GÁBOR BOJÁR (GB): In my first job, my boss was not happy if I could prove that I was good.
And I realised why the centrally-planned communist economic system does not work.
If there are no real owners who are selfishly interested in the best performance of the
company then the bosses are afraid of losing their jobs from talented young employees.
So selection of mediocre people is built into the system, that’s why the communist system
does not work.
And at that time I started to dream about, how great it could be, if I could have my own company.
And my goal will be to select the best people.
Select people who are better than me.
GB: In 1982, a substantial change in the Hungarian political system happened. It was possible
to start private firms and I immediately left my job and started GRAPHISOFT.
At that time I had no idea what we would do. The mission of GRAPHISOFT was nothing else,
just to find and motivate the best people.
VIKTOR VÁRKONYI (VV): I think it was really, really unique how they approached people.
I mean Gabor was really, really about innovation, and just “have a dream and realise your dreams".
The company was really relying on when people were happy to achieve and they
could celebrate the success of each other. So it was not a selfish company but a real
team effort.
GB: We were expert in three-dimensional mathematical modelling. That’s what we did in our previous
jobs. We had no access to the most up-to-date and most powerful computers, so we could make
the first three-dimensional modelling system, we realised in a 64 kilobyte memory desktop
calculator – that was all that we had. That was our competitive advantage; that we could
make 3D modelling on a tiny inexpensive computer.
Around that time the personal computer started to take over, and then we started to look
for the market – who are the potential customers who can most appreciate our competitive advantage?
We found architects are the ones.
VV: We came to the market with a quite revolutionary idea that architects should not draw, they
but should close their eyes you know, think in spaces and realise the ideas of their clients,
and spend their creative energy on shaping the buildings, and thinking about functionalities
and not, you know, with the boring paper. So this is why we came out with that technology
that allowed them to build up the 3D model of the building and let computer do all the rest.
GB: The next important strategy decision was finding the most appropriate hardware partner.
But all those hardware companies had much stronger computers beyond the PC; therefore
they were not interested to have 3D [software] on a PC. Finally we found Apple.
Apple had no bigger computer, just the PC. Apple was the strongest hardware manufacturer
– producing PC but nothing above the PC – therefore Apple was happy to support us.
We became market leader in Europe. Then we opened our office in San Francisco, in Silicon Valley.
When we first exhibited our 3D modelling software on the Macintosh at the Hannover Trade Show
it was a huge success because nobody at that time could show impressive 3D models on a
tiny computer.
After a while we realised that if 3D if just presenting the building for the customers,
it [would not be] enough and this is how we came to the so-called BIM – building information
modelling – which is today the mainstream.
The 3D model of the building it is an intelligent database from where all information about
the building you can obtain.
VV: Without question the demand for BIM is, is just huge. It’s totally different than
four/five years ago. We are [coming] into a market where it’s not about “who goes
for BIM?” or “who is deploying this technology?” but more “ok, when do you do that?” It’s
not accepted anymore that somebody stays on the good-old methods.
GB: Apple was a great computer and it was particularly attractive for architects, because
Apple is very much design-orientated like architects are.
The support of Apple was absolutely critical for our growth. From Apple we got not just
computers, not just a kind of morale support, but also access to the reseller network; that
was the most important. Apple introduced us to the reseller network, in particular to
those resellers who were selling Apple computers to architects. If we’d had to build that
reseller network alone, we probably would not have succeeded to do that. So Apple brought
us to the global market and in fact this support substituted venture capital – because in
GRAPHISOFT there was no venture capital... because we didn’t need venture capital.
In the high-tech industry, the competition for the talents is even fiercer than the competition
for the customers. If you can attract the best talent, it will be easy to attract the customers.
The Hungarian environment was an absolute competitive advantage for us, because there
were no other opportunities for the young talents. Having seen a private firm where the boss
is happy if they can prove they are better than the boss, it was unique. So to attract
the best talents it was very easy. In Silicon Valley that’s a big challenge.
In the beginning, in the 80s, it was very easy for us to attract the best talents. After
[1990] it became harder, because after ’90 the young talents could go anywhere in the
world. So we had to look for something else to attract the best talents and we realised
that the work environment is very important for the talents, and therefore we invested
in a nice and attractive working environment in order to continue to attract the best talents.
VV: We are very close to each other and everybody wants to achieve the same; just be the best
out there and make our customers happy. So we still want to change the world.
Here in Hungary, it’s a very influential and big company, but internally we still share
the kind of same mind-set that I experienced 25 years ago: that we have a great dream and
we just want to change the world.
GB: The company really became big, and I realised much more patience is needed when you are
running large organisations, and most entrepreneurs are impatient people like myself. When the
company is 500 people with close to $100M revenue; Viktor Várkonyi, he’s a much better
guy to run the company than myself.
VV: You know that’s a really big decision in your life: whether you want to give up your
real profession and you become a manager or a leader. That was the right decision. I really
enjoy what I do, even today after 25 years.
GB: My advice to young entrepreneurs is that your first task is to find out where you can [perform]
better than others. Never look for the best market. You should look for the market where
you can be the best. So the first job is finding out where your own competitive advantage is,
and then look for the market which can most appreciate it, that’s my recipe, what I
can offer to anybody.