On a recent episode of the Heavy Hitters podcast, Dave shared his story and the lessons he learned from his years in the trenches of go-to-market strategy. After cutting his teeth at Deloitte Consulting post-graduation, Dave found himself pulled back into the world of CAD when Onshape came calling.
Joining the cloud-native platform pre-revenue, Dave wore many hats as the startup scaled, ultimately rising to lead sales. When PTC acquired Onshape in 2019, he carried those hard-won insights into his new role at the helm of the Velocity Group.
“Part of it is, and you ask, what do I take from my previous experience? The key is really just to keep and maintain the high degree of focus we have on our customers, as well as the rapid pace of development,” Dave explained. “It’s very easy as you get bigger to kind of lose that, or you get into layers or scalability challenges.”
Achieving that balance has meant operating Onshape and Arena as independently as possible within the larger PTC ecosystem. By preserving their startup DNA and direct sales model, Dave ensures these businesses can stay nimble and customer-obsessed even as they tap into PTC’s immense scale and resources.
Of course, building a high-performing go-to-market engine is never a cookie-cutter endeavor. Dave emphasized the importance of tailoring the team composition to the stage and specific needs of the business. Early on, it’s about finding the right blend of skills for a “stonewall.” Later, it’s about using a formula to lay “bricks” at scale.
Every company and product is different. The reason I say it is too often people think, especially in the startup world, you can hire somebody and they have a playbook and the playbook will just work. And sometimes that’s true if it’s a good fit and all that. However, most of the time, it’s understanding what makes it similar to other stories or products or markets and different.
Looking ahead, Dave sees digital transformation finally crossing the chasm from hype to reality in 2025. The supply chain disruptions of the COVID era and the rise of a new generation of digital-native workers have created a perfect storm for adoption. AI, on the other hand, still has a way to go before delivering on its promise in the industrial world.
PTC is placing some big bets in this arena, including a strategic partnership with AWS to embed AI across its product lines. The recently launched Onshape AI Advisor, for example, taps machine learning to boost user productivity with contextual recommendations. But Dave is quick to distinguish these practical applications from the breathless hype cycles that tend to dominate the discourse.
As PTC charges into the future, it’s looking to startups and external partners to help accelerate innovation. The key is finding opportunities to deliver differentiated value on top of PTC’s famously open platform. For industrial entrepreneurs eager to make their mark, there may be no better place to start than by tuning into PTC’s “Third Angle” podcast for a dose of domain insight and inspiration.
With leaders like Dave Katzman at the helm, one thing is clear: the future of industrial innovation is in very good hands indeed.
To hear more of Dave’s story and insights, check out the full episode of Heavy Hitters wherever you get your podcasts.
