Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1391285
44 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2021 to get in. On the other hand, when companies announce layoffs, that is generally good news for us. Depending on where those layoffs are, that's generally a tightening of their resources, which is good for us. It may take a while for us to see that, but those are some of the trends we're see- ing. Personally, I think as people are working from home more, companies are realizing they don't need as many people. But businesses like ours tend to do well in up-and-down markets because you can hire us and fire us any time you want. We don't take it personally. Matties: Are you seeing more startup business coming through with the supply chain shi and layoffs? Frankly, I would think that there may be some entrepreneurship going on, if you will. Williams: We're pretty picky about what we go aer. What I would say is that the types of proj- ects that are out there tend to be smaller, the new ones, the IoT stuff. We chatted with a guy this morning who is doing weather thermom- eters, and he's trying to string the whole thing together with some cryptocurrency, so there are some weird models floating around out there. All I said was that as long as we get paid in U.S. dollars, we'll take a look at it because we don't understand cryptocurrency or what- ever they're talking about. ere are a lot of science projects out there, and on that note, if we get involved in too many of those it can bog us down. Irfan: Just a couple of comments. One, Dan joined us on February 15. Just before joining, we had a couple of conversations, and I came to find out that Dan had heard good things about Whizz. It was a good validation for us, somebody coming in and bringing that fever from outside. Matties: What you're saying is, it's going to be really easy for Dan to make sales (laughs). Irfan: No, no, no (laughs), but it adds to Whizz's credibility. Traditionally, we didn't have any salespeople here. is is actually the first time we've had two in sales and a third helper to do some analysis. Traditionally, we had not gone out to approach any customers. It was mostly word of mouth. Matties: Dan, you've seen a lot of trends and changes over the years. What really sticks out to you as a significant change over the last 30 years? Williams: e thing that sticks out to me the most is that there are still so many people doing it. It's absolutely mind-blowing that more board shops haven't just closed their doors. I started at Sigma Circuits. In the '90s, it was Sanmina buying everything up, but all these people, in one form or another, are still around. Matties: ere's a lot of thinking that the sup- ply chain needs to shi, and there's a growing demand on electronics. Let's face it; automo- biles back in the '80s used a fraction of the boards that they're using today. With IoT 4.0, it seems we have sensors in our shoes and we're all wearing smart watches and such. Williams: Boards are shrinking. I had a con- versation with a large integrator, and she said, "We're interested in your DFX, your DFT, but we don't do a lot of volumes of boards." Boards have shrunk over the years, so that was the first time I realized that's really happening. Boards are getting smaller, and they can do more. Matties: We may not be doing as many panels, but there are a lot more boards on those pan- els. Irfan: While the boards are shrinking because of a lot of IoT and consumer applications, at Dan Williams