once told me, "Any press is good press, as long as your name is spelled correctly."
I suspect something similar is going to happen at Autodesk University 2007. After being kicked out from AU, I have learnt that SpaceClaim is now going to have their own mini-event in a hotel close to AU. If the marketing and PR people at SpaceClaim play their cards properly, this can be far more effective than sitting in a booth in AU.
Many believe that SpaceClaim is a company which does not appear to be in the pink of health. If they don't generate a respectable number of sales soon, then going by Ralph Grabowski's financial analysis, they may need another round of funding (if there is one available). Common sense tells me that for sales to happen people need to first notice the product. What better place to get noticed and written about than Autodesk University, one of the most talked about events in the CAD world. And SpaceClaim, the company and the software, badly needs to get noticed. If they do something smart (or stupid) enough at AU or in its vincinity, it is bound to get noticed and written about.
A well known CEO of a well known CAD software company once told me, "Any press is good press, as long as your name is spelled correctly."
posted by Deelip Menezes at
11:21 PM
3 Comments:
Spaceclaim is flailing. What they have built just isn't that hard to do for other CAD companies; we are already seeing everyone offering some level of direct editing, from SolidWorks and UG/Siemens to Alibre.
It appears that building a Lexus "for everyone else" and then charging the same price or more than the Lexus -- and one you don't really own because you're only renting it -- doesn't quite make as much sense to the market as it does to the crew at SC.
These guys are legends in their own minds, thinking all they had to do was box up Mike Payne and Danny Dean's resumes and everyone would flock to their door. Their message is quite similar to that of PTC's back at the height of their arrogance: basically, shut up and just buy it, we know what's best for you, and you're an idiot if you don't get it.
It's amazing that a team of experienced professionals would commit the classic mistake of building a product first before identifying the real market need for it. It is evident their love for their technology and hubris has blinded them to some basic market realities.
By
Anonymous, At
10:40 PM, November 24, 2007
Hi Anonymous,
Have you tried the software? I think it really is different (and I have used many systems).
Deelip (rightly) calls it CAD 2.0, and it can be the key to addressing the lack of interoperability of CAD models as they are shared among the various participants in the manufacturing process (including moldmakers, FEA, NC, process planning, design reviews, etc.)
Have you read my first blog?: http://www.spaceclaim.com/blog/blog/default.aspx?dtf=20070901000000&dtt=20070930235959
It addresses many of your points about what problem they are trying to solve.
Today, SpaceClaim launched a program to encourage engineers to use SpaceClaim on their interoperability challenges:
http://www.spaceclaim.com/blog/sc/default.aspx?id=15&t=SpaceClaim-is-Crowdsourcing
I hope you have a bit of free time to try it out, and provide some feedback.
Thanks,
Joe.
By
Anonymous, At
7:51 PM, November 27, 2007
Deelip, That CEO was paraphrasing P.T. Barnum, a flamboyant American showman of the 19th Century who created the modern circus. He once said something to the effect of, "call me what you want, but please spell my name right."
By
Randall Newton, At
9:34 PM, December 04, 2007
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