TRADEOFFS: The Hardware Startup Podcast

Hosted by Nate Padgett, Chris Rill

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Nate Padgett and Chris Rill go hands-on exploring the world of hardware startups. Each month they interview founders, early team members, and industry leaders to uncover the secrets behind building successful products. From the best practices of product design, to the ins and outs of manufacturing, they leave no stone unturned in their mission to help budding entrepreneurs succeed. Join them on their journey and get the inside scoop on all the exciting and innovative developments in the hardware startup world.

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15 recent

June 9, 2026Episode 1459 min

Lessons from a Recovering Hardware Founder | Bluesmart, ROOM, Kite Compliance | Brian Chen

For this episode, we sat down with Brian Chen, founder and CEO of Kite Compliance, an AI-powered product-compliance platform built to make certification faster, safer, and less painful to scale. We discuss building hardware during the last hardware renaissance, surviving lockdowns while running a business dependent on in-office work, and how regulators can make life very difficult for hardware founders. Brian dropped out of MIT Sloan after one semester to co-found Bluesmart, the YC W15 smart-luggage startup that raised $2.2M on Indiegogo before airlines banned non-removable batteries and grounded the category entirely. He then co-founded ROOM, creators of those modular office phone-booths we’ve all taken calls from. There he scaled the business to $60M in annual revenue before selling it to contract-furniture maker OFS in 2023. Today Brian is focused on helping companies solving hard problems overcome compliance and regulatory hurdles. On the side, he's an active angel investor backing other founders.Learn more about Kite Compliance at http://kitecompliance.ai/For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fmEpisode: T-26-014

April 13, 2026Episode 1359 min

Building Teams That Scale And What Happens When They Don't | Will Blaze

On this episode, we sat down with Will Blaze, technical recruiter and founder of Blaze Talent, where he helps hardware and AI companies scale their engineering teams. Will shares his journey from scrappy startup recruiting at Birchbox to scaling Peloton from 150 to nearly 10,000 people, and getting laid off twice in 2022, including once while on paternity leave.Today, Will brings that experience to companies like CoreWeave and Andium, helping them hire the right people at the right time. Throughout our conversation, Will shares lessons on when to hire full-time versus contractors, why structured interviews matter more than most founders think, and the trade-offs you have to make when you can't check all 10 boxes.Learn more about Will and Blaze Talent: www.blazetalent.comFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

February 4, 2026Episode 1240 min

T-26-012 : Founders From The Show Floor - CES 2026

Chris and Nate come to you from the Eureka Park at the Consumer Electronics Show for their first ever video pod! Eureka Park is the show’s designated area for early stage hardware startups and products too weird for the rest of CES.Check out the video version on YouTube. Thank you to the founders who spoke with us:Rajeev Ramanath - Blueberry TechnologyCole Ashman - Pila EnergyScott Hickle - ThroneEric Migicovsky - PebbleAaron Pollack - RoamJakub Popowski - ModueNiclas Bertelsen - NayaNeil Olien - The Haptics CompanyAmit Kumar Gupta - NoshCody Soodeen - Kara WaterZach Sweitzer - HummingbirdMichael Churchill - KombuRachel Osnos - FotostaxFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

January 5, 2026Episode 111 hr 0 min

T-26-011 : Happy CES-mas

In this episode of TradeOffs, Nate and Chris ring in the new year with a look back at some headlines from 2025 and a preview of CES 2026. They discuss the "hardware renaissance" gaining momentum—from the Re-Industrialize conference to renewed national focus on domestic manufacturing—and Chris shares his most memorable hardware story of the year: Samsung pushing ads to smart refrigerators (and what it signals about the economics of connected devices). The conversation turns to CES strategy, including why the real value isn't on the show floor but in the networking, how to navigate the sprawling venues from Eureka Park to LVCC, and survival tips.For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

January 1, 2026Episode 101 hr 1 min

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

In this episode of TradeOffs, Nate and Chris sit down with Narayan Powderly and Ioannis Papamanoglou, co-CEO’s of atopile, a circuit design tool bringing software development practices to hardware. Narayan shares how his frustration with slow board development cycles led him to question why schematics remained an "impenetrable box" immune to automation. Ioannis traces his path from hacking PlayStation Portables and building Minecraft redstone circuits to studying operating systems and working on smart bike locks for the Dutch railway system. Together, they discuss why their real competitor isn't other code-to-electronics startups but legacy tools like Altium and Cadence, and their vision for a future where full-stack engineers own everything from PCB design to firmware. They also explore how LLMs will transform electronics design and why the open-source hardware community is more collaborative than competitive.Find out more information about atopile at atopile.ioJoin the atopile DiscordCheck out the atopile GithubFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

