Opinions on Start-Ups, Entrepreneurs, and Disruption from the Northern Europe 3DEXPERIENCE Director

Disruption is affecting every industry across the globe, with more and more start-ups emerging every day, and more entrepreneurs making their ideas a reality, innovation is happening at a rapid rate.

We took the opportunity to speak to Ian Pilkington, Northern Europe 3DEXPERIENCE Director at Dassault Systèmes about his opinions on the rise of start-ups, entrepreneurs, and disruption.

We’re seeing a rise of start-ups throughout all industries, what do you think has caused this surge of inspiration and innovation?

“What’s caused the surge in start-ups? Many factors. I think particularly in the UK, we’re just a very innovative bunch of people. I think startups have always been there. I think we’ve given, we’ve allowed these start-ups to step up and given them the tools to expand, grow, and innovate. But I also think that the pandemic has played a big part in this too. 

Two years ago, reading all about [the pandemic], you know, graphs were going up. It was an awful situation. And I remember thinking then, and putting something on LinkedIn around how, in 10 years, we’re gonna look back on this period and all those people that were sat at home on furlough thinking, what do I want to do with my life? How am I going to change the world?  

I think that now it’s starting to show through two years later, we’ve got a lot of really bright, innovative people who’ve taken that leap of faith, started their own business with a great idea. And obviously, we’re here to help them.”

What does this disruption mean for the market?

“Well, I think we see it everywhere, don’t we? We look at disruption in any of the industries that you know of if you’ve been around, as long as I have, you know, Uber, Netflix, all of these companies came along and just completely blew the traditional vendors out of the market. I think competition is a great thing. I think a lot of the larger industries will adapt or die. Some of the ideas and the passion I see from our start-ups, it can only be good for all of us.”

Why should start-ups look to streamline their business processes in the early stages of growth?

“We definitely see when we talk to start-ups that they are very busy trying to stay afloat, making sure that, you know, if they’ve got some funding, that those people are happy, that the ideas are moving forward, that they’re generating prototypes, marketing material and things can generally be very messy, right? 

Now, what we would always advise is that this is the time to actually get your processes sorted out. Don’t wait until the business has grown so big that it’s difficult to do it, do it while it’s easy. Get in there early.” 

How can the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform support this?

“The platform works out of the box. So within 24 hours, you can be in though, and you can start using the applications, whether it’s SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, simulation, change actions, or tasks or all these great things. And it’s very easy to configure as well. It can be done just by an individual. You don’t need complex IT engagement or consultants onsite to configure the software. So it’s something that can be customised to fit even on with small customers.”