The Onshape team is spreading the gospel: Cloud-native product development software is the way to go. They’re also sharing their thoughts on topics affecting innovation, technology, engineering and manufacturing as a whole.

It’s hard to keep track of every discussion, so here’s a roundup of podcasts, event sessions, and articles you shouldn’t miss. 

Hirschtick On Becoming a CAD Disrupter

Onshape Founder and PTC EVP Jon Hirschtick discussed his drive behind disrupting the product development industry, not once (SOLIDWORKS), but twice (Onshape) during a TechCrunch SaaS session, "Disrupting Product Innovation," with Chris Gardner at Underscore VC. Hirschtick talked about his experience with the MIT Blackjack Team and what led him to take a risk and start a CAD business. With his success, he still wanted to solve issues that were plaguing product developers, like version control and access

“Basically everyone doing anything cool” moved to the cloud, he said. 

“We could solve these problems of the product developers using cloud-web and mobile tech but we have to build a brand new system to do it,” Hirschtick told Gardner about his inspiration to develop Onshape. Listen to the full session.


The Search for the Perfect Digital Twin

Business leaders need to focus on the bottom line before incorporating a digital twin into the product development process, Onshape’s Product Management Lead Greg Brown said on the Digital Twin Summit panel, "When Is My Digital Twin Model ‘Enough’?"

“Many people I've seen over the years when they start the digital twin journey get carried away with all these sensors and data acquisition aspects, but they neglect to have a clear business outcome in mind,” Brown said. “So that ends up being a bit of a lack of context for all this data. But a good digital twin will create this context that ultimately helps drive business decisions.”

Brown also participated in this keynote, "Fireside Chat: What I Wish I Knew When Starting! How to Beat the Odds & Achieve Success," along with Paul Embry, Senior Scientist, Digital Engineering, L3Harris Technologies. Watch these sessions for free after registration. 


Trends in the Future of Work

David Katzman, Onshape VP of customer experience and strategy, summarized the work trends that emerged after the global pandemic shook up the world in an Authority Magazine interview. The five trends are:

  1. Flexibility

  2. Reduced Travel Requirements

  3. Embracing Remote Opportunities

  4. Virtual Events

  5. Humanization of Colleagues

When asked about his thoughts on the future, Katzman said, “We’ve learned how technology can make our lives easier and better — no matter where we are working from. We need companies to appreciate their employees and give them the flexibility they need to stay engaged.” 


Future of Product Development

Jon Hirschtick discussed his entrepreneurial journey, designing robots in the cloud, advantages of  a cloud-native platform and the future of the product development industry in an episode of "The Robot Report Podcast" with Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman. Hirschtick dives into how the focus on building capital is shifting. “Agility is the new competitive asset,” he said about business today, which in turn affects the skills needed to become an engineer. “The jobs have gotten harder also because it's more multidisciplinary than ever before,” he said.

Listen to the full episode. The conversation starts around 20:57.


Democratizing Computer-Aided Design Platforms

Onshape’s John McEleney described his journey with computer-aided design software, his career and his thoughts on entrepreneurship in a chat with Mixergy. McEleney began as a mechanical engineer and helped design a CAD system for PCs at a time when physical drawings were still the norm. He saw an opportunity there and eventually met with others (such as Jon Hirschtick) with a similar vision for CAD. Mixergy brings together entrepreneurs and founders from all stages in their career to share advice and experiences. McEleney focused on this aspect and gave his “dad” talk on finances as well as highlighted the challenges he faced as a business leader.

“I had some mentors along the way. They helped me,” McEleney said about mentorship. “You owe it to the next generation to share and expand the story.”

Listen to the full interview.