#237 - Maarten Tobias, CEO Dimenco - on becoming the norm

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to bring presence to things that can't be present. My guest is Maarten Tobias, Founder and CEO of Dimenco.Maarten is an experienced Strategy and Business Development manager with extensive knowledge and interest in entrepreneurial high-tech environments. He received his Master's in Strategic Management in 2006 and worked at several business development and strategic leadership positions within Philips. In 2010, He founded Dimenco, where he acts as CEO and successfully exited the company in 2015 and led their management buy-in again in 2019. Dimenco has been leading the spatial visualization market since 2010. Their mission is to push the boundaries to achieve the dream of simulated reality. They unite hardware, software, and technology to deliver fast, rich, and natural three-dimensional experiences – no wearables required. Simulated Reality brings presence to what can't be present.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Maarten to my podcast. We explore the transformation in how we prefer to interact with technology, and what's standing in the way of meeting that need. Maarten shares his vision about creating experiences we cannot distinguish from reality. He talks about the lessons learned in creating scale and standardization to achieve his ambitious goals. Last but not least, he shares what it takes in mindset and style, to create a business the world talks about.This is one of his quotes:"We have to avoid that we're becoming a gadget. If you are becoming a gadget, make sure that you earn money for two years, sell the company and go sit on the island. That's not sustainable. You have to overcome the fact that you're not a gadget, but you really add something to the value proposition of the user. That's something that we continuously work on every day. Because if we are not able to prove that, then you have a very short life as a technology company."During this interview, you will learn four things:Why more is not always better - and how doing less can create unexpected breakthroughsWhy a design goal for your SaaS product should be to become 'normal' That it's good for your customers to love your product when they see it - but that's really about the question: what's beyond loving it?Why you should stop believing that you're the next unicornFor more information about the guest from this week:Maarten TobiasWebsite Dimenco