# T-25-010 :  Ioannis Papamanoglou and Narayan Powderly - Engineers transforming how we design, test, and build hardware with atopile

- Show: [TRADEOFFS](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs)
- Published: 2026-01-01
- Length: 1h 01m
- Episode: 10
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we
- Listen: https://tradeoffs.fm/10

## Summary

Narayan Powderly and Ioannis Papamanoglou, co-CEOs of atopile, discuss their command-line circuit design tool that brings software development practices to hardware engineering. They explain how their frustration with slow board development cycles at Tesla and smart bike lock projects led them to create a domain-specific language that captures design intent rather than just schematics. The guests detail how atopile integrates with KiCad for layout, leverages LLMs for rapid iteration, and aims to empower full-stack engineers by automating the drudgery of component selection and validation.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=0) Introduction: Narayan Powderly and Ioannis Papamanoglou of atopile
- [2:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=147) Narayan's experience at Tesla and the schematic bottleneck
- [4:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=241) Ioannis's background with smart bike locks and embedded systems
- [11:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=674) The philosophy of atopile: capturing design intent over schematics
- [17:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=1067) How atopile works: DSL, solvers, and component libraries
- [25:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=1539) LLMs in hardware design and rapid iteration loops
- [35:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=2111) Enterprise integration, KiCad support, and open source strategy
- [42:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=2578) Founding story, Y Combinator, and co-founder departures
- [51:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we#t=3091) Team structure, flat hierarchy, and the future of full-stack engineering

## Topics

- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Open-source hardware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/open-source-hardware)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- atopile (product)
- Tesla (company)
- KiCad (tool)
- Altium (tool)
- Cadence (tool)
- JLCPCB (company)
- Allspice (company)
- Adafruit (company)
- OpenAI (company)
- Y Combinator (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Code-Based PCB Design with AI: Inside atopile](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-06-23-code-based-pcb-design-with-ai-inside-atopile) (OnTrack)
- [JITX Aims to Provide Superpowers to Circuit Design Engineers](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2022-12-20-jitx-aims-to-provide-superpowers-to-circuit-design-engineers) (Moore's Lobby)
- [429: Start With Zero Trust](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-09-29-429-start-with-zero-trust) (Embedded.fm)
- [VC-Backed Hardware Design Collaboration is the (All) Spice of Life](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2023-05-30-vc-backed-hardware-design-collaboration-is-the-all-spice-of-life) (Moore's Lobby)
- [Freeing EEs to Design Like Tony Stark](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2024-05-07-freeing-ees-to-design-like-tony-stark) (Moore's Lobby)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-01-01-t-25-010-ioannis-papamanoglou-and-narayan-powderly-engineers-transforming-how-we. 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 TRADEOFFS.