Hirschtick Leaving Dassault
The Graphic Speak blog by Randall Newton breaks the news that Jon Hirschtick is leaving his post on the executive board of Dassault Systems. He has been very enthusiastic about the changes going on at Dassault, and I wouldn’t even begin to try to assign a cause or an effect of his leaving. I’m certain we haven’t seen the last of him, and I’m anxious to see where he winds up. Where ever it is, join me in wishing Mr, Hirschtick the best of luck. I know he’ll find success where ever he goes.
I am pleased to note that the SW corporate blog has an article up today about Jon’s departure in which colleagues have posted some thoughts and recollections and best wishes. People are invited to leave their own messages in the comments. I hope readers here will take the opportunity and head over to add their own contributions.
You can find a link to the blog in Matt’s sidebar.
Thanks Matthew West 😉
These things like departures are not ignored by users and prospective users even if DS chooses to. Talking to Billy Oliver today and he went to both SW’s and SE’s sales type events in Houston recently on the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. SW had two reps and one visitor, SE had 18 visitors. I assume Billy is not counting himself. I wonder if these departures are not being talked about because DS/SW is now in an even bigger bind about what and how to do things going forward. The govenors are falling off the over revving engine is what I think.
@Dana Sero I see you are a New England VAR. Explain to me, a non American, why Jon’s leaving doesn’t get a mention on your website in the ‘News’. What am I missing understanding culturally here. I would have thought there would have been some realisation in the VAR community that Jon was the reason you guys have a job at all and he would be accorded a decent send off. Call me cynical but I think you would have to be engaging in a deal of self interested pretense or be sanitising reality to interpret an immediate resignation with no press statement as normal. If things had been sweet Jon could have been brought on stage at SWW by Bernard to announce his ‘retirement’ and be given a gold platter as a momento and 3 cheers by the crowd. Perhaps that sort of gesture is un-American? or am I just being ‘negative’….
I remember meeting Jon in the early 90’s, and getting a demo, under non-disclosure, of an “alpha” level product that was being developed by a company called Winchester Design Systems.
Later, we got a chance to visit a variety of local customers and see what they were doing with the product, and what they were doing to the product. Jon’s interest in their business, and candor about what was good and what needed more work was always refreshing.
Why is it that Dean Kamen can start a dozen companies, host a TV show, start a robotics competition – but Jon has to stay at SolidWorks forever? Solid modeling isn’t exactly a brave new world anymore.
The community has attracted it’s own group of “Nattering Nabobs of Negativity” but I take the announcement at face value and look forward to what you come up with!
DJS
I see no DS press release or SW blog post has been forthcoming noting the departure of Jon or Austin or anyone else who may have left recently. In a Google search I could find no VAR statement either, not even a paragraph. Regardless of the circumstance this is a disgrace.
Jon, Austin please accept my apology on behalf of users everywhere who appreciate your contribution to SW.
We wish you all the best in what ever you do in the future. Many many people around the world use daily the tools you developed and with them earn a living and produce goods for humanity. Rest assured despite the gripes and grumbles we do enjoy using SW. Possibly SW has a user following like no other. This is a reflection not only of a program and business well done but also of an endorsement of the values you brought to the venture from the outset. I know Jon is well known liked and respected in the user community for his willingness to relate one on one to customers as people. This is a fine achievement in ones working life to be very successful and yet retain a perspective of service.
Austin is not so well known to users but he has been involved in SW development since early days and as such has also contributed significantly to the very useful program we have today.
Thank you both for your work and time with DS/SW. 🙂
@Josip Jukic
Jon Hirschtick, especially after the departure of John McEleney, was the face and voice of SolidWorks that people understood, could relate to, and trusted. Period. Jeff Ray was not an engineer, and in my estimation, needed a lot of help relating to end users. Jon understands, and I think he was used by the board to be a liaison to the practical side of customers. Jon was very popular among users at user group meetings, SolidWorks World, and company visits. He listened, appeared to care, and was in the position to be able to understand the need and drive the solution.
