An Interview with Andrew Seddon - Necessary Networked Novelty

The Amp Hour · 5 Feb 2013 · 1h 32m · Episode 131

What this episode covers

Andrew Seddon, co-founder of CircuitHub, explains the platform's crowdsourced electronics parts library and its integration with EDA tools like Altium, Eagle, and KiCad. He details the company's journey from a passion project to a Y Combinator-backed startup, highlighting the technical challenges of building a universal library and the business model of monetizing through manufacturing services. Seddon also discusses the difficulties of US immigration for foreign founders, which led the team to operate from Mexico, and the growing hardware startup scene in the UK.

Mentioned

Companies
Y Combinator, Octopart, Active RF, TurnSafe, Arm, Cambridge Silicon Radio
Products
CircuitHub, Arduino, Pebble, Lockatron
Tools
Altium, Eagle, KiCad, Node.js, MySQL

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Embedded.fm · 56m

    35: All These Different Reasons Why You Might Want to Do Something

    Chris Gammell, co-host of The Amp Hour podcast and employee at a large industrial electronics company, discusses his new online course, Contextual Electronics, which bridges the gap between academic theory and practical hardware design. He explains the course's structure, which targets advanced Arduino users by teaching them to design, source parts for, and build a 'Bench Buddy' project using KiCad and open-source tools. Gammell details the logistical challenges of running a remote hardware class, including managing global time zones, version control via GitHub, and optimizing for low-cost, low-quantity component sourcing.

  • Embedded.fm · 43m

    293: Skateboard Tricks (Repeat)

    Limor Fried, founder of Adafruit, discusses the company's 13-year history of manufacturing open-source hardware in New York, highlighting recent products like the PyGamer and PyBadge. She explains the engineering philosophy behind TinyUSB, an open-source USB stack developed by engineer Hathach to replace proprietary vendor stacks, and details the business model of supporting a community of 4,000 products. Fried emphasizes that while hardware design is easy, the value lies in firmware, documentation, and tutorials, which she balances with business operations and education.

  • TRADEOFFS · 58m

    T-25-007 : Valentina Ratner - Mechanical Engineer to SaaS for Hardware CEO

    Valentina Ratner, co-founder and CEO of AllSpice, explains how she adapted Git workflows for hardware engineering to solve collaboration issues in electronics design. She details the transition from building Amazon delivery lockers to founding AllSpice, focusing on version control for PCBs, schematics, and BOMs. The episode covers the strategic decision to charge for the tool to ensure commitment, the shift from SMB to enterprise sales, and the challenges of integrating with ECAD tools like KiCad and Cadence.

  • Embedded.fm · 54m

    372: The Motivation of Creativity

    Anne Barela, a retired U.S. Foreign Service security engineer and consulting engineer at Adafruit, discusses her journey from Caltech and government service to the maker community. She explains how affordable dev boards like the Adafruit Trinket and Circuit Playground Express, along with libraries for CircuitPython and Arduino, lowered the barrier to entry for embedded electronics. Barela also shares insights on writing accessible tutorials, the impact of global chip shortages on hobbyists versus enterprise manufacturers, and the potential for open-source hardware in developing regions.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 20m

    123: Banished from Running Linux

    Bob Coggeshall, co-author of sudo and founder of Small Batch Assembly, explains how he transitioned from a career in software to running a boutique electronics assembly service for makers. He details the technical challenges of automating low-volume PCB assembly, including building a custom pricing engine in Python and integrating with the Octopart Common Parts Library to streamline customer workflows. Coggeshall also discusses his personal projects, such as driving Nixie tubes with high-voltage circuits and using microcontrollers like the ATmega328 and Atmel SAM D20.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.