Today we’d like to introduce you to David Fern.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have been an electrical engineer for over thirty years, working in various areas of technology. I got started off in very high power radio communications when I was working as a civil servant for the U.S. Navy — the group I working for was responsible for design, maintenance, and repair of tremendous radio transmitting equipment that is used to send messages to submarines. I did that for just about ten years and then went into the private sector just before the “dot com” bubble really took off. I worked for a bunch of small start-up companies that were all doing different kinds of wireless products for all kinds of applications. I designed a really cool system that monitored water consumption in apartment buildings, a really innovative wireless security device for cars, wireless temperature monitoring systems, and many other kinds of things like that.
The craziest wireless application that I ever worked on was putting a small radio transmitter into the rim of a contraceptive diaphragm — that was done for a biomedical company. I’ll leave it to your imagination to figure out how that system was used. More recently I have gotten involved in projects in the medical technology and devices space. One of my long-term clients has just released a really innovative product into the medical device space — GoldSpire Design did all of the electronic design for it, as well as all the software. It’s incredibly exciting and fulfilling to see the end result of years of work be successful in the marketplace.
I decided to start my own consulting company for several reasons. First, I really enjoy working in product development, and having my own consultancy is a really good way to work on lots of different projects. This is important for me because I find myself getting bored with working on a single project for too long. Changing things up on a relatively frequent basis is how I like to work. Second, I view having my own consultancy as an excellent way to ease into retirement. I don’t want to stop working completely, but I want to be able to work on my own schedule and take on projects that I really like.
I’ve been doing the “corporate job” thing for most of my career, and quite frankly I’m tired of all the garbage that comes with a corporate job. So many companies put “process” ahead of getting the job done right — I’ve seen so many engineers with great ideas for new product concepts get burned out and completely demotivated in their work because their managers wanted them to “focus on the process.” I have always been strongly goal-oriented — getting the job done in the best, most efficient manner possible. Engaging with companies as a consultant allows me to focus on the design goals of a project.
An extremely important aspect of my consultancy is delivering an extremely high-quality product. There are many consultancies out there that will do whatever you ask them to do, and never give you any feedback about whether or not they think the instructions you have given them make sense from an economic or technological standpoint. I like to think that GoldSpire Design is different. I work with many companies and individuals that are early stage start-ups — very intelligent and highly motivated people that are very passionate about their work, but many times don’t have a clear understanding (or any understanding at all) of how to turn their vision into a real product.
A lot of what I do during the beginning of a relationship with a client is just sitting and talking about the vision for their product and what they want it to be when it is on the market. These kinds of discussions are very valuable because they help both the client and myself really start to think about implementation — what features and functions are most valuable to the end customer, and the effort required in implementing them. For customers that are not very tech savvy, these discussions allow me to introduce available technologies to my client and help them understand how they can be leveraged to achieve the end goals for the product.
In short, not only am I a product development engineer, but I am also a psychologist, priest, and social worker. Sure, GoldSpire Design can (and does) engage with clients who already know what they want — they give us a specification of an electrical design and we create it for them. We don’t compromise on quality on these types of jobs — there are lots of job shops out there (many of them are springing up overseas) that will bang out electrical designs at bargain basement prices.
As is true with most things, “you get what you pay for” applies in electrical design, and more than once have I been hired by a client to fix a disaster that was the result of “going cheap.” I won’t mince words with anyone — electronic design is not cheap. GoldSpire Design is not the cheapest design firm out there, but neither are we the most expensive. By staying small and agile, we offer our clients quality and precise design work without a lot of the overhead that larger consultancies carry.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The hardest part of operating an electronic design consultancy is finding clients. A lot of the work that GoldSpire Design has done was found through word of mouth — as President of the company I always try to stay in contact with many of my engineering colleagues in the San Diego area, as well as representatives of semiconductor and electronic component manufacturers.
These types of people are actively engaged with many companies throughout the community, and oftentimes they are the first ones who identify needs that companies may have for design consulting services. Once a potential client is identified, there is still quite of bit of work to do before the actual engineering commences, and many times clients decide to change their plans or back out altogether. Engineers are typically very poor at marketing themselves, and even I struggle with it sometimes. A big part of this problem is helping potential clients identify the true value that a consultant brings to the table.
Technology today is so “whiz-bang” that most people never even stop to think about all the complexity that is contained in most products. As engineers, our primary job is to make things that are extremely complex very simple and easy to use — in short, our job is to “hide the complexity” from our customers and end users. When we are successful at this endeavor, it becomes difficult to justify our value, because from the standpoint of an end user, it “looks so easy.”
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
It is perhaps unfortunate that luck does play a significant role in business. I’ve met people with great ideas who were hard workers, but for whatever reason, the winds of fate were always blowing against them. I’ve also met people who were real idiots that were rolling in success because they happened to be standing in the right place at the right time. For myself, I don’t think that I have been particularly lucky or unlucky in business.
Starting GoldSpire Design was a decision I made because my ultimate goal is to be my own boss and work with interesting people on interesting products. Being totally self-funded means that things move slowly, and we need to be very careful about how and when we choose to spend money and invest in the business. A big stroke of luck coming my way would certainly be welcomed, but, as they say, “hoping is not a plan.”
Contact Info:
- Address: 9053 Inverness Road Santee, California 92071
- Website: www.goldspiredesign.com
- Phone: 619.368.7390
- Email: david@goldspiredesign.com
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