Steve Jobs died, John leaving Dassault, sadly but not tragically. Life going on…
John was most historic pearson in SolidWorks before 1997. But let everybody on this blog be honest: Who of your know what he doing in Dassault last 12 years and what he mean for SolidWorks on that period. I wish him all well and I think that he make great product which I using today and pay support.
John, can you tell me what is your vision od develope direction of SW today? Are you for SW V6 or not ?
@Devon Sowell Those only last a year. It’ll take him at least that long to gather the resources.
Jon personally taught me to count cards, MIT style. That was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at work. I hope you haven’t lost that attitude, Jon.
Dont worry – Parasolid is the only “independent” kernel left in the market. If John builds a CAD product you can be sure it will be on Parasolid.
I’ve been looking out for a press release from DS or a news item on the SW blog but I haven’t seen one.
Will there be one? Pretty low if DS can’t give Jon’s leaving the board an official mention.
I would have thought the man deserves a bit of recognition and thanks considering how he was a founder, CEO and spent so many years with the company.
Good luck with the future Jon. From the 21 team to the success of SolidWorks I’d say you’ve had a good run already and I have to think there are more great things to come. I’m excited to see where you pop up next 😉
Rob Rodriguez
@Karsten Newbury
Thanks Karsten. Maybe we will meet sometime at COFES or otherwise.
Jon
Jon, never met you, but have heard lots of good things and stories about you from many people I respect. You can be really proud when even your (former) competitors respect what you have built, so congratulations on all you have done! Looking forward to watching your future ventures, whatever and wherever they may be.
Karsten Newbury
Siemens PLM Software
>a new IP address every time they post
Really…OK maybe something odd going on this end. Will check to see if there is a setting I missed somewhere. Perhaps I should go back to posting via pc… Sorry to spam the topic everyone.
@Neil
What’s up with posting? I don’t know. Ever since rebuilding the site, I’ve had a lot of problems with the spam filter. A lot of messages get caught because IP addresses change. Some (hint, hint) people have a new IP address every time they post, so the spam filter sees them as coming from somewhere else, although the comment counter seems to use your email address, because even though the IP addresses change, the comment counter keeps going up. I’m using the same tools as before for spam filtering, but something is obviously out of whack. I fish several messages a day out of the filters. Be patient. I’m not smart, but I’m persistent. I’ll get it fixed eventually. I got the old list of users out of my back up data into the reconstructed blog, and all the old comments (although they aren’t lined up with the right posts yet…), so I’ll figure out this spam problem too.
OT – Matt what’s up with the posting these days? Sometimes when I submit a comment it posts right away, sometimes it posts but also says its awaiting moderation and other times it just disappears into cyberspace for hours and hours and you can’t tell if it worked or not. You know my writing skills are dreadful. I *need* to see the whole item in place to edit stuff, especially when I use my tablet and have to contend with fat fingers, lack of spellcheck and other android and human strangeness. I am pretty sure my last post contained some mistakes at the end which I only caught sight of as I hit the button. I can’t fix them now. Oh well. 🙁
Edit : Well strange this one posted or at least I can still access it but two others are in limbo somewhere…
@Devon yeah probably. I wonder how its worded though. If the SW code and company activity he was associated with is redundant come SWv6 I wonder if he could be deemed to be competing with it esp if he devised something new and was targeting a different part of the market? Often there is a period where a person can’t work in the field or work for competitors but you can’t bar someone from earning a living with their skills altogether.
DS are providing their customers with a cloud service that they have researched and determined is viable in spite the llikelihood of very large competitors like Autodesk joining in. They also want to be judged by the market so they are not afraid of competition.If Jon is not providing a cloud service and the company is tiny and not likely to emerge as a player for 5years on more is that competing?
If a company you work for makes bicycles for local sale and then decides to quit that to make incubents for export instead is it competing if you have left their business in the meantime to make tricycless for the local market?