October 8, 2025Episode 959 min

T-25-009 : Sera Evcimen - Mechanical Engineer to Host of The Builder Circle™ Podcast

On this episode, we sat down with Sera Evcimen, mechanical engineer, hardware startup strategist, and host of The Builder Circle™ Podcast where she interviews hardware founders, investors and other professionals in the hardware startup ecosystem to provide practical takeaways for anyone building hardware. Sera shares her journey from watching "How It's Made" with her hardware-savvy father to working on cutting-edge fusion energy systems at Commonwealth Fusion Systems.Today, Sera brings that deep technical and operational expertise to hardware startups through her firm Pratik, where she helps founders navigate everything from supply chain challenges to system architecture design. Throughout our conversation, Sera shares hard-won wisdom about the importance of hands-on experience, how understanding material science and failure modes creates competitive advantages, and why boots-on-the-ground verification beats any amount of remote due diligence.Learn more about Sera, Pratik, and The Builder Circle™ Podcast: https://www.pratikdev.com/Hackaday Europe 2025: Sera Evcimen - Hardware Startup Pitfalls Orin Hoffman - S1 E9: Building a Strong Capital Stack for a Hardware ProductYing Liu - S2 E9: Global Supply Chain StrategyFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

June 20, 2025Episode 859 min

T-25-008 : Justin McAfee - Mechanical Engineer to Hardware as a Service CEO

In this episode of TRADEOFFS, we sit down with Justin McAfee, mechanical engineer turned hardware entrepreneur who's fostering a manufacturing renaissance in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Justin shares his unconventional journey from getting burned on a grenade launcher for firefighters at age 23 to developing advanced electric propulsion systems at Wright One Inc. He discusses how tariffs are forcing his company to onshore manufacturing from China, the surprising challenges of disrupting the "boring" CPU cooling fan industry for cryptocurrency miners, and his ambitious vision for affordable flying cars powered by ducted electric turbines. Justin also opens up about the realities of hardware fundraising, building community through Wednesday dinner parties and monthly hardware meetups, and why he believes Bridgeport can become "the Silicon Valley" of manufacturing.Learn more about Wright One at: https://wrightfan.comCheck out the Bridgeport Hardware Meetup if you're in the area: Link

March 21, 2025Episode 758 min

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

Nate and Chris chat with Valentina Ratner, co-founder and CEO of Allspice.io, a collaboration and automation platform that brings software development workflows to hardware engineering. Valentina started her career as a mechanical engineer at Amazon before founding Allspice to transform how electronics teams design PCBs. The three discuss the challenges hardware engineers face with outdated collaboration tools, how Allspice adapts Git workflows for electronics design, and Valentina’s experience transitioning from technical engineer to startup CEO and sales leader. This episode is full of insights on building developer tools, creating customer love, and the evolving intersection of hardware and software development practices.For more information on Valentina and AllSpice: https://allspice.ioIf you're interested in improving hardware workflows, AllSpice is hiring: https://allspice.io/careersFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

January 7, 2025Episode 655 min

T-25-006 : Yohan Jacob - Consumer Electronics Buyer to Retail Channel Product Launcher

In this episode of TRADEOFFS we connect with Yohan Jacob, Founder and President at Retail Bound, the largest retail channel management consultancy in North America. Yohan and his team help brands launch and scale their products into the top retailers across the continent.Drawing from over thirty years of experience, Yohan shares his insights about helping brands navigate the complexities of retail partnerships, post-purchase customer support, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and common pitfalls to avoid. For more information on Yohan and Retail Bound: https://retailbound.comAdditional Links: Retail Bound Accelerator Retail Bound: Learn How to Sell Your Products to Retailers, 2nd EditionFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

December 11, 2024Episode 559 min

T-24-005 : Kaleen Canevari - Mechanical Engineer to Connected Fitness CEO

In this episode of TradeOffs, we sit down with Kaleen Canevari, founder and CEO of Flexia, a Techstars backed connected fitness company building the world's first smart Pilates reformer. With a background in mechanical engineering and Pilates instruction, Kaleen shares her journey of launching a hardware startup during the pandemic, navigating manufacturing challenges as a female founder, and developing innovative metrics to quantify Pilates performance. She shares insights about complexities of hardware manufacturing, venture capital dynamics, and the delicate balance between being a technical founder and business leader.You can learn more about Flexia at https://flexiapilates.com/For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

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