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© 2005 by Rick Altman. All Rights Reserved.
As expected, Vector Capital Inc., the holding company that acquired Corel and nursed it back to health, is gradually pulling back from day-to-day involvement. One of the first indications of that took place in early July when Vector partner Amish Mehta removed himself as CEO of Corel. In his place, Corel has announced the appointment of David Dobson, a former IBM executive and native of Ontario, as Corel's new leader.
Dobson inherits a newly-revitalized company that has recorded seven consecutive profitable quarters. It also inherits the same challenges largely responsible for Corel's five-year struggle in the marketplace: how to do business with, and compete against, Adobe and Microsoft, sometimes all at the same time.
I spent over an hour on the phone with Dobson recently and had one immediate impression of him that persisted throughout the conversation: He is a man of energy, enthusiasm, and at 42, youthfulness. I was also impressed with a level of candor that most executives do not display, and this was evident from the jump when I tried to find a diplomatic way to ask how a 20-year IBM guy with no experience in the software sector could take the reins of a graphics company
“It’s true, I’m not a software executive. And one thing that Corel does not need is a chief inventor. I’m a meat-and-potatoes business man. But I certainly know how to run a business, and run it at the CEO level.”
His resume indicates the same, as he served as IBM’s Corporate Vice President for Strategy and also GM’d for IBM’s Printing Systems Division, where he led a team of 4,500 worldwide employees in digital print and document management. And it is clear that he understands Corel’s strategically-delicate position in both the business and graphics marketplaces.
“We do not want to compete with Adobe in digital image management. We want to compete for the attention of those who are spending $1,600 but would rather pay $200 for a suite of tools that allows them to be very competitive. But not for a minute will we say that we will sacrifice the quality of our products.”
I peppered him with a few questions specific to those products, in order to gauge the level of familiarity he had with the various applications. He danced a little bit, but also showed a disarming and unthreatened naivete. “Tomorrow,” he said, as a proclamation, “I start CEO boot camp. I do know the Eraser tool well.”
Appreciating the humor but not wanting to let him off that easily, I pressed him for specific experiences. “I have downloaded and installed all of them. I love the trial programs and the download engine. For the boxed version (of WordPerfect Office), the jewel box displays the product serial code in all caps, and so I entered it in all caps, but it didn't take. That needs to be looked at.
“I didn’t find Paint Shop Pro to be completely intuitive for the novice user. We have to determine whether we expect them to spend two hours learning it or 10 hours. But I think [the Jasc acquisition] was a brilliant move. There was a large base of users who were being underserved.”
Then I asked him about Ventura Publisher, and it was obvious that he had been forewarned that this sensitive subject would be raised. “Okay, well that’s all the time we have now...gotta run...” And again, after sharing the laugh with him, I insisted that he address the question of this abandoned product more earnestly. It was the first time in the entire hour that even a hint of defensiveness emerged.
Dobson: The reason that Corel is in the healthy position it is in today is because its leaders have decided to focus on the core products.
Altman: That’s a perfectly fine position to take, but then the responsible thing to do would be to sell off the program.
Dobson: Maybe you’re right.
Altman: It’s the languishing that frustrates the users.
Dobson: We are supporting it through technical support.
Altman: With all due respect, you’re not. Corel is offering essentially zero support for Ventura. It would be very difficult for you to tour the building there and find even one person who understands the program. Corel just really does not know what to do with the product.
Dobson: I will take a look at it. Maybe there is an opportunity that we're not seeing.
And on that note, I let the topic rest, confident that he had heard what has become the battle cry of the Ventura user. In general, I hung up the phone with a healthy uncertainty about Corel’s new leader, not a dreaded uncertainty. Most of us, perhaps all of us, who have been covering the Corel journey all these years had never heard of David Dobson, and it is clear that he was not hired for his software acumen. But he brings a chemistry to the position that is unique.
Michael Cowpland: Abundant energy but muted enthusiasm
Derek Burney: No clear vision shared, experience borne purely from engineering
Amish Mehta: Incredibly broad vision, little facility for rallying the public.
Dobson offers a can-do attitude with an almost boyish wonderment—a bit like a young Ronald Reagan. And it’s clear that this type of energy cuts to his philosophical core. “Small companies are more nimble. We are going to be that nimble fleet-of-foot organization that will adapt to the requirements that we are seeing, and offer more value at less cost.
“We want to be that trusted alternative who can always be counted on for great value and professional products.”
May 2007: As simple as possible, but not simpler... · April 2007: Killer Keystrokes · March 2007: Resolution Confusion · January 2007: Fearless Forecasts for 2007 · November 2006: Epiphanies at PowerPoint Live 2006 · August 2006: Escaping Death by PowerPoint · July 2006: Notes from the Floor of InfoComm · June 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--Making Movies for Business and Pleasure, Part II · May 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--From Photos to DVDs · April 2006: It’s Your Music!--Overcoming the oppressive restrictions of iTunes · March 2006: CorelDraw X3—A few must-haves and a few missed opportunities, all in all, a credible upgrade · February 2006: Making Windows Inhabitable · January 2006: Fearless Forecasts for 2006 · September 2005: Just What is a Background Anyway? · August 2005: Meet David Dobson, Corel's New CEO · July 2005: Community, Blind Dates. and Albert Einstein: An Interview with the PowerPoint Live Conference Host · June 2005: CorelWorld 2005: Image Editors, Executive Appearances, and Krispy Kremes · May 2005: As Adobe's Shadow Grows, Is Corel Better off or Worse? · March 2005: Delivering Your Presentation: How Close to the Source Can You Get? · February 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation Part II · January 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation · November 2004: A Killer Deal for Corel Or Another Distraction? · September 2004: The Scourge that is Kazaa and AOL Instant Messenger · August 2004: The Golden Triangle: Presenter, Audience, and Slides · July 2004: A Blast from the Past: How Fast is Fast Enough? · June 2004: Guilty Pleasures · May 2004: A Personal Wish List for PowerPoint 12 · April 2004: Eyedropping: Version 12 makes a good tool even better... · March 2004: Deadly Sins Of Modern PowerPoint Usage · February 2004: Is the even-numbered curse finally over? · January 2004: Another take on Achieving Absence of Ugliness · November 2003: What can we do it again??--Debut of PowerPoint Live Leaves Unquenchable Thirst with the Host · September 2003: Corel Corp. Has a New Custodian · July 2003: Candor and Contrition at CorelWORLD · June 2003: What a Long, Great Trip It’s Been! · May 2003: The Boat that Corel is Missing · April 2003: No Fooling...Is Corel Breaking Up? · March 2003: The Annual Design-a-Brochure Contest · February 2003: Symbolism is Everything · January 2003: Mania, Our Semi-Annual Pilgrimage to Holland · October 2002: On Creativity, Problem-Solving, and Paper Bags · July 2002: CorelDRAW 11: Surprise, Surprise... · May 2002: The Sound of Silence: What does it mean when a company plays its cards so close to its chest? · April 2002: The Art and Science of Presentation Graphics--Creating for the Screen Has its own Challenges · March 2002: CorelDRAW 11: What kind of personality and attitude should a software program have today? · February 2002: Oy, my aching fingers... · December 2001: Digital Photography · November 2001: Can we say goodbye to the Rolls Royce Mentality? · October 2001: An Unforgettable Week: The drama that unfolded around CorelWORLD · August-September 2001: The Art of Paragraphics: New-age ingredients for success with Corel VENTURA · July 2001: Your Very Own Interface: How to make Corel applications read your mind · June 2001: Fighting the Font Wars: How to stay sane with your sans · May 2001--Turning the Key at Nicholas-Applegate · April 2001--A Modest Proposal for Reviving VENTURA Publisher
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