Hmmm not sure but there must be a way around it 😉
Well lets be honest about it DS have taken something very successful with quite some life in it yet and stuffed it because they got too greedy for their own good. While no doubt the capital DS provided helped SW succeed when they need it Jon was all about providing something by engineers for engineers and has principles that transcend the bottom line. Not so DS. They have been opportunist money lenders from day one and made a ton of money out of it and now want to make even more by taking over their customers too. The two intents don’t mix well. As I said before here selling out to DS was a strategic mistake that has taken a while to play out. In reality I think there has been a lot of friction between the camps. I don’t think SW people believe in DS endeavours or even actually understand the mission witness the n!Fuze misfire. In fact I think Jeff’s candid comments about the death of SW indicate a considerable degree of resentment at the takeover and obsolescence of all the hard work SW employees have put in.
It must have been painful for Jon to sit on a board that is not interested in CAD other than the income it generates and in particular seeing as how it was his baby they were aborting. The statement that he has resigned to pursue a fresh independent project I think speaks volumes about irreconcillable differences. I guess the moneychangers outnumbered the true blue CADsters.
I think SW users can take from this that DS are pressing ahead with the cloud as planned.
The time has come for people to take their future into their own hands and get into the lifeboats whether they be savvy crew or passengers. Let the owner go down with the ship.
Thank you for all of your kind words. The main reason I am leaving is that I am ready and anxious to work on a new project, not sure exactly what it will be but something brand new, and I feel that this is best done in a fresh new and smaller environment. Matt and Devon — you guys are awesome and I sincerely hope our paths cross again! Private email me or call me on my mobile at any time. Any of the SolidWorks employees can give you my private email and mobile number if you don’t have it. (I just emailed them to all SW team today!) All the best, — Jon
If Jon does start another company, there would be a line of people a mile long who would want to work with him. Although Jeff Ray did ask how to kill SolidWorks, and if anyone knows in a practical way how to do that, it would be Mr. Hirschtick. It is indeed the end of an era when Mr. Hirschtick has left the building. I’m curious to see how many customers will see it as a sign of the times.
On Twitter, Matt West said something about that he left to spend time with his young kids. I see no reason to doubt that, nor do I doubt we’ll see him again.
Wow. I guess there’s certainly uncertainty in the CAD world.
@Neil
Jon probably signed a ‘do not compete’ document, unfortunately.
Devon
I really admired and liked Jon, I wish him well.
I wonder who will follow him out? I would. I wonder what Scott Harris & Jon are talking about tonight?
The assimilation of SolidWorks by the Borg, err Dassault Systems, is 99% complete. 100% when 800 DS clones join hands, sing songs and move into the new building.
SolidWorks WAS the most exciting company I ever worked with. It’s the end of an era.
SolidWorks World 2012 will be a Wake.
Devon
I will miss seeing him at SolidWorks World events. His enthusiasm and customer involvement was catching. I hope to see him pop up again soon.
Actually what should happen now is exactly that. Jon should find some venture capital and put together a good team of people for a new CAD company in the US based on US ownership and talent. He always had the right focus on tools for engineers so if he keeps to the same recipe it stands a good chance of success. It may be a lousy time to makeover an established corporate but the quiet of the global downturn is a good time to start out fresh. Matt should get on the phone and see if he can get involved too as an advisor or in documentation. In fact anyone who has their loyalties and priorities in the right place should get on board. Toss your job working for DS which you don’t believe in and go work for Jon. Hell when DS move into their new building you can stay where you are with the people you like. Great plan. 😉 Disaffected SW customers can hold onto their subs money and would queue up around the block waiting for that solution to arrive.
Wow…immediate resignation..infighting on the board?…was he a cloud supporter?
Possibly the wrong cat ‘fell out’ of the tree.
As a founder I think he was probably the best CEO SW have had.
DS always have a way of obscuring the real reason for the exit of VIPs.
I wonder when the press release comes out if he going to a remote geographic location as well or has an ailing family member.
I see another past CEO, the one who developed a cloud fetish, has flogged off his start up to Verizon.
Interesting developments.
Anyway good luck to Jon. Pity if you tried to save SW and lost. Thanks for the attempt.
Sorry DS ruined your baby.
Perhaps he will start a new CAD company with a clean sheet and take some of his old staff and customers with him?
Keep watching this space.