Blame it on Rock & Roll A profile of AWR's James Spoto
What drives the man is Rock & Roll, and here's the conversation to prove it. James Spoto has got a BSEE and an MSEE from the University of Florida, but before he was a nerd, he was in a band. His band not only performed for local dances in Spoto's hometown in Florida, but also toured nightclubs up and down the coast of the state. They even even cut an album. Certainly playing bass in a rock band is not the traditional launch pad for a career as a high-tech CEO, but Spoto's history and outlook clearly provide the exception that proves the rule. So here's Spoto's story, as I heard it when we spoke by phone some weeks ago: ********************* "One of the biggest things that has helped me throughout my career, starting in high school, was being in a rock band. Before I was in a rock band, I was very shy and quiet, and I had a difficult time meeting girls. But with the band that I started with my friends, I was on stage every weekend." "We appeared in front of audiences in lots of places in Florida, and even cut a record – all of which helped me dramatically. In fact, my wife saw me performing at one of the nightclubs on the East Coast of Florida. She didn’t realize watching me perform that I was actually very shy and reserved. She still doesn't believe it." "I never saw Rock & Roll as a career, so I went to the University of Florida at Gainesville, where I got my Master's. I studied under Steve Director there. Steve left U.C. Berkeley in the late 1960’s/early 70’s and I studied under him from 1972 to 1974. He was one of the first academics to work on CAD tools and he's the one who introduced me to the importance of EDA. Back then there wasn’t even an industry yet, but it was clear nonetheless that trying to use computers to do design was going to have a big impact." "After I finished school, I became an analog circuit designer at Harris Semiconductor. I was doing rad-hard circuit design, and it's there that I saw the need for better design solutions. Harris – and the CAD tool group which I headed up – was one of the first companies who invested in SDA and Optimal Solutions Inc., the companies that eventually became Cadence and Synopsys. We were proud to have invested and to have helped bring those technologies into the market. [Of course], when we were bringing synthesis technology into Harris, it was back when many people thought synthesis technology was all a lot of hype." "But I was really excited about CAD technology, so I left Harris with a team of tool developers in 1988/89 and joined SDA/Cadence. They were just going public at the time, with Joe Costello and Jim Solomon leading the effort. When my team and I joined Cadence, with the full support by the way of the management at Harris, we started the Analog Division at the company. Jim Solomon ran the division at Cadence and I ran all of the engineering. We started with the technology my team had developed at Harris, and that, placed on top of the Cadence framework, was developed into the Virtuoso platform. I'm very proud of that and the fact that today the analog group at Cadence is a ~$300 million division at the company." "I left Cadence in 1997/98 because I felt it was important for me at that point to get back into the semiconductor industry. I'd been gone for 10 years, and I felt I was getting a little stale in semiconductor technology. So, I joined Conexant, which was a spin-off of the Semiconductor Systems Group from Rockwell. I was the Senior Vice President of Platform Technologies, reporting to Dwight Decker." "It was a very exciting time, as you can imagine. We were doing every kind of technology, every process node, jazz technology, deep-submicron CMOS implementation – all under my direction. We developed some of the best imaging technologies – technology that is now part of every camera phone. We also developed some of the best GaAs technology for power amplifiers. Conexant was one of the largest suppliers at the time of power amplifiers for cell phones. We provided all of the technology in that area for the Samsung phones, plus others." "In that period, we were the leaders in packaging, multi-chip modules, and technology for the implementation of SoCs. Our technology initiatives were based not just on whether you could get a paper published at IEEE's ISSCC, but on crucial economic considerations as well. Based on that [mix of superior technology and business savvy], Conexant won the entire modem market at the time. We had 40 engineers in the company working on advanced packing alone, many with PhD's, so we started looking at the co-design of circuits and packaging. It's that kind of thinking that is a big part of our design environment here at AWR today." "When I was at Conexant, I had a $120 million budget and 300 people reporting to me – and obviously I had succeeded in refreshing my semiconductor knowledge. By the early 2000's, my group was split up and I decided to move on. That was when AWR found me. One of my former associates at Cadence was working here, so I joined the Board of Directors for the company. I quickly saw that AWR was developing the next-generation tools for platform-based design, so I introduced myself [more thoroughly] to the employees and the Board, and told them I should be running the company. They agreed, and it's been a great 3 years here since then." "We're very excited about what we're doing at Applied Wave Research, and we're getting more and more attention as we expand into new markets. All of our senior management here at AWR have strong engineering backgrounds. Our CTO has done a superb job of building the next generation platform and, importantly, all of that technology has been built from scratch. It's part of AWR's history that we're very clean from the standpoint of our technology and our IP. And, we've been extremely careful in how we interact with our partners and our customers. These days in EDA, those are very important issues to keep track of." "Applied Wave Research has been in existence now for 6 or 7 years. We've been growing rapidly throughout that time, even during the recession when most of our competitors were declining in the market. And, as we've increased our market share, we've expanded into the digital and mixed-signal markets – focusing on various effects in that technology as well." "Our last quarter was our best quarter yet, so clearly this is a very exciting time for us. Also, we've maintained a very balanced management of our investments as we have grown the company, carefully targeting our potential customer base and those customer engagements which would help our situation. [The fact that] we’re financially stable and breaking even in the near team, means we can continue to invest and move forward." "Clearly, there’s a lot of work to be done in expanding into new markets, but the existing solutions from our competitors are old and tired. To implement those solutions without an integrated data model would be almost impossible to do – they’re going to fail, or not get there for a long time. [Meanwhile], people are seeing that we've got the best platform for RF closure, and we've got the only integrated data model [for that purpose] in the industry. I believe we're definitely being perceived as the next-generation design platform, and AWR as the only