Hardware Is Forever

Open Source Hardware Is the Foundation Closed-Source Shops Are Built On

Jason Kridner, founder of BeagleBoard.org, and Andrew McPherson, cofounder of Bela and professor at Imperial College London, build the platforms that other hardware companies build on. Jason started Beagle inside Texas Instruments to give open source software a capable ARM board to run on. Andrew built Bela because no laptop could deliver the sub-millisecond audio latency a musical instrument needs. A decade later, Bela's newest product runs on a PocketBeagle 2, the company runs out of a research lab in London, and Beagle ends up inside Europa rover prototypes at JPL and data acquisition at Fermilab. In this conversation, Jason and Andrew talk about why exposing the layers underneath your product builds a more durable platform than hiding them, what happens to a brand when its veneer gets thin, and how a small team responds when its community starts asking for things the platform was never designed to do. Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech, takes the closed-source perspective. He explains why his shop builds on top of open hardware ecosystems even when none of his own work goes back into them, and what open foundations lower for an OEM trying to build something that lasts.

Coordination Game Theory in Business: Why Alignment Beats Optimization

Coordination is where strategy either works or falls apart. You can have strong people, good intentions, even the right answers. Without alignment, none of it holds. In this episode, we break down coordination games in game theory and how they show up inside organizations. When teams move in different directions, progress stops. When they align around a shared path, even imperfect execution can create results. Amtech CEO Jay Patel talks about how this shows up in how leadership aligns first, how systems like EOS create structure, and how consistent communication turns intention into action. Coordination is less about finding the perfect solution and more about getting everyone moving together in the same direction.   We explore how ambiguity creates friction, how systems reduce it, and why alignment across sales, operations, and finance determines whether growth is sustainable...or not.

Commitment Devices in Game Theory: Burn the Ships, Win the Market

In game theory, commitment devices are strategic constraints that limit future options to make present intentions more credible. They shape behavior, signal seriousness, and shift how others respond. In this episode, we explore how commitment works in business contexts: when to cut off fallback plans, how to align teams around a path forward, and why a declared strategy only works when it’s enforced. Amtech CEO Jay Patel shares how this concept can influence decisions across systems, processes, and leadership. We talk about how to reduce drift, how aspirational vision must connect to operational focus, and why visible commitment attracts the right customers, suppliers, investors, and employees. If you’re trying to focus your strategy, eliminate friction, or stop backsliding on your goals, this episode offers a clearer way to move forward...with no way back.

Inside the Apple Manufacturing Academy: What Amtech Is Learning From the Experts

The Apple Manufacturing Academy is focused on fundamentals. That’s what makes it such a meaningful opportunity for Amtech, selected as one of just a few organizations to participate in this groundbreaking program in partnership with Michigan State University. In this episode, Amtech CEO Jay Patel shares what the experience has been like from the inside: the hands-on learning, the expert guidance, and the shift in mindset that comes from working alongside teams with extraordinary operational excellence. We talk about time spent with Apple CEO Tim Cook, what Apple gets right from systems thinking to daily execution, and how those lessons are influencing Amtech’s own evolution. This is a story about what’s possible when people at every level are invited to think, act, and lead with precision. Referenced in this episode: Apple Manufacturing Academy [https://manufacturingacademy.msu.edu] Wired article on the program [https://www.wired.com/story/apple-manufacturing-academy-michigan/]

The Culture Behind the Code Part 1: Inside the Human Systems of Manufacturing

When systems break down in manufacturing, it’s easy to blame the machine, the software, or the spec. What’s harder to face is when failure starts upstream, inside the team dynamics, cultural norms, and delivery expectations that define how work gets done in the first place. In this episode, Jay Patel is joined by Dana Korf, a veteran engineer and manufacturing insider, for part one of a two-part deep look into the human side of systems engineering. With stories drawn from decades of experience across the engineering and manufacturing industry, Dana reveals how unwritten rules, territorial behavior, and knowledge hoarding can quietly undermine progress, even in highly technical environments. From tribal knowledge to the myth of clean handoffs, this episode looks at what really happens between the lines of code, behind the standard operating procedures, and inside the organizations trying to build better processes.