Entrepreneur, tech pioneer and EVP of PTC Jon Hirschtick is passionate about empowering innovators so they can build products that matter. He has helped create technologies that have disrupted the product development industry and was recently named an Engineer Who Mattered in 2020 by Engineering.com.
In this Q&A, Hirschtick shares his entrepreneurial journey and recent business milestones as well as tips for startup founders.
You’ve launched several successful companies. What led you to be a serial entrepreneur?
Hirschtick: The fact that lightning struck more than once for me wasn’t in itself a goal. I may have been just as happy if I only founded one company and stayed there my whole career. With both SOLIDWORKS and Onshape, I was energized by opportunities to solve universal problems that were keeping the design and manufacturing world stuck in place.
In regard to the motivation behind Onshape, I didn’t find it – it found me, so to speak. The idea of transforming the way engineers use computer aided design (CAD) with real-time cloud and mobile technologies was a tremendously compelling challenge. But I also believe that we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. As an aside, I am not a big fan of the term “serial entrepreneur.” Talking about how many companies you’ve founded is like bragging about how many marriages you’ve had. Nobody talks about being a “serial spouse.” What really matters is what impact your company or companies have had on the world, not merely the number of companies you’ve launched.
What are some of the contributing factors to your success?
Hirschtick: I think the things I’ve tried to build are things that a lot of other people have thought about doing. They just didn’t try. Before I founded SOLIDWORKS, CAD software could only be used by an elite few. One seat of CAD cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and only ran on proprietary hardware supplied by the vendor. Building a CAD system that ran on a Windows PC and making it more accessible was an obvious idea. So was putting a product development system in the cloud with Onshape. But ideas are cheap. You can’t win if you don’t try.
I am also grateful for all the smart and talented people who helped me figure out how to solve industry problems that skeptics thought were too difficult to tackle or impossible to achieve. I often say that ‘hiring is the most important thing we do’ when building our business.
Your latest venture, Onshape, was acquired by PTC. Can you share some milestones since the acquisition?
Hirschtick: Since we joined PTC in November 2019, our customer base has increased significantly as has the Onshape team. In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2020, Onshape’s sales increased by 80% year-over-year. Onshape’s education plan grew 350% as more than one million students and educators joined the program.
Overall, PTC has now invested more than a billion dollars in acquisitions that are pure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. This includes the recent acquisition of Arena Solutions, the industry’s leading SaaS product lifecycle management (PLM) platform. We are looking forward to delivering more solutions that will enable our customers to build products that matter.
The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on businesses and market demand. What should startups do differently to find the right market fit?
Hirschtick: Agility is the best antidote to volatility – and the world is quite volatile right now. Be agile about how and where your team works, what products you build, and your supply chain. All of those things are going to change and then change again. Even if things do go ‘back to normal,’ what about the next pandemic or other big change in the world? So be ready to work anywhere, be ready to work with anyone, and be ready to even change which products you’re building and how you’re building them.
Based on your experience and success, what tips would you give to entrepreneurs looking to grow their business in today’s environment?
Hirschtick: Without question, Covid-19 is having a horrific impact on every aspect of our lives and economy. It is threatening to wipe out entire industries. But inevitably, like any time of crisis, the pandemic is also creating new challenges, needs and opportunities. Think about what transformational changes are happening before our eyes and which changes might be here to stay. How can you serve and fulfill those needs?
What’s your outlook on the economy right now?
Hirschtick: If you’re running a business today, I think you need to be prepared for things to get tougher before they get better. But I think when the economy does come back, it’s going to come roaring back and there will be new opportunities everywhere – kind of like in a post-war boom. I cannot wait to go to a nice restaurant again or go to Red Sox games again. Once it’s safe to be with crowds again, the economy will be booming.
Join us for Onshape Live on March 11, 2021, 2:00-6:00 pm EST. It’s our first virtual user conference, designed to celebrate the Onshape community – product developers who are building the future for educators fostering the next generation of innovators. See Onshape in action. Learn what's new. It’s free. Sign up today.