# An Interview with Clint Cole of Digilent

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2016-06-10
- Length: 1h 46m
- Episode: 302
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/302-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent/

## Summary

Chris Cole, founder and president of Digilent, recounts the company's journey from a university side-project to an acquisition by National Instruments (NI). He details the bootstrapped origins, the strategic decision to maintain low margins to serve the educational market, and the eventual sale to NI to secure long-term stability. The conversation covers Digilent's product evolution, including FPGA boards, the Analog Discovery, and the upcoming OpenScope, as well as the company's open-source philosophy and the challenges of scaling hardware education.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=0) Introduction and Digilent's Origins
- [5:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=318) Bootstrapping and Early Product Development
- [15:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=902) Pricing Strategy and Manufacturing Partnerships
- [24:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=1447) The Acquisition by National Instruments
- [32:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=1951) NI vs. Digilent: Educational Philosophy
- [38:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=2292) Engineering Education and Student Motivation
- [1:06:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=3961) FPGA Tools, Open Source, and Competitors
- [1:14:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=4463) Future Products: OpenScope and FPGA Vision
- [1:40:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent#t=6015) Logistics, Interns, and Conclusion

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Open-source hardware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/open-source-hardware)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Digilent (company)
- National Instruments (company)
- Xilinx (company)
- Analog Discovery (product)
- OpenScope (product)
- Arduino (product)
- Cerebot (product)
- PIC32 (chip)
- LabVIEW (tool)
- TerASIC (company)
- XESS (company)
- Rigol (company)

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- [40: Mwahaha Session](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-02-26-40-mwahaha-session) (Embedded.fm)
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## Citing this page

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