TRADEOFFS: The Hardware Startup Podcast

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:04:00 -0700

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.com

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:40:18 -0800

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 Technology
Cole Ashman - Pila Energy
Scott Hickle - Throne
Eric Migicovsky - Pebble
Aaron Pollack - Roam
Jakub Popowski - Modue
Niclas Bertelsen - Naya
Neil Olien - The Haptics Company
Amit Kumar Gupta - Nosh
Cody Soodeen - Kara Water
Zach Sweitzer - Hummingbird
Michael Churchill - Kombu
Rachel Osnos - Fotostax

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

T-26-011 : Happy CES-mas

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:53:50 -0800

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

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 16:00:19 -0800

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.io

Join the atopile Discord
Check out the atopile Github

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:53:17 -0700

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 Product
Ying Liu - S2 E9: Global Supply Chain Strategy

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 03:00:00 -0700

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.com

Check out the Bridgeport Hardware Meetup if you're in the area: Link

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 15:41:01 -0700

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.io

If you're interested in improving hardware workflows, AllSpice is hiring: https://allspice.io/careers

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 03:00:00 -0800

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.com

Additional Links:
Retail Bound Accelerator
Retail Bound: Learn How to Sell Your Products to Retailers, 2nd Edition

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

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

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 03:00:00 -0800

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

T-24-004 : Tom George - Hardware Startup Engineer to Google Product Lead

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 12:04:00 -0800

In this episode of TradeOffs we connect with Tom George, former Head of Pebble at Sidewalk Labs, and now a Product Team Lead at Google focusing on Sustainable Cities. We’ll hear about Tom’s journey from working on speech compression technology for BlackBerry accessories to developing satellite communication systems for ships, and eventually leading hardware teams at Quadlogic and Sidewalk Labs. He shares some insightful lessons about product development, team building, and making difficult decisions.

You can learn more about what Tom is working on at: https://sustainability.google

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

T-24-003 : Christina Perla - Industrial Designer to On Demand Manufacturing

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0700

In this episode of TradeOffs we connect with Christina Perla, co-founder and CEO of Makelab, an on-demand 3D printing service. Christina discusses her journey from working in corporate design at Converse to co-founding Makelab, emphasizing the challenges and successes of running a hardware startup. She highlights Makelab's growth strategy, including a hub-and-spoke model for expansion and the importance of community building in client acquisition. Christina also shares insights into the 3D printing industry's challenges, her experiences with venture funding, and the dynamics of working with her business and life partner.

Learn more about Makelab at: https://www.makelab.com use code TRADEOFFS15 for 15% off your first order.

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

T-24-002 : Kevin Lavelle - Performance Fabric to Pediatric Telemedicine

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 10:11:38 -0700

In this episode of TradeOffs, we sit down with Kevin Lavelle, founder of Mizzen and Main and Harbor, to discuss the challenges of building and scaling two very different companies—one in apparel and the other in pediatric telemedicine. Lavelle shares candid insights on navigating U.S. manufacturing hurdles, the importance of strategic networking, and the relentless persistence needed to bring innovative products to market. He dives into Harbor's mission to create a failsafe baby monitor, highlighting the technical complexities and lessons learned from his entrepreneurial journey. Lavelle also touches on the shifting dynamics of raising capital for hardware startups and the importance of building long-term trust with customers.

Learn more about Harbor at: https://harbor.co

For more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm

T-24-001 : Haytham Elhawary - Transitioning from Hardware to Insurance

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:27:40 -0800

In this first episode we speak with Haytham Elhawary. Haytham is a founder of Kinetic Insurance and has a PhD in Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering from the Imperial College of London. He has been working at the intersection of hardware and biomechanics for close to a decade, and we sat down to discuss his connected product journey and his team's transition to hardware-enabled insurance.

Find out more at https://tradeoffs.fm

T-24-000 : Trailer

Nate Padgett, Chris Rill — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:27:13 -0800

Trade-Offs explores the trials and tribulations of designing, building, and manufacturing hardware, and the people that make it. Each month, we sit down with founders, engineers, and other hardware professionals to understand the unique trade offs inherent in building a business that makes physical products. Join hosts Chris Rill and Nate Padgett as they dig deeper into the complexities of hardware product development. Trade-offs premieres February 2024.

Find out more at https://tradeoffs.fm