Sorcim

Sorcim Corporation
Company type	Private
Industry	Software
Founded	June 1980; 46 years ago
Founder	Richard Frank, Paul McQuesten, Martin Herbach, Anil Lakhwara, Steve Jasik
Fate	Acquired by Computer Associates in 1985
Headquarters	Silicon Valley, United States
Key people	Richard Frank (CEO and Chairman), Paul McQuesten (VP Finance), Martin Herbach (VP Sales), Anil Lakhwara (VP Software Development), Jim Pelkey (President from 1983)
Products	SuperCalc, SuperWriter, SuperProject
Number of employees	~20 (early 1980s)

Sorcim Corporation emerged as a Silicon Valley start-up in June 1980, founded by former Control Data Corporation staff Richard Frank, Paul McQuesten, Martin Herbach, Anil Lakhwara, and Steve Jasik. Jasik departed early on to focus on creating the MacNosy product tailored for the Macintosh platform.

The company earned its reputation primarily through SuperCalc, a spreadsheet application designed for the portable computer produced by Osborne Computer Corporation. Alongside SuperCalc, Sorcim developed additional software products such as SuperWriter and SuperProject before being acquired by Computer Associates in 1985. After this acquisition, Sorcim functioned as an independent division but was unable to reclaim its earlier market prominence.

The name "Sorcim" was inspired when Richard Frank noticed the word “micros” reflected backward on an airplane window.

Early history

Sorcim’s origins trace back to efforts to broaden microcomputer software offerings from Digicom, a company initiated by Richard Frank in 1978 and joined by Paul McQuesten in 1979. Digicom’s software was compatible with the CP/M operating system running on processors including Intel 8080/8085/8086 and Zilog Z80/Z8000. Initial products consisted of Pascal/M and ACT, a collection of cross-assemblers supporting systems like the Atari (8080) and Commodore PET (6502).

Prior to the advent of the IBM PC and MS-DOS, Sorcim created software using Godbout S-100 bus CP/M computers, notable for their performance and dependable hardware support. Bill Godbout played a crucial role as a commercial collaborator, backing Sorcim’s development tools and helping ease financial challenges through strategic equipment purchases.

The birth of SuperCalc

In 1980, Bill Godbout facilitated an introduction between Richard Frank and Adam Osborne at a regional computing industry gathering. At that time, Lee Felsenstein was engineering the first portable computer for Osborne’s startup and required a CP/M BIOS. This machine would eventually be released as the Osborne 1.

By late 1980, Adam Osborne was searching for a spreadsheet application to bundle with the Osborne 1 but was unable to acquire rights to VisiCalc. Consequently, he commissioned Sorcim to create a rival spreadsheet program intended for unveiling at the West Coast Computer Faire scheduled in April 1981. Sorcim managed both contract programming tasks—developing the Osborne BIOS—and building SuperCalc simultaneously. Headed by Martin Herbach and Gary Balleisen, the team successfully delivered a demonstration version within the planned timeframe.

SuperCalc debuted at the Faire in April 1981 and received widespread acclaim. Developed in assembly language using Sorcim’s ACT assembler, it was later adapted to over 150 different hardware platforms ranging from the Osborne 1 to the Zenith Z89. Within a year and a half, Sorcim sold more than 250,000 copies. During this period, VisiCalc controlled approximately 85% of the market share while SuperCalc held close to 15%, establishing itself as a major contender in the early spreadsheet software arena.

Challenges of Expansion

By the end of 1982, dissatisfaction with the company’s management led the founders to replace the president. Each founder took on a vice-presidential role: Martin Herbach directed Sales, Anil Lakahara oversaw software development, Paul McQuesten managed Finance, and Richard Frank assumed the positions of CEO and Chairman, despite his formal title as "Programmer." However, these assignments did not fully align with their individual strengths, prompting a continued search for a seasoned president capable of propelling the company’s growth.

In November 1982, Sorcim announced SuperCalc2, SuperWriter, and SuperChart without specifying release dates. With a development team of roughly 20 individuals stretched across over 100 projects, the company narrowed its focus to essential applications and tools. Following the acquisition of SpellGuard, Greg Resnick was appointed Product Manager for SuperWriter, while Walter Feigenson was brought in to oversee SuperCalc.

Throughout early 1983, the founders pursued leadership candidates without success until they selected Jim Pelkey. Introduced by Jack Melchor of Melchor Venture Management—an early investor and board member—Pelkey initially served as a strategic planning consultant before officially becoming President in May 1983. The executive leadership team grew with George Wikle as CFO; Bill Ferguson, formerly of MicroPro, as VP of Sales; Steve Goldsworthy from HP as VP Engineering; Ron Grubman as VP Corporate Development; and Hal King as VP Marketing. This expanded team concentrated on scaling operations and sharpening Sorcim’s strategic business direction.

Strategic Shift Beyond CP/M

SuperCalc2 was released on April 15, 1983, targeting CP/M systems and followed by a version for CP/M-86 one month later. Despite intense competition from Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc retained an estimated 15% share in the rapidly expanding spreadsheet market, while sales of VisiCalc declined significantly.

With a revitalized management structure, Sorcim prioritized aggressive expansion to maintain market relevance, counter Lotus 1-2-3’s dominance, develop a flagship application for the IBM PC platform, and navigate capital limitations while preserving profitability.

The company’s approach centered on deepening collaboration with IBM to maximize revenue from current offerings while transitioning away from a CP/M-focused business model. Development efforts commenced on SuperCalc3, envisioned as this pivotal product.

