When Google Earth first arrived in the early 2000s, the world became captivated by the concept of 3D maps. Suddenly, we could see what it might be like to walk down a street in London or weave through the traffic in Bangkok, right from our computer screens. We were no longer limited by physical presence, and it didn’t take long for people to embrace the possibilities of 3D visualization.
In August 2000, the Denver-based startup @Last Software debuted a 3D content creation tool called SketchUp. The software enabled design professionals to harness the feeling and freedom of sketching with a pen and paper with the power and functionality of a digital interface.
When @Last was bought by Google in 2006, some members of the team decided they wanted to take SketchUp’s 3D design technology to the next level. They wanted to a create a company that could 3D model the world. And with financial backing from @Last’s co-founder Brad Schell, Concept3D was born.
Concept3D creates custom 3D maps and data visualizations for clients that range from universities and hospitals to data facilities and convention centers. Using tools like SketchUp, combined with in-house creative teams and custom-built software, Concept3D builds experiences like virtual tours and wayfinding maps, with the goal of bringing places to people — not the other way around.
The company first launched as a professional services provider, building custom 3D experiences for clients like Disney and Google, learning — as CEO Gordon Boyes explained — how to create realistic maps that were both effective and visually stunning.
This model wasn’t scalable, though, and about five years ago, the team took everything they learned, all the most common features their clients requested, and built it into a SaaS platform that could be adapted to a variety of industries and needs.
This is where things got really interesting. Being part creative design agency and part software company, the team had to learn how to leverage their diverse skills to deliver the best solutions for each individual customer.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach,” Boyes said. “We don’t have to bring one solution to our customers’ challenges. We have a team of creatives whose specialty is in architecture. So we can look at challenges our customers present us and decide if we want to solve it with the platform or whether we want to solve it with creative.”
A model like this, where teams and strategies are so fluid, might scream disaster to many execs. When Boyes came on board as CEO in June 2016, he was immediately thrown off by the unconventional dynamic of the Concept3D team.
“When I first started here,” Boyes said, “I looked at the structure of the organization and I thought, ‘This is weird. We’ve got a creative guy producing some big technology innovation, and he’s got several people on his team who, in a cookie cutter approach to building a company, would belong in the engineering department.’”
Despite his initial assumption that the company was in need of restructuring, Boyes quickly realized that there was something special there.
“They’re very open minded, very collaborative and very iterative,” he said. “So we don’t put a lot of rules or structure around how they innovate together. Everyone inherently trusts each other, embraces each other’s innovation as their own, and builds off of it.”
As a result, Concept3D continues to differentiate itself as a flexible and innovative 3D mapping company, now combining its unique mix of creative design and cloud software with cutting-edge technologies like virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality.
“I want to be a big part of this intersection between data visualization and mixed reality,” Boyes said. “I think it’s the next phase of the internet — the next trend in technology. I believe it could be as big as mobility in the way that it changes how people do business and what they aspire to provide with technology.”
Photos via Concept3D.
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