imageYesterday, Deelip Menezes, the President of SYCODE, Inc., announced that his company had been purchased for an undisclosed sum of money, by the American Corporation, 3D Systems, Inc. While shocking, this appears to be a fabulous opportunity for Menezes, who is absolutely wired for the possibilities of the future.

Many people know Deelip by his blog named Deelip.com and his Twitter personality as @DeelipMenezes. His strong style and industry insights have made him quite successful socially and professionally. I remember the exact moment when I met Deelip. He was giving someone the once over about an issue, and I recall thinking, “This guy is serious”. I had no idea how serious he was. He is utterly passionate about design software development, and the industry at large.

What will happen next?

Immediately after the announcement, rumors began to arise that Deelip.com would cease to exist. I asked Deelip about this and if he expected any friction with his new company in relation to his journalism and extremely outspoken nature. He responded, “I am being encouraged by people at the very top to continue blogging and doing my own thing. They want me to keep my individuality while being part of the system. Actually, I sense a change in the culture of the company and it may just so happen that I am their experiment. I would love to be their experiment. Now whether the experiment works or not is where things can get interesting.”

I indicated that I was concerned that SYCODE would be dropped and so would the product support support. He added. “SYCODE products will be maintained and enhanced by my current team in India. As I grow the team, their capabilities and scope of features will increase as well. SYCODE is a brand under 3D Systems India and will be managed as such”.

 

The New Company

With the sale of his company, Deelip traded ultimate control for the capitol to pursue far larger scale projects that he has been dreaming of, only never before had the resources to pursue. The unfortunate situation of going from 12 years of being his own boss, to being an employee doesn’t seem to bother Deelip. In fact, he indicated that he has more freedom than ever. “I live to work, not the other way around.” Deelip’s motto continues to echo as his excitement builds at the prospect of having the latitude to pursue his dreams finally.  “…let me repeat something that 3D Systems CEO Abe Reichental said to me in one of our meetings. He said, ‘Deelip, the day you stop thinking and acting like an entrepreneur you will become useless to me’. That pretty much did it for me and I decided that I wanted to join the company.

“I live to work, not the other way around.”

He seemed so excited, that I had to ask him about his big plans, and what was the most important thing this development brings? He responded “3D Systems is a large company with a lot of intellectual property and some of the best brains in the 3D printing business. All that has become available for me to tap into. I can’t go into specifics but as you can imagine I’m like a kid in a candy store.”

I asked how all this has changed his life? “My life has changed. But more importantly my thinking has changed too. Previously, as a one man development team I had to do everything myself. Now there is so much to be done that I need to create and manage a team to do it for me. That is fundamentally different from the way I have lived my life for the past 12 years. Is that a good thing? Hell yeah. Of course there will still be things that I need to do myself.”

 

My resume? It was there an hour after the news went public !!

Deelip means business, and is already taking applications for a new team of aggressive programmers and developers in various fields of Web and Design software. Deelip posted “I am so excited right now I cannot find the words. 3D Systems India is on a mission. I know exactly where I want to go and I know exactly how I am gong to get there. There is only one unanswered question in my mind – who are the people that are going to come with me on this mission?”

 

Best of Luck

Unfortunately Deelip was not willing to divulge any more details about the business side of the big change. The new deal with a publicly traded U.S Company has his lips sealed. He did say that time with his family is important and he doesn’t expect to see any less of them. His role in journalism isn’t expected to decline either, and perhaps this development will even increase Deelip’s reach.

“…I know exactly where I want to go and I know exactly how I am gong to get there. There is only one unanswered question in my mind – who are the people that are going to come with me on this mission?”

I hope the future develops well for my good friend, and that his dreams just keep getting bigger and never end.  Why? For those of us that live to work, the challenges and dreams deliver new horizons.

I asked him if there was anything else he’d like to say?

“I can’t wait to get started.”