Although SuperCalc was widely recognized—being among three programs bundled with the popular Osborne 1 CP/M "luggable" computer—Sorcim lacked innovative products tailored for the IBM PC. Its MS-DOS version closely mirrored the CP/M edition functionally, unlike Lotus 1-2-3 which led in innovation. This slow adaptation from near-exclusive CP/M dominance to DOS constrained Sorcim’s competitive position.

Leadership Drives Future Strategy

Engineering resources were concentrated on three primary objectives:

Supporting existing products and OEM ports,
Creating SuperCalc3,
Pursuing a skunkworks initiative focused on innovations beyond SuperCalc3.

Due to financial constraints, achieving profitability alongside market expansion was essential to secure additional funding in early 1984.

To assert control during this transitional phase, founders Richard Frank and Paul McQuesten moved operations to an offsite location dubbed "The Farm," providing space for independent management activities and development of a multifunctional product codenamed Oyster. They invested in a Symbolics LISP workstation to accelerate prototyping processes, moving away from manual design techniques.

Concurrently, a skunkworks group led by Martin Herbach explored creating a windowing system similar to GEM, based on technology acquired from Payment Pouladdej and Peter Fiore. This project was discontinued following Sorcim’s acquisition by Computer Associates.

By April 1983, Sorcim identified Lotus 1-2-3 as its chief competitor. Lotus’s superior marketing strategies and technical prowess challenged Sorcim’s market standing. In response, Sorcim integrated features from SuperChart into SuperCalc3, which launched in September 1983 and debuted at the CP/M trade show in Boston. Attempts to develop a universal CP/M version proved impractical due to hardware diversity; nevertheless, SuperCalc3 showcased notable enhancements.

At the Boston event, industry leaders including Lotus founder Mitch Kapor recognized SuperCalc3’s advanced graphics capabilities. Product Manager Walter Feigenson impressed Kapor by demonstrating SC3's single-disk operation alongside an innovative graphics engine written in C embedded within assembler code—a technical achievement still regarded as remarkable. In 1984, SuperCalc secured third place in the National Software Testing Labs graphics competition.

Despite its graphical superiority, SuperCalc3 did not supplant Lotus 1-2-3 as market leader; many Lotus users refrained from printing graphics due to hardware limitations.

At that time, Microsoft’s spreadsheet offering was MultiPlan; however, market dominance remained contested between SuperCalc3 and Lotus 1-2-3 until Microsoft shifted its focus toward Excel.

SuperCalc3 porting sales

Sorcim secured impressive OEM revenue from its CP/M edition of SuperCalc2, generating $7 million in 1983, inclusive of upfront fees. Unlike conventional porting agreements, CP/M systems operated on standardized codebases, differing mainly in disk capacity and formatting. Following the release of SuperCalc3, Sorcim concentrated on adapting the graphical variant for IBM "compatible" machines, which at that time lacked full compatibility, while simultaneously building a dedicated corporate sales force. By early 1984, sales under DOS had overtaken those for CP/M as the latter declined. Efforts to obtain even minimal endorsement from IBM—akin to partnerships Microsoft and Lotus enjoyed—were unsuccessful, restricting expansion within enterprise markets.

Company leadership acknowledged the necessity for additional funding. Retail performance remained stable, and OEM contracts for ports to alternative platforms contributed substantial income, with some deals reaching $500,000. Nevertheless, Sorcim found it challenging to erode Lotus 1-2-3’s dominant market position.

Sorcim identified a strategic opportunity within U.S. government agencies and large corporations that preferred to avoid copy-protected software like Lotus 1-2-3. This approach resulted in Lotus losing significant government contracts to Sorcim, which provided unlimited site licenses for SuperCalc and SuperWriter to organizations including Ernst & Young.

Additional financing

In pursuit of industry prominence, Sorcim increased its workforce; however, new initiatives and internally developed projects failed to meet expectations. These ventures encompassed SuperProject—a project management application licensed from Alan Cooper—and Paul McQuesten’s native 6502-coded SuperCalc3 designed for the Apple IIc.

Revenue streams from compilers and products such as Pascal/M experienced sharp declines. SuperWriter’s restricted memory editing capabilities limited its market appeal. The company’s focus was diluted by attempts to develop Unix ports (for instance, AT&T UNIX PC and 3B2), which proved costly and lacked compatibility with prevailing IBM standards. Although Osborne exited the portable computer sector, Sorcim sustained collaborations with emerging startups.

Despite diversification efforts, SuperCalc continued to be Sorcim’s principal source of income. Product life cycles were compressed to approximately nine months to maintain competitiveness against Lotus 1-2-3. By 1985, SuperCalc4 had reached a high level of refinement and earned second place in PC Magazine’’’s product of the year awards at Comdex. A 1986 review in PC Magazine suggested that if market leadership were determined solely by product merit, SuperCalc4 would surpass 1-2-3 due to its extensive feature set.

By early 1984, InfoWorld ranked Sorcim as the 13th-largest microcomputer software vendor globally, with $12 million in revenue reported for 1983. In late 1983, Sorcim secured over $9 million in private investment through Alex. Brown & Sons but recognized that overcoming Microsoft and Lotus’s market dominance required greater capital resources. A $1 million national print advertising campaign failed to generate increased sales. As the PC market's revenue expansion slowed in early 1984, Sorcim reengaged Alex. Brown & Sons to identify a corporate partner; this led to Computer Associates acquiring Sorcim in spring 1984.

References