Careers at The Foundry

Mission

Foundry seeks to provide effective and innovative design software products and solutions to customers across the creative industries.

Founding story

Foundry was founded in 1996 by Bruno Nicoletti and Simon Robinson. The Company has gone through several ownership changes and merger procedures in its relatively short history.

In 2007 it was acquired by Wyndcrest Holdings, owner of Digital Domain. It subsequently took over Digital Domain’s existing nuke business, which continues to comprise a significant part of Foundry’s current operations. Foundry was later subject to a management buyout, following which it was acquired by Carlyle Group in 2011. The Company merged with Luxology a year later, taking on its Modo 3D modelling business.

Foundry is among the largest and most well-regarded creative and design software developers in the world, serving a number of high-profile commercial clients across multiple industries, including in the movie and television, automotive, design, and apparel sectors.

The Company remains based in the UK, but has expanded its operations include offices across Ireland, the US, China, and Japan. Foundry continues to be privately owned and does not appear to have imminent plans for a public listing.

Business model of The Foundry

Customer Segments

Foundry provides a range of creative and design software products and services to commercial customers across a range of industries. According to the Company’s website, it principally serves customers across the following categories:

  • Film and Television, including movie and television studios, specialist visual effects artists and companies, and production companies;
  • Design, including designers of consumer goods, electronics, toys, jewellery, accessories, and various other products;
  • Games and Virtual Reality, including games developers, software studios, and specialist virtual and augmented reality developers;
  • Automotive, including automotive manufacturers and designers;
  • Apparel, including designers of clothing, footwear, and other apparel items; and
  • Education, including students, graduates, and educators.

Foundry names several of its clients on its website, including high-profile names such as Brooks Running, Mercedes Benz, LAIKA, and Blur Studio.

Foundry principally serves customers in its native UK, as well as in the US. The Company’s products are available worldwide, however, with the Company serving clients across a range of geographic markets.

Value Propositions

Foundry provides value to its clients in the following ways:

  • Its reputation and industry standing, with the Company established as a reliable and well-regarded provider of design and creative software products, with its positive track record demonstrated by its ability to secure business from high-profile companies such as Mercedes Benz and its involvement in popular projects such as the movie Gravity;
  • Its innovative solutions and proprietary technologies, with the Company utilising a range of proprietary technologies in its products, making its offerings unique, as well as maintaining a commitment to developing new and innovative products, ensuring it remains at the industry’s cutting edge;
  • Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing high-trained, specialist technical personnel, and having experience of working on numerous high-profile design projects across multiple industries;
  • The flexibility of its various products, with the Company offering a broad catalogue of design software products that cater to a diverse commercial client base, including customers in the media, automotive, apparel, and games industries; and
  • Its international reach, with the Company making its products available to a broad international client base.

Channels

Foundry operates a website at www.foundry.com, through which it provides information on its product catalogue, its target industries, and its corporate activities.

The Company also operates an online sales channel through its website, with customers able to browse products, make purchases, and organises free software trials. Foundry’s online store appears to be its principal sales channel. The Company does, however, employ dedicated sales personnel who operate out of the Company’s offices in the UK, Ireland, the US, China, and Japan.

Foundry additionally makes a portion of its sales through a network of channel and distribution partners. This includes various authorised resellers, independent software vendors, and sales agents. The services of these partners are utilised principally across various international markets in which the Company is not directly represented.

Customer Relationships

Foundry makes its entire product portfolio available to customers on a self-service basis. Customers are able to browse the Company’s products, make purchases, organises trials and tutorials, and make payments through the Company’s website without interacting directly with members of the Company’s sales and service teams.

Foundry provides ongoing support to its customers. Customers are able to create support request through the Company’s website, with customers able to access personalised assistance and guidance with unique problems.

The Company also makes the contact details of its various international offices available, enabling customers to call the Company directly. Foundry additionally operates an extensive support centre, through which customers can access a wide range of resource, such as FAQs, technical documentation, and licensing information.

Foundry hosts an online community portal, through which users can interact with one another, discuss problems and ideas, and collaborate on projects. It also operates several social media accounts – including with Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, and Vine – through which it is able to publish company updates and interact directly with customers.

Key Activities

Foundry is a developer and seller of software solutions for artists and designers in the design, film, television, shortform, and games industries in the UK and internationally.

The company offers an extensive suite of products, including NUKE, a node-based compositor; MODO that provides 3D modeling, animation, sculpting, effects, and rendering solutions; MARI, a 3D paint tool that enables users to paint directly onto 3D models; and HIERO that gives shot management, conform, and review solutions.

The Company also offers products that include collection of plug-in tools, solutions lighting in CG projects, and web-based visual story development tools. Foundry is headquartered in the UK, and has operating offices in the US, Ireland, Japan, and China.

Key Partners

Foundry works closely with a network of partners that support its various development and distribution operations. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

  • Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of services, technologies, and equipment that are utilised across the enterprise in support of its core development and distribution operations;
  • Channel and Distribution Partners, comprising the Company’s network of independent software vendors, sales agents, and authorised resellers that assist in extending the Company’s own in-house sales and marketing reach;
  • Technology and Development Partners, comprising various technology companies, IT service providers, and software developers that assist in the development of the Company’s products and the maintenance of its IT systems; and
  • Strategic and Alliance Partners, comprising companies across range of sectors, with which the Company collaborates on a range of joint projects, including in marketing, branding, and development.

Foundry has a number of partnerships in place. In recent years, the Company has launched partnerships with MakerBot and DreamSpace, and secured funding form several financial partners.

Key Resources

Foundry’s key resources are its technologies and intellectual properties, its software products and solutions, its IT and communications infrastructure, its sales and distribution channels, its partnerships, and its personnel.

While Foundry utilises a range of proprietary technologies in the development of its unique software products, searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified no patent applications files in the name of Foundry, either as applicant or assignee.

Foundry additionally owns and or leases a number of physical properties around the world. This principally comprises its network of offices across the UK, China, Japan, Ireland, and the US.

Cost Structure

Foundry incurs costs in relation to the development of its technologies and products, the development and maintenance of its online retail platform, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the procurement of professional services, the operation of its sales and distribution channels, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.

Revenue Streams

Foundry generates revenue through the development and sale of various design and creative software products to customers across a number of industries, notably the design, movie and television, and apparel sectors.

The Company derives its revenue by selling and renting licenses for its various software products. The prices for products vary, with the Company’s most recent products NUKE and NUKEX for sale at €3,104 and €5,855 respectively.

Foundry remains a privately owned company and as such is not obliged to publish its financial results online. Research identified no reference to the Company’s revenue figures.  A third party corporate database, however, estimates that the Company generates between $100 million and $250 million each year.

Our team

Alex Mahon,
Chief Executive Officer

info: Alex has served as Chief Executive Officer at Foundry since joining the Company in 2015. She is responsible for leading the Company’s overall strategic direction. She is also a co-founder of We Are TV, where she continues to play an active role, serves as Non-Executive Chairman of Bandstand Productions, and sits on the Board of Directors at Ocado. Mahon is an experienced executive. She began her career at Mitchell Madison group, where she served as a manager from 1998 to 2000. She went on to serve as a senior strategy executive at RTL Group for two years, before joining FremantleMedia in 2002 as Director of Commercial Development and Strategy. In 2004 Mahon was appointed Chief Operating Officer at talkbackTHAMES, a role she held for two years, and prior to joining Foundry, she served as Chief Executive Officer at Shine Group for more than eight years.

Martin Franks,
Chief Financial Officer

info: Martin has served as Chief Financial Officer at Foundry since joining the Company in 2015. He is responsible for leading the company’s various financial units, including its tax, accounting, and internal audit departments. Franks is an experienced finance executive. He began his career in 1995 in the audit department at Coopers and Lybrand, where he worked for more than three years. He continued to serve as management consultant following the firm’s rebranding as PricewaterhouseCoopers until 2001 when he joined LEWIS PR as Financial Controller, later serving as the company’s Group Chief Financial Officer. In 2004 Franks joined SHL Group, where he held a series of senior finance roles, including spells as Finance Director, Director of Group Finance and Corporate Development, and Chief Financial Officer.

Jon Wadelton,
Chief Technology Officer

info: Jon has served as Chief Technology Officer at Foundry since 2015. He oversees the Company’s technical operations, including its research and development activities. Wadelton first joined Foundry in 2007 as Lead Software Engineer, going on to serve as Nuke Product Manager from 2010. Wadelton has held a number of roles within the software and technology space. He began his career in 1992 as a mastering engineer at Regency Recordings. He went on to serve as an audio engineer at Edensound Production from 1995, followed by a spell as a software engineer at his own software company Ignition CD Mastering Software. In 1999 he was appointed Lead Web Developer at Creative Factor, leaving the company after one year to join Startle Plc as a software developer. Wadelton served in development and engineering roles at Neos Interactive and Open Networks before joining Foundry.