From Circuits to Startups The Unexpected Journy of an Engineer
This talk presents a real-world story of an engineer’s unexpected journey from designing circuits to building technology startups—sharing the challenges, turning points, successes, failures, and lessons learned far beyond the classroom.
Overview
What happens when an engineer’s career moves beyond circuits, simulations, and technical design into the unpredictable world of startups and technology ventures? This talk shares a personal journey through Silicon Valley and the semiconductor industry, exploring the unexpected transitions from engineer to entrepreneur, founder, and technology leader. Through real-world experiences across startups, established companies, acquisitions, and new ventures, the talk reflects on what worked, what failed, and what had to be learned along the way. It explores the importance of choosing the right team, staying focused, understanding the market, turning vision into execution, and knowing when—and when not—to scale. More importantly, it offers ECE students a perspective on the lessons that are rarely taught in the classroom and how an engineering foundation can open doors far beyond traditional technical careers.
Presenters
Brief Biography
Talal Al-Attar has taught electrical engineering at institutions such as Kuwait University, Kuwait; Stanford University, U.S.; Santa Clara University, U.S.; and KAUST, Saudi Arabia, for over 15 years.
Professor Al-Attar received his B.S. and M.S. from Kuwait University and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. His doctoral work focused on impact ionization avalanche transit-time (IMPATT) modeling at the millimeter-wave range, on-chip integration of microstrip patch antennas and transmission lines in standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology.
Al-Attar’s career began as a senior design and device engineer at Volterra Semiconductor, U.S., where he worked from 2004 to 2007. He also worked as a senior consultant at Sabio Labs in 2007 before joining Magma Design Automation in 2008. Al-Attar consulted several companies between 2007 and 2014, including Ensphere Solutions, AWR, Intersil and Intel.
After joining Santa Clara University (SCU), U.S., he was initially an adjunct professor before becoming a lecturer and full-time assistant professor. He spent eight years at SCU, serving as the SCU Center for Analog Design and Research director.
Al-Attar joined KAUST in 2014 as a consultant/visiting associate professor and in 2018 as a senior lecturer in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program.
