# An Interview with Jonathan Hirschman of PCB:NG

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2016-05-20
- Length: 1h 26m
- Episode: 299
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/299-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcbng/

## Summary

Jonathan Hirschman, founder of PCB:NG, explains his mission to automate PCB assembly by building proprietary software and hardware, aiming to make ordering assembled boards as easy as printing a business card. He details the technical challenges of parsing diverse CAD outputs, managing multiple board vendors to ensure quality, and developing custom pick-and-place automation to reduce setup times. Hirschman also discusses his bootstrapped funding model, derived from selling his previous product, the Paste Press, and his strategy of offering transparent, flat-rate pricing to cut through industry opacity.

## Chapters

- [0:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=30) Introduction: Jonathan Hirschman and PCB:NG
- [3:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=231) Energy Costs and Equipment Selection
- [4:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=271) The Vision for Automated Assembly
- [11:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=673) Handling CAD File Idiosyncrasies and Drill Files
- [12:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=764) Managing Multiple Board House Vendors
- [18:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=1091) Building Proprietary CAM and Arraying Software
- [30:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=1807) Standardized Stack-ups and Pricing Model
- [52:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=3167) Pick-and-Place Machine Automation and Data
- [1:05:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=3922) Component Packaging and Short-Run Logistics
- [1:19:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng#t=4792) Funding, Timeline, and the Paste Press

## Topics

- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- PCB:NG (company)
- Reef Factory (company)
- Custom Inc. (company)
- Mood (company)
- Proto Labs (company)
- Altium (other)
- DipTrace (other)
- Eagle (other)
- KiCad (other)
- ODB++ (other)
- Gerber X2 (other)
- Paste Press (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [123: Banished from Running Linux](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-10-28-123-banished-from-running-linux) (Embedded.fm)
- [92: Everybody Behave, Please](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-03-11-92-everybody-behave-please) (Embedded.fm)
- [171: Perfectly Good Being Square and Green](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-10-12-171-perfectly-good-being-square-and-green) (Embedded.fm)
- [407: Boards Are Like Sandwiches](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-03-24-407-boards-are-like-sandwiches) (Embedded.fm)
- [AI-Powered PCB Supply Chain Management with Luminovo's Timon Ruban](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2025-06-24-ai-powered-pcb-supply-chain-management-with-luminovos-timon-ruban) (OnTrack)

## 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/2016-05-20-an-interview-with-jonathan-hirschman-of-pcb-ng. 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.