think1

think3, the MCAD software company based in Italy, has found a market niche in which it is #1: it's #1 in revenue in Italy's MCAD market. Ta da!

The think3 press release notes these other findings by 01consulting of Europe:

- think3 is one of the top mid-range MCAD vendors in Europe, along with SolidWorks and Autodesk.
- think3 is doing very well among its peers and fuelled growth in the mid-range segment.
- think3 is holding steady against the bigger players such as Dassault.

This sort of positioning is important for think3, which seems to have been retrenching of late by closing all its US offices (except one), and outsourcing all its programming to India. The retrenchment is confirmed by this quote from CEO Joe Costello: "As this recent European mid-market MCAD analysis report confirms, think3 has established itself as a key player in the MCAD market in Europe." Recent, as in Sept/05.

He is one of the most interesting people in the industry, but I feel sorry for Mr Costello. He found huge success when he grew Cadence into a big player in electronic design software, and then vowed to do the same with think3 (originally known as cad.lab). Remember the $50,000 give-away for finding the company a new name? Remember the rapid-fire, hard-hitting but short-lived video commentary series from Mr Costello? Remember the dithering over direct/indirect sales?

Instead of being #1 in the world, think3 has to be content with itself as a member of the Botique Class of CAD vendors, which I define as companies large enough to sustain themselves on their moderate customer base.

On a Related Topic

It's interesting that the non-history-based MCAD packages (think3, CoCreate, Kubotek, et al) can't capture the market, as have history-based packages (Inventor, SolidWorks, and so on). Maybe history-based modeling came first, and then became entrenched; maybe history-based modeling is easier to understand, thus easier to sell.

If the think3s, CoCreates, and Kuboteks can expose the advantages of their dynamic modeling approach, perhaps they will take the lead during the next decade.

Comments

[ThreeThinker]

Think3 is absolutely history-based. Also, they continue to have major development "on-shore" in Europe.

[Evan Yares]

History based modeling came after non-history based modeling.

Non-history based modeling dates back to at least the 1970s.

[Peter Dickin]

Interesting that 01 also works for Think 3 and claims to have undertaken its Country Manager function in France, as of January 2003. You can see more on the relationship in 01's newsletter http://www.01consulting.net/newsletter/May2005.htm