Hello everyone. I am Blaine Mathieu and I’m the new Chief Products Officer at Mindjet! I’ve been on the job about 30 days now and the proverbial “fire hose” of new information has let up enough for me to take the time to stick my head up and introduce myself to the Mindjet community.
Before I do that, let me start by saying how excited I am to be here. I’ve been a user of MindManager since 2002, so I’ve been familiar with mind mapping and information mapping for a long time. Throughout my career, as I have managed teams at many high tech companies, I have continuously run across ardent devotees of MindManager. Never could I have predicted that I, myself, would one day be in charge of product strategy and development for that very same company.
I started my first software company at the age of 17 during the beginning of the PC revolution, have definitely seen a lot, had my share of triumphs and learned from my share of mistakes. In the late 1990’s I moved to Silicon Valley to work for Gartner as their first Internet and e-commerce research analyst. At Gartner, during the dot-com boom, I learned about the value of a great idea. These ideas still resonate and have helped change the world we live in today.
More recently, I contributed to product strategy and direction at Adobe as a leader of their Worldwide Research and Planning team. While there I clearly learned the value of understanding the customer and the market – something Adobe has been very good at historically. As a result, I’ll be listening and learning on the various Mindjet-related discussion groups. Please consider this an invitation to participate in our future market research so we can provide the most relevant products and services to you.
From Adobe I landed at Corel Corporation and really learned the power of a strong “machine”. What I mean by this is that a technology company is only as a good as the entire experience it builds around its products, including great service and support, knowledgeable salespeople, and relevant marketing. Other than the incredible product portfolio, one of the key reasons I joined Mindjet was because of the powerful “machine” it has built up to serve and expand the market. There is no other company in its space that even comes close.
Most recently, I spent my last three years at SaaS marketing solutions provider, Lyris. At Lyris I learned the power of “focus”. It is impossible to create an effective solution that simultaneously meets everyone’s needs. As a result of this learning, you will begin to see Mindjet focus even more on delivering solutions that meet the specific needs of particular segments of its current and potential users.
So that brings me to today – thirty days in. During these first thirty days I have met many of the dedicated people at Mindjet – people who truly believe in the power and promise of Mindjet and its products. It is clear to me that most people began working here primarily because they love and believe in the products so much. Not to knock any of the great companies I’ve worked for in the past, but I have never experienced anything quite like this before. As a result, I feel very lucky to be a part of the Mindjet family and also I feel a heavy responsibility to ensure I help carry forward the strong legacy of this company into the future.
With your help and guidance, that future looks great! The “information mapping” space, broadly defined, is wide open. Most of you work in organizations where there are probably only a few dedicated islands of enthusiastic people using MindManager or one of the other product family members. We all know how much more effective your whole organization could be if more of your friends and colleagues were able to harness the power of this tool. As such, both you and I are early explorers and evangelists helping to break the ground for the many others that are rushing to follow.
In return for helping me with the evangelism part, here is what I can promise to you:
– I will ensure Mindjet hears your voice. Of course, we cannot always immediately build everything that everyone wants, but we will take your opinions into account.
– I will ensure Mindjet builds products that are relevant to your needs, have high quality, and provide paths to the future.
– I will ensure that Mindjet, itself, remains a great place to work. If you are in the technology space in the Bay Area and have a passion for the movement then contact us – we want to hear from you.
Return here for future blog postings where I will be discussing our ideas and direction with you. For now, I’m looking forward to mapping out our future together. I’d ask you to wish me luck, but luck has nothing to do with it!