What is Solidworks?

Building a software company is difficult. Building a hardware company is a different beast entirely. You are not just dealing with code that can be deployed and fixed in real time. You are dealing with atoms, supply chains, tooling costs, and physics.

At the center of the hardware startup ecosystem sits the design process. You have an idea in your head, but that idea needs to translate into something a machine can manufacture.

This is where Solidworks comes in.

It is a name you will hear constantly if you are venturing into consumer electronics, robotics, automotive components, or medical devices. It is the language spoken by mechanical engineers and factory floors around the world.

But simply knowing the name is not enough. You need to understand what it actually does, why it costs what it costs, and if your specific business actually needs it right now.

We need to look at this tool not as a magic wand for product creation, but as a specific utility for defining geometry and simulating reality.

Solidworks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) computer program. It runs primarily on Microsoft Windows.

While that is the technical definition, the practical definition for a founder revolves around one specific concept. Parametric modeling.

In the early days of digital design, drawing on a computer was much like drawing on paper. You created lines and arcs. If you wanted to change the length of a line, you had to erase it and redraw it. This is how many 2D drafting programs operated.

Solidworks operates on parameters and relationships.

When an engineer designs a part in Solidworks, they sketch a shape and apply dimensions to it. If they draw a box and label the width as 100 millimeters, the software draws it at that size. If they later decide that box needs to be 120 millimeters, they do not redraw the box.

They simply double click the dimension number, type 120, and the entire 3D model updates instantly.

This matters for your business because hardware development is iterative.

You will never get the product right on the first try. You will build a prototype, realize the battery does not fit, and have to adjust the enclosure.

With parametric modeling, those changes ripple through the design history. If you set up the model correctly, changing the width of the case can automatically move the screw holes, adjust the lid size, and update the technical drawings sent to the manufacturer.

It saves hundreds of hours of manual rework.

Beyond just shape, Solidworks handles the physics. This is the CAE part of the definition. You can assign materials to your parts.

You tell the software that this bracket is made of 6061 Aluminum. The software then knows how much the part weighs, how it conducts heat, and how strong it is.

One of the biggest cash drains for a hardware startup is the prototyping phase. CNC machining parts is expensive. Injection mold tooling is incredibly expensive.

If you cut a steel tool for $50,000 and the part breaks the first time someone uses it, you have just burned a significant portion of your runway.

Solidworks allows for virtual prototyping through Finite Element Analysis (FEA).

Your engineering team can take the 3D model and apply virtual forces to it. They can simulate a person standing on your device or dropping it on concrete. The software generates a heat map showing exactly where the stress is concentrating and where the part is likely to fail.

This allows you to iterate on the design before you ever cut metal.

It is not a perfect replacement for physical testing. Real life is always messier than a simulation. However, it gets you significantly closer to a working product before you start spending money on manufacturing.

Does this guarantee success? No. A bad product concept designed perfectly in Solidworks is still a bad product concept. But it does remove the technical risk of mechanical failure.

If Solidworks is the standard, you might assume you should just buy it and move on. However, the decision is rarely that simple for a bootstrapped or early-stage company.

Solidworks is expensive. It has traditionally been sold through Value Added Resellers (VARs) with high upfront license fees and annual maintenance costs.

The main competitor in the startup space is Autodesk Fusion 360.

Fusion 360 is cloud-based and significantly cheaper. It offers many of the same parametric modeling capabilities. For many startups, Fusion 360 is perfectly adequate for getting a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) out the door.

So why does Solidworks remain the heavyweight champion?

It comes down to depth and handling large assemblies.

If you are designing a simple consumer gadget with ten parts, Fusion 360 handles it well. If you are designing a complex robot with 5,000 parts, Solidworks generally offers better performance and stability.

There is also the talent question.

Most mechanical engineering programs at universities teach Solidworks. When you hire an experienced mechanical engineer, they likely have thousands of hours in Solidworks. Asking them to switch to a different tool can slow them down.

You have to weigh the cost of the software against the efficiency of your team.

Is the cost of the license worth the speed at which your engineer can work? In many cases, if you are venture-backed or generating revenue, the answer is yes.

The usage of Solidworks usually follows a specific trajectory in a startup.

In the very early conceptual phase, you might not use it at all. You might use sketches, foam models, or simpler 3D modeling tools to figure out the general look and feel.

Once you decide to commit to engineering, you transition to CAD.

If you are working with contract manufacturers (CMs), particularly in Asia, Solidworks is the lingua franca. While you can exchange neutral file formats like STEP or IGES, being able to send native Solidworks files can sometimes smooth out the communication process.

Factory engineers can open the native file to see exactly how you built the model, which helps them suggest changes for manufacturability.

There is also the ecosystem of add-ins to consider. There are robust libraries of standard parts, electrical routing tools, and product data management (PDM) systems that integrate tightly with Solidworks.

As your team grows from one engineer to five, file management becomes critical. You cannot just email files back and forth. You need a system to check files in and out to prevent two people from working on the same part at the same time.

Solidworks PDM is a standard solution for this, though it adds another layer of complexity and IT overhead.

As you evaluate bringing this tool into your organization, you need to look past the feature list.

We know it can model complex shapes. We know it can simulate physics. But what are the hidden implications for your business model?

Does owning a seat of Solidworks force you into a specific hardware workflow? It requires powerful workstations. You cannot run this software effectively on a standard office laptop. That increases your hardware spend for every engineer you hire.

Furthermore, how sustainable is the desktop-heavy model in a remote-work world?

Solidworks has been moving toward cloud-connected features via the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, but it is historically a desktop-first application. If your team is distributed globally, how do you handle the large file sizes and data synchronization?

There is also the question of legacy data. Once you build your entire product library in Solidworks, the switching costs become astronomical. You are essentially locked in. Is that a risk you are willing to take for the stability it provides today?

We also have to ask about the future of generative design. Algorithms are beginning to design parts for us based on constraints. Solidworks is integrating these tools, but so are its competitors.

Your goal is to build a product that provides value. Solidworks is a chisel. It is a very high-end, expensive, industry-standard chisel. It will not make you a sculptor, but if you know what you are doing, it will allow you to carve things that last.