Footprints and Symbols with Natasha Baker
Natasha Baker, Founder and CEO of SnapEDA, explains how her experience at National Instruments and a frustrating project with a Texas Instruments reference design led her to build a centralized library of symbols and footprints for PCB designers. She details the challenges of establishing trust with engineers, the importance of IPC 7351 standards, and how SnapEDA uses a neutral meta-format to export native-like libraries for tools like KiCad, Altium, and Eagle. Baker also discusses SnapEDA's growth through Y Combinator, their strategy of providing anonymized analytics to suppliers, and their future vision of using data to proactively assist engineers during the design process.