Local development officials could barely contain their glee Thursday at the grand opening of Think3, the city's newest high-tech company.

"This is exactly the kind of story we like to tell," Nick Vehr, Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce vice president of economic development, said, welcoming the former Silicon Valley software company.

Privately held Think3 is starting small - just a dozen employees at its corporate headquarters in the 312 Walnut building downtown. But under the leadership of chairman Joe Costello, a former Silicon Valley wunderkind, the company is setting the multibillion-dollar product development market on its ear by focusing on midsize manufacturers.

"We're more thrilled about this (relocation) than you are," Costello, the outspoken former CEO of Cadence Design Systems, said.

The company, which grew out of an Italian-based software company, set up its initial headquarters in Pleasanton, Calif., before Costello joined the company.

"It was one of the stupidest things they could have done,'' he said.

Think3 provides product design software and services to under $500-million-sales manufacturers, the kind of companies that pepper the Midwest.

Costello said the company picked Cincinnati over Chicago.

Mike Boyer