Unity’s Chief Revenue Office is Directing Business by the Heart, Not Just the Dollars

“The underlying culture is focused on the developers. Sure, we’re a for-profit, we make money, we’re sophisticated, but it’s all in service of the individual developer.” —Dave Rhodes

Unity is one of the largest 3D computing companies in the world. They enable the world to tell stories. Industries such as film, healthcare, architecture and a large part of the video game industry use their software and innovative technologies to create real-time graphic experiences. The brand powers 70% of all augmented and virtual reality content that is created today.

We had a conversation with Dave Rhodes, Chief Revenue Officer at Unity, about this customer-centric brand and how it has shifted from a product-focused company to a developer-first company.

“Our mission is not a bunch of words, it guides our decisions every day and has enabled us to create a community.”

Unity’s mission is to democratize technology—take something that’s historically been complex and out of reach for most people and give it to everyone. Our mission is not a bunch of words, it guides our decisions and has enabled us to create a community of developers worldwide. This development community is a competitive advantage because we have a great fanbase creating great content.

“We solve hard problems.”

We focus on creating success for our customers. It’s about supporting them and helping them meet their goals. Sometimes that means helping them create products, sometimes that means making money, sometimes its helping to create art for a not-for-profit—success comes in all forms.

“We put out a fully featured version of core products and we don’t charge for them.”

Free products tend to be trial based or limited. We provide the product without limits. We want people to use it. We want people to be successful. We have terms and conditions outlined for when we believe we should be paid. However, offering our product without cost forces us to be creative about how we monetize the community that we’ve created. We’ve done well, but we’ve been unconventional in terms of the rest of the software industry. Sure, we’re a for-profit, we make money, we’re sophisticated, but it is all in service of the individual developer.

“The underlying culture is focused on the developers.”

The company itself has moved from a product-first focus to developer-first. And what I mean by that is whether it’s in the games industry or outside, we’ve started to work with developers to think about priorities and innovation. We’ve evolved to spending time in the field and working with them to get the insights to understand the product cycle process.

“We embrace FBI: Field-Based Innovation.”

We provide source code access to our developer community when they want it and need it. We work with them on real projects in real time—simulations to video games to filming a movie. We put ourselves in a position to modify and build on top of the product capabilities to create differentiation for our customers. We take that field-based innovation and evaluate whether it applies on a broader scale, and if so, we integrate it into our products and present it to the real world.

“Don’t think about the revenue and you’ll be more successful than you ever imagined.”

An important part of brand is based on creating an experience. The uncommon principle Unity follows is to think beyond dollar returns. We don’t think about short-term ROI of a product, a solution or a customer we engage with. We focus on the developer’s insights and innovation for that product, and that’s what leads to success.   

“A world of visual computing is coming faster than you think.”

In the same way that mobile changed many industries, visual computing will change how we learn, communicate and make purchases in the future. Unity is the core for helping to accelerate the world’s shift to visual computing. It’s the early days of the virtual computer and lots of brands are experimenting. Experiment, but don’t put garbage out there. Work with experts in AR and VR that match the value of your brand.

To get a taste of what Unity offers, download their product and start building your creation. Or experience one of their designed events around the world.