Getting to the Bottom of Rumors about SpaceClaim
For the past 36 hours I have been getting emails and phone calls asking if I know about layoffs at SpaceClaim, the venture-funded 3D CAD upstart. It seems this company is really under the industry microscope -- one of the calls was from a well-placed veteran at a SpaceClaim competitor. I've made a few phone calls, and can now separate fact from fiction.
SpaceClaim co-founder and CEO Michael Payne confirmed that at the end of 2007 there was some "tweaking" of the employee rolls, but did not want to give a specific number. The layoffs were "not insignificant if you were one of the people" involved, he said, but otherwise characterized the reduction in force as "a minor adjustment" that came after a series of year-end meetings between management and the venture capital companies funding SpaceClaim. Some employees were provided an opportunity to become contractors, a move not uncommon among start-ups.
The one high-profile departure is former chief operating officer Michael McGuinness, hired March 2007. He is no longer listed on the company's web site with the other executives -- as he was the last time the Internet Archives took a peek at the page in May 2007. The last public mention of him seem to be in a company press release dated November 27, 2007. It is not uncommon for executive-level employees to come and go during a company's early phases, especially one with so much venture capital behind it. McGuiness had been a CEO at two other software companies and did 10 years of hard time at PTC earlier in his career. Maybe the chemistry between McGuinness and Payne wasn't right.
This news overshadows what SpaceClaim would like us to be talking about today, the release of a new version of the product with a "more targeted" feature set. SpaceClaim LT and SpaceClaim LTX are aimed at the occasional CAD user (likely at smaller companies) who may have both 2D and 3D files to edit. By comparison, SpaceClaim Professional is aimed at those who must edit 3D files from the likes of CATIA, NX, SolidWorks, or Pro/ENGINEER. The main differences between SpaceClaim’s products are import and export capabilities, as well as some options and services that are available with SpaceClaim Professional 2007+. SpaceClaim LT provides import of STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, BMP, JPG and PNG file formats and export of DXF, DWG, XAML, STL, VRML, BMP, JPG and PNG file formats. SpaceClaim LTX provides these capabilities as well as export of STEP and IGES files for other 3D systems.
These new versions of SpaceClaim could well be the SketchUp on steriods many CAD users in manufacturing and product design have been asking for. We'll cover these products in more detail next week at CADCAMNet.
SpaceClaim co-founder and CEO Michael Payne confirmed that at the end of 2007 there was some "tweaking" of the employee rolls, but did not want to give a specific number. The layoffs were "not insignificant if you were one of the people" involved, he said, but otherwise characterized the reduction in force as "a minor adjustment" that came after a series of year-end meetings between management and the venture capital companies funding SpaceClaim. Some employees were provided an opportunity to become contractors, a move not uncommon among start-ups.
The one high-profile departure is former chief operating officer Michael McGuinness, hired March 2007. He is no longer listed on the company's web site with the other executives -- as he was the last time the Internet Archives took a peek at the page in May 2007. The last public mention of him seem to be in a company press release dated November 27, 2007. It is not uncommon for executive-level employees to come and go during a company's early phases, especially one with so much venture capital behind it. McGuiness had been a CEO at two other software companies and did 10 years of hard time at PTC earlier in his career. Maybe the chemistry between McGuinness and Payne wasn't right.
This news overshadows what SpaceClaim would like us to be talking about today, the release of a new version of the product with a "more targeted" feature set. SpaceClaim LT and SpaceClaim LTX are aimed at the occasional CAD user (likely at smaller companies) who may have both 2D and 3D files to edit. By comparison, SpaceClaim Professional is aimed at those who must edit 3D files from the likes of CATIA, NX, SolidWorks, or Pro/ENGINEER. The main differences between SpaceClaim’s products are import and export capabilities, as well as some options and services that are available with SpaceClaim Professional 2007+. SpaceClaim LT provides import of STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, BMP, JPG and PNG file formats and export of DXF, DWG, XAML, STL, VRML, BMP, JPG and PNG file formats. SpaceClaim LTX provides these capabilities as well as export of STEP and IGES files for other 3D systems.
These new versions of SpaceClaim could well be the SketchUp on steriods many CAD users in manufacturing and product design have been asking for. We'll cover these products in more detail next week at CADCAMNet.
This layoff affected about 20% of employees in Concord, Mass. These were mostly high paid key employees in Development and Sales. (Comment this)
The "D" in CAD is supposed to refer to "Design", but as far as I've seen (having spent many years in the industry) customers have interpreted the "D" as "Documentation". The design unfortunately is done outside of the CAD system.
Whether or not SpaceClaim is the product to deliver upon this opportunity is debatable... but to SHOUT that the world does not need another CAD system is akin to saying the auto industry should have stopped with the T-model Ford. (Comment this)