We share the most critical perspectives, habits & examples of great software engineering leaders to help evolve leadership in the tech industry. 

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&lt;p&gt;In this episode, Sergiy Nesterenko (CEO @ Quilter) joins the pod to share how he turned a personal technical challenge into his own company, even before the market caught up. He shares his unique journey from SpaceX to Quilter and addresses common eng leader / founder challenges, including taking critical feedback to solve tough technical problems, knowing when your most important role is educating the market / customers, and choosing the right customers. Sergiy and Jerry also dissect insights into principles around building circuit boards, and common misconceptions around hiring top-tier talent, finding investors, and procuring customers as an early-stage company.&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ABOUT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergiynesterenko/&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SERGIY NESTERENKO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;Sergiy Nesterenko is the Founder and CEO of Quilter, the first physics-driven AI platform that fully automates PCB layout design. Under his leadership, Quilter has pioneered autonomous board design – creating the missing automation layer for hardware and compressing weeks-long layout cycles into hours. Backed by Index, Benchmark, Coatue, and Tony Fadell, Quilter is redefining what&#039;s possible in hardware development. Previously, Sergiy spent five years at SpaceX as a Senior Radiation Effects Engineer, building electronics for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SHOW NOTES:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt; 
&lt;ul&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Introducing Sergiy Nesterenko &amp; the inspiration behind Quilter (1:43)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Why now is the right time to tackle this technical challenge (3:37)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;The technology landscape during Quilter’s early days (6:05)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Sergiy’s fundraising journey &amp; key takeaways (8:26)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;The importance of adopting an evolutionary mindset (10:52)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Early problems that Quilter aimed to solve (13:08)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Navigating the balance between technical problems &amp; consumer readiness (15:59)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;How negative feedback can lead to solving a key problem (18:34)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Knowing which feedback to incorporate into product iterations (20:08)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Lessons learned from choosing the wrong customers (27:33)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;First principles approach to circuit board building (29:31)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Signals that it’s the right time to tackle a hard technical challenge (34:04)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Advantages to solving really hard problems &amp; tackling entrepreneurship (36:32)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Common misconceptions surrounding early phase companies (38:17)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Sergiy’s experience working with Eric @ Benchmark (39:46)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Why investors like founders who spend time in the “idea maze” (42:19)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Strategies for convincing high-profile talent to join your org early on (43:22)&lt;/li&gt; 
 &lt;li&gt;Rapid fire questions (45:10)&lt;/li&gt; 
&lt;/ul&gt; 
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h3&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;Patrick Gallagher - Producer &amp; Co-Host&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;Jerry Li - Co-Host&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio &amp; Video Editor &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bnd3d.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bnd3d.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at &lt;a href=&quot;https://elliecoggins.com/about/&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://elliecoggins.com/about/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;p&gt;Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pcm.adswizz.com&quot;&gt;pcm.adswizz.com&lt;/a&gt; for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.&lt;/p&gt;

Hiring top-tier talent, the importance of adopting an evolutionary mindset, and taking critical feedback to solve technical problems w/ Sergiy Nesterenko #265

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