EDA vendor with an integrated analog/digital design solution." "Magma claims to be the only digital EDA company with an integrated data model, and they’ve dramatically gained market share, but clearly we’re going to be the dominant player in mixed-signal platforms for IC, chip, and package design. Would we be open to a purchase by Magma? Sure, if Magma could afford us, that might an idea." "Do we have an exit strategy? Of course an IPO is always preferred, and we’ve positioned ourselves in that way. It used to be [before the downturn] that you didn’t have to have financial strength to go public. These days however, between conservatism [in the investment community] and regulations, you’ve got have revenues in the order of $40 to $50 million in order to go public. [Alternatively] of course, we’re always open to the right acquisition and the right partner, in order to realize our goal as a company destined to take over the custom design space." "I’m really excited about what we’re doing here at AWR and am delighted to be here. I know very well that we had some specific goals while I was at Cadence, but we didn’t achieve all the integration of the tools that we wanted. At the time, however, that’s just the way things were. Even today, if you look at their schematic editors, the layout editors – they’re not really integrated. AWR, however, has developed an integrated design platform between static and electrical simulation of circuits. Because of that, I feel we can take analog and mixed-signal to new levels." "Would I enjoy working as an analog engineer once again? Well, at this point in my life I really don't have to be working, and I haven't done a design in 20 years. I'm probably not as current as is necessary to be a high performing designer. However, and it may sound like a sell job, the AWR design platform is so easy to use that I'm developing design examples myself that are being used in our marketing literature and collateral. I'm really excited to find myself getting back into design, doing op-amp performance and so on. It's very gratifying to be able to use your own company's products and really see the value that your customers will have in using it. I can prove to myself that we’ve got value in that regards." "I have always had a very positive attitude about things. I tell everybody here, whenever the time is right, things will develop. I know there are still some holes in our product line, but I tell our customers – Give us your problem and we will find a solution! I’m also proud that I’m very operational and tied into our deliverables. And as I mentioned, our CTO is excellent. He’s not only a strong CTO, but he’s very tied to the bottom line as well. If an idea means making money, he’ll drop everything to add a feature. I'm gratified to be working with a team that’s very business focused." "Do I think it can work to have a non-technical person at the top in a high-tech company? Well, clearly there have been a lot of successful companies without technologists at the top. But in those cases, the CEO needs to have people who can be trusted to provide good advice. For instance, now Intel's got a sales guy at the top and, so far, he seems to be doing fine." "But for a company that's our size, at this stage in our history, it's important to have a strong technology group leading the company. It's really important for a start-up to have a technologist at the top. For instance, I met Aart de Geus back in 1982 – we had a very strong relationship in that time period. There weren't many people who believed in logic synthesis back in 1983. It was definitely a missionary sell and even a lot of designers at Harris thought it was a bunch of bunk. But we bought it because we trusted Aart. Even today, I think that Aart [as a technologist and a CEO] brings a lot of presence and realism to his work. He has always known that if you don’t understand the business issues, you [need to bring in the people who do]. And, Aart’s a perfectionist, which is also important in leading a company." "Of course, by the late 1980's, I was working for Joe Costello. We all really loved working for Joe – he was so charismatic. As a matter of fact, I hired Ted Vucurevich out of Analog Devices to work for me at Cadence, and I've been very glad to see him promoted over the years within Cadence. Ted's strategy – and that of Cadence – has always been great. It's not surprising, however, that I feel that in technology it's the execution of the vision that's the real issue for any company." "And by the way, getting back to Rock & Roll – Ted Vucurevich is also a musician. Just like me, he's a closet rocker who's been playing for years. He's a very good guitarist. [In fact], Ted and I used to jam all the time." "Can I confirm that the base players always get the girls? Well, I was a base player and I can tell you that my social life, and my love life, improved dramatically after I joined my band in high school. Others in the band were much more gregarious by nature than I was, and they had more relationships – but after I joined the band, I also had a relationship. And I also used to get phone calls all the time from people who had seen me playing, which of course was very gratifying as well!" "These days, I know for a fact that a lot of us in the industry are frustrated rockers, but to succeed in the music industry, you have to be a musician. You have to be a great musician – and you have to be lucky! Back when I was going from high school to college, doing Rock & Roll was no longer fun. It became more like work. So now, I think that the way that Aart de Geus – who's also a musician – Ted Vucurevich, Jim Hogan, and I look at music is just as a lot of fun. From senior executives all the way down to the technicians in the lab, playing music can be very relaxing." "My wife and I have got three kids. One daughter is a student at San Diego State, and one is at U.C. Irvine – neither of them is in technology. One's doing a double major in literature and English, and one is doing a major in kinesiology. My son is still in high school, and he loves cars, girls, and playing Rock & Roll. Do I play the guitar with my kids? Absolutely! We’re a very tight-knit family – I think our kids would tell you that we’re very cool. We have great relationships with our kids and their friends. We even get invited to their parties!" "I’m someone who has had a very happy family life, with a lot of extended family who've been very supportive. It's a great life and optimism breeds optimism. Clearly, it doesn’t mean you can’t be unreasonably optimistic, but I believe there’s always something to be optimistic about and I’ve always tried to see the good side of everybody and everything. I believe that in life, you can certinaly be very unhappy – there are always a lot of things that can bring you down of you let them – but you’ve got to focus on the things that you can be happy about." "Why am I always so upbeat about things, about life in general? Well, it's pretty clear. I think you've got to blame it on Rock & Roll!"
Editor's Note: James is more than just a musician and a dad. Please check out his recipe for Eggplant Parmigiana here on EDA Confidential.
Peggy Aycinena owns and operates EDA Confidential. She can be reached at peggy@aycinena.com
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