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

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 The three discuss the challenges hardware engineers face with outdated collaboration tools, how Allspice adapts Git workflows for electronics design, and Valentina’s experience transitioning from technical engineer to startup CEO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

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