Age: 53
Position: Founder and chief executive
Company: SmartDraw.com
Paul Stannard founded SmartDraw.com in 1994 to sell a software program that creates graphics such as flow charts, organizational charts, time lines, floor plans and other designs. This week, the privately held company released its eighth version, SmartDraw 2007, and expects to generate sales of $10 million this year.
Why does your company exist?
I saw an opportunity to bring the kind of easy graphics to Windows that Macintosh users had, and I saw an opportunity to use the Internet to deliver it. Our goal is to make it easy for anyone to create professional-quality graphics in minutes.
Why did you release the new version?
Even though we are the world's most popular business graphic software, with more than 10 million downloads, I still wasn't satisfied SmartDraw was easy enough to use. Our testing showed there were still users who were not able to get the results they wanted. So we redesigned SmartDraw from the ground up to be as easy to use as a word processor. If you can type a letter you can use SmartDraw to create an effective and attractive graphic.
What are the risks of introducing a next-generation version of your core product?
The biggest concern I had was that our existing base of users would reject the new version because it is so different. In fact, we sold more upgrades in the first week than any version in our history. They loved the new interface, not just because it looks very cool, but because it made it easier for them to draw things they hadn't tried before.
What aspects of your job do you brag about?
The agility of our organization. We completed the research for our new version of SmartDraw in March of this year and delivered the product, a new Web site, and a new system for managing the thousands of built-in templates and symbols in SmartDraw in just six months. It was all done in San Diego by a small group of very talented people.
After growing successfully solely through online sales, SmartDraw seems to face a challenge in terms of expanding its brand beyond the Internet. How do you do that?
We are using the same techniques we pioneered in Internet marketing. We identify a target group, reach them through offline methods like magazine advertising, collect the leads and measure the sales to those leads. As long as the sales per lead is more than the cost per lead, we keep advertising. Otherwise we try something else. It's the survival of the profitable.
Tell us something interesting about yourself.
I am a conservative middle-aged capitalist who listens to Rage Against the Machine, a band that rails against everything I stand for. My kids think that this is the kiss of death for their music.
– BRUCE V. BIGELOW
