The Role of an Advisor

For the past nine years, Atomic Rules has been evolving. Evolving from a single engineer with a singular vision, to an amalgam of a dozen engineers with a team vision. Along the way we've had a lot of help. Help from technology firms like ARM and Xilinx producing the canvas that we draw on. Help from businesses like BittWare who represent our IP products with a worldwide reach. And of course Bluespec Inc, for Bluespec SystemVerilog (BSV), so that our codes would be correct and concise, in a way other Domain Specific Languages can only someday hope to match.

I started Atomic Rules back in 2008 solely offering FPGA design services. We picked up some great clients along the way. A few years in, the idea of producing IP products took hold. Well chosen, customer-driven IP cores would be the future of the company. Not for the squeamish, we knew going in that production IP would require an investment in verification and support significantly above that of just FPGA design services. We got that right.

As of January 2018, Atomic Rules now has three full-production IP cores on the market. Available through Xilinx, available through BittWare, and available directly from Atomic Rules. Hooray for us! With such deep and solid investment in products, tens of engineer-years in the making; it’s time for Atomic Rules to pivot and focus even more on sales, customers and product support; and less intensely on speculative R&D.

We will, of course, keep on our existing services clients, continue our relationships with the dozen engineers who make up Atomic Rules, and continue to support and develop new products and technologies. As such, we have a new Chief Operating Officer to do much of the day-to-day triage; and will soon announce a new Engineering Manager. It's all good!

This week I started a full-time position as VP of Research and Development at an exciting startup, Skreens Entertainment, and thus have relinquished my position as CTO of Atomic Rules. Skreens understands that Atomic Rules shall remain a going and growing concern, and I will stay on in an advisory role. And while my daily (and nightly) passion is now making Skreens all that it can be; I'm fortunate that I get to watch the Atomic Rules rocket climb up to orbit as well.