Marcus Richards
Established 2002 in Cambridge, UK, and supporting over 2,000 successful companies, we understand the commercial realities of bringing new products to market and the pressure you’re under to design within budget and ahead of forecast.
Our engineers have all worked as product designers and it’s their passion, understanding and real world knowledge of the design and manufacturing process that shapes the Innova Systems team and our company culture.
If you’re new to 3D design, are making the transition from other CAD software, or even if you’re an expert needing additional support, we’ll make sure you get the most out of your investment.
Tell us about yourself?
I come form a sporting background, completing a Sports Business Management Degree at The University of Worcester. I am now working alongside 200+ hardware start-ups via our SolidWorks Start-up Scheme.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Advice that i would give myself would be to just go for it and take every opportunity with both hands!
What problem does your business solve?
Starting a business from scratch can be hard. First you have to conceive and design a product, next you have to test it, then prepare it for manufacturing before launching your business and brand, not to mention the associated budgetary restraints.
That’s why we’re providing eligible early-stage companies with all the SOLIDWORKS software, training, and co-marketing resources that they need to take brilliant ideas, turn them into a product and develop that product into a successful business.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We are inspired by helping start-up companies go from an idea in there head to developing a commercial product that benefits the world we live in today. We offer Start-ups SolidWorks CAD software free of charge for 12 months, giving them full support during this time to accelerate them to commercialisation – https://www.innova-systems.co.uk/free-solidworks-cad-for-entrepreneurs-startups/
What is your magic sauce?
We specialise in working alongside start-ups and over the past 2 years have worked alongside over 300 companies striving to design a hardware product. With our industry leading SolidWorks software we can help them achieve their goals. We know that budgets are tight or non existent when a company is starting out, often there is no budget for CAD software which is why we offer it free of charge for the first 12 months.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We want to continue to support the UK start-up ecosystem with our SolidWorks Start-up Scheme. We want to engage with as many industries from furniture makers, aerospace, green energy to automotive. We like to see and hear about companies ideas and how we can help bring them to reality. We want to continue to grow the amount of start-ups we help via our SolidWorks Start-up Scheme.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The challenge we have faced so far is getting the message out there – “if you are a start-up hardware company, come to us for SolidWorks CAD software free of charge for 12 months”
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
Take a look at what the scheme offers, feel free to click the link and apply for the scheme or contact me on [email protected] or 01223 200690 – https://www.innova-systems.co.uk/free-solidworks-cad-for-entrepreneurs-startups/
