# Jon Hirschtick

> Jon Hirschtick is an American mechanical engineer and software entrepreneur who founded SolidWorks in 1993 and co-founded Onshape in 2012. A former MIT Blackjack Team player and instructor, he used personal winnings to help finance SolidWorks’ early days. After Onshape joined PTC in 2019, he continued working on cloud product development and now serves as PTC’s chief evangelist.

- **Role:** Chief Evangelist at PTC
- **Organizations:** PTC, Onshape, SolidWorks, Premise, Computervision, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Blackjack Team
- **From:** Chicago, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** SB, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SM, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Founded SolidWorks, helping bring 3D mechanical CAD to Windows PCs., Co-founded Onshape, a cloud-native CAD and product data management platform., Built two CAD companies subsequently acquired by Dassault Systèmes and PTC.

## Career timeline

- **1981** — Interned in research and development at Computervision.
- **1984** — Joined the MIT Blackjack Team.
- **1980s** — Managed MIT CADLab and subsequently founded Premise, which developed DesignView.
- **1991–1993** — Director of engineering at Computervision.
- **1993** — Founded SolidWorks.
- **1995** — SolidWorks shipped its first product.
- **1997** — Dassault Systèmes acquired SolidWorks; Hirschtick remained with the business.
- **2011** — Left SolidWorks.
- **2012** — Co-founded the company that became Onshape.
- **2015** — Onshape opened its public beta.
- **2019** — PTC announced the approximately $470 million Onshape transaction in October and completed it November 1.
- **2023** — Publicly identified as chief evangelist at PTC in the Being an Engineer podcast.

## Achievements

- Founded SolidWorks, helping bring 3D mechanical CAD to Windows PCs.
- Co-founded Onshape, a cloud-native CAD and product data management platform.
- Built two CAD companies subsequently acquired by Dassault Systèmes and PTC.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — In a Digital Engineering Magazin interview, discussed cloud-native CAD, shared data and collaboration as responses to longstanding file-based workflow problems.
- **2025-08** — IEEE published his career reflection, Founding and Growing Solidworks and Onshape, emphasizing continued customer conversations.
- **2024-05** — Delivered a DESIGN 2024 plenary on AI in product development.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonhirschtick
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jhirschtick

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jon-hirschtick
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25