In the first of my series of interviews from the State of Open Con in London, I’m chatting with Rob Taylor, CEO of ChipFlow, about the intersection between open source software design and hardware design, bringing community into the hardware space, and how geopolitics could shape the future of open source. 

In this episode, Rob shares his fascinating hardware and software design background, including his first job working on lighting desks for theaters. Then we delve into his other companies before discovering the impetus for starting ChipFlow, how and why they do what they do, and some plans for the future. We also chat briefly about monetization, touch on the impact geopolitics could have on tech, and share our favorite parts of conferences like the State of Open Con. 

Highlights:

• Rob introduces himself and shares a bit of his background in software and open source (0:43)
• Rob recounts the origins of ChipFlow (4:08)
• Rob explains how hardware and software design are similar and where they diverge (7:30)
• How ChipFlow helps companies create custom chip designs for their products (9:38)
• How changes in open source software correlate to the hardware space (12:11)
• How Rob and his team encourage community in the hardware space (15:02)
• Rob’s final thoughts on the future of open source look to geopolitics (17:53)

Links:

Rob

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robtaylor78/
• Twitter: @robtaylor78
• Company: https://www.chipflow.io/