Optics

PODCAST: The Hardware Entrepreneur interview with Milton Chang

Aug. 1, 2017

Host Balint Horvath believes that entrepreneurship for hardware is different than for software.

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Milton Chang, Incubic Management

The Hardware Entrepreneur is a podcast in which host Balint Horvath interviews entrepreneurs who build physical products. His goal is to bring you stories of how these entrepreneurs started their companies and how they run them to enable you--the listener--to start yours.

Balint believes that entrepreneurship for hardware is different than for software. The challenges are everywhere, in designing, manufacturing, getting funding, hiring, innovating, delivering to the customers. He has interviewed an impressive array of hardware engineers and executives, some with a specific background in photonics, and many with very relevant lessons and insights for photonics startups.

Here he interviews our long-time columnist, Milton Chang, because Milton is a serial entrepreneur with a track record of building hardware companies. Milton is managing partner of Incubic Management, and was president of Newport and New Focus, which he took public. In addition, the companies he incubated resulted in six IPOs and close to 10 acquisitions. He is also the author of Toward Entrepreneurship, a book that informs much of this podcast.

You can review and play Balint’s full list of podcasts on his website (and on podcasting sites iTunes, Overcast, and Stitcher).

Who is Balint? He’s an entrepreneur, based in Switzerland, who has a PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, where he studied under Ferenc Krausz, and produced a dissertation on attosecond spectroscopy. He then worked on the research staff of ABB, and as a program manager for manufacturing R&D at Alstom (which was acquired by GE).

You can reach him at balint dot horvath at gmail dot com, or follow him on Twitter @ThisIsBalint

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.