# The Cost Of Doing Business

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2015-08-28
- Length: 1h 05m
- Episode: 264
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/264-the-cost-of-doing-business/

## Summary

Hosts Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss the implications of work culture in engineering companies, contrasting the bootstrapping success of Artifruit with the high-pressure environments of traditional tech firms. They analyze Altium's acquisition of Octopart and Siva, and debate the viability of a new Chinese FPGA manufacturer, GoWin Semi, focusing on toolchain complexity and market trust. The conversation also touches on the challenges of scaling small hardware businesses and the social dynamics of office culture.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business#t=0) Introduction and Uncanny Valley of Hardware
- [14:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business#t=891) Altium Acquires Octopart and Siva
- [21:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business#t=1271) GoWin Semi FPGA and Toolchain Challenges
- [38:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business#t=2299) Artifruit Bootstrapping and Scaling
- [49:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business#t=2952) Work Culture, Hours, and Dunbar's Number

## Topics

- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Altium (company)
- Octopart (company)
- Siva (company)
- GoWin Semi (company)
- Synopsys (company)
- Artifruit (company)
- SparkFun (company)
- Xilinx (company)
- Actel (company)
- Polar Instruments (company)
- CircuitMaker (product)
- Simulink (tool)
- Simplify Pro (tool)

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- [Books in the Box IV](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-11-01-books-in-the-box-iv) (Oxide and Friends)
- [T-25-007 : Valentina Ratner - Mechanical Engineer to SaaS for Hardware CEO](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2025-03-21-t-25-007-valentina-ratner-mechanical-engineer-to-saas-for-hardware-ceo) (TRADEOFFS)
- [Mr. Leventhal, Come here I want to see you](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-05-04-mr-leventhal-come-here-i-want-to-see-you) (Oxide and Friends)
- [36: Drive the Boat with a Wii Mote](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-01-22-36-drive-the-boat-with-a-wii-mote) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-08-28-the-cost-of-doing-business. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.