Brad Peebler - Mr Charisma
I'm absolutely certain that one of the main reasons that Modo still has such a loyal following is down to the charisma (and salesmanship) of Brad Peebler.
A truly inspirational figure, who was a great communicator and made sure to reach out to Modo users frequently. Luxology created a genuine community and Brad was the main reason why.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what made him such a compelling standard-bearer for the company, but his obvious enthusiasm for Modo and his love of the work they were doing at Luxology was always inspiring.
In my opinion he was the greatest salesman I've ever encountered, and I don't mean that as a slight. His job, after all, was to market Modo - and he was brilliant at it. What made him so great wasn't just his charisma or salesmanship - it was his honesty and authenticity.
It's easy to be cynical about sales, both as a seller and a buyer. Sales, after all, is the realm of bullshit artists and sharks. Salesmen sell snake oil, always on the lookout for prospects (or even marks). Salesmen are driven by targets and work with scripts. They check their metrics, refine their funnels, and measure their ROI. Naturally, our bullshit detectors are twitching when we encounter a sales pitch, because our culture is immersed in them. Everyone wants your attention, everyone wants your money.
But that wasn't how Brad operated. He communicated openly, was truly enthusiastic about the community he created, and loved the product he was selling. It wasn't really a sales pitch, it was a passion, and that shone through everything.
One episode from the regular Modcast, titled "Never Fear", summed up his attitude: there is room for everyone in the market, and business is not a zero-sum game. More importantly, he talked about the need to prioritise users rather than focus on fear-driven concerns, such as piracy.
Pirates are gonna pirate, and will probably never buy your product anyway. It's not worth creating extra hassle for your paying users via onerous licensing methods to prevent piracy. All that can ever achieve is to alienate your actual customers and tilt at windmills.
So unlike most other 3D applications, Modo had a flexible and user-friendly license. By treating customers with respect Luxology stood out from the competition. And that, in my opinion, is great salesmanship.
Because salesmanship doesn't have to be about bullshitting your customers. Ultimately your most loyal customers are going to be the ones you help the most, the ones whose lives you improve. And for 3D artists at that time, Modo really was a uniquely user-friendly app. The license Luxology used was an extension of the ethos that drove the whole company: treat users with respect, and build a two-way relationship between the company and the community. One that was driven not by fear or manipulation, but was instead mutually beneficial.
How often do we come across a company that actually does this? It's pretty rare IMO. Plenty of founders will fake it, and pretend to care about their users, but it rarely feels genuine. I think Brad was doing it for real, because he loved the product he was selling and cared about the users.
I was lucky enough to meet him in person a couple of times, and to have some long conversations with him, both offline and online. In the flesh he came across just as authentic and enthusiastic as he did fronting Modo. It wasn't an act, it was just him.
His influence was such that he is still considered a hero to the Modo community, almost a decade after he left Foundry in 2016. It's easy with hindsight to feel that he, and Allen Hasting and Stuart Ferguson, made a mistake by selling the company, but I asked him about that in person and his answer made me feel that they did it for the right reasons. They weren't looking to cash in; they wanted Modo to grow, and few people realise how difficult it is to keep a company the size of Luxology afloat. They hoped the sale would stabilise things and give them a platform to progress from.
Of course we know that's not how it worked out, but we can say that from the comfort of our armchairs and with the benefit of hindsight. But, as the quotation goes: It is not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Brad Peebler was most definitely in